Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has said that there are plans to resolve continuous blackouts within a year, reports eNCA. Speaking at the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town, Mantashe said that the plans include maintaining power stations, buying electricity from neighbouring countries, and hiring more skilled personnel at power utility Eskom. According to Mantashe, the country lost an estimated R1 billion a day last year due to rolling blackouts (called load shedding). Mantashe said load shedding had led to a decline in mineral production across all commodities. He added: “As a Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, we’ve put four points that we think need attention if we’re going to overcome load shedding  within the next 12 months. The first one is improving electricity availability factor through a focus funded plan maintenance at existing power stations. Procurement of emergency and short-term power from existing facilities in other private power plants and purchase additional electricity in neighbouring countries…and lastly to improve the skills capacity at Eskom.”
Source: allafrica.com
