Impala Platinum said that its power supply in South Africa has not been boosted to 95 per cent.

In an interview with Reuters, Chief Executive David Brown, said: "We're still operating at the 90 per cent level and quite clearly for us, we're able to minimise the impact."

The South African Government had announced that platinum mines could increase their power consumption to 95 per cent, but Mr Brown said this was dependent on meeting certain criteria.

"There were certain criteria that one had to justify in terms of utilising the extra capacity... there was never enough power for all mines to move from 90 to 95 per cent," he said.

The power crisis is the main reason behind the cut in refined platinum output at Impala Platinum which has been cut by 40,000 oz with production for the fiscal year expected to drop below two million ounces.

But future products are also suffering from the crisis and the Leeuwkop mine is a work in progress as the firm is yet to finalise the power offtake for the horizontal development.

If the power problems were sorted, Mr Brown believes the project would go before the board for approval by September.

Source:

Reuters, 03/04/08
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