Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe on Monday commended multinational Gold Fields for taking advantage of the South African government’s reforms in the energy sector to boost production by 10 percent when all others failed to do so amid the challenges of loadshedding.The minister said this when delivered the opening address at the 2023 Investing in Africa Mining Indaba in Cape Town on Monday. 

Mantashe acknowledged that 2022 had been a grim year for the mining industry as loadshedding cost the South African economy about US$56 million a day.

This led to a decline in mineral production across all commodities, made worse by fuel hikes that reached US$100 per barrel of oil, he said.

However, the minister pointed to the success of Gold Fields which during this period increased its production by 10 percent. 

He said Gold Fields was an example of innovation and foresight that led to different outcomes compared to the rest.

“It is our considered view that Gold Field’s performance was in part because of the reforms on embedded generation which they took advantage of following the amendments to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act,” the minister said.

Last year, the law was amended to allow the licensing requirement for generation projects for own use. The cap was increased from one megawatt to 100 megawatts, and ultimately removed altogether, he said.

“This cushioned them (Gold Fields) from the impact of load shedding, as they were able to generate their own energy, and thus increased and maintained production,” he said.