Xstrata-Merafe to Close Furnaces for 3 Months to Help Eskom

Xstrata-Merafe to Close Furnaces for 3 Months to Help Eskom

Merafe Resources Ltd., part-owner
with Xstrata Plc of the world’s biggest ferrochrome producer,
will suspend five furnaces in South Africa as the state power
utility calls on energy users to curb electricity consumption.
The closures will last from tomorrow to May 31, with four
affecting the Rustenburg smelter, Merafe’s “least energy-
efficient operation,” the Johannesburg-based company said today
in a statement. One furnace will halt at the Wonderkop smelter.
Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., which supplies about 95 percent of
South Africa’s electricity, is grappling with a mounting
maintenance backlog as usage remains too high for it to shut
enough capacity for repairs. Demand needs to drop by 10 percent
to allow the utility to catch up on overdue maintenance, Chief
Executive Officer Brian Dames said Jan. 30.
Eskom will buy back the energy that’s saved by Merafe’s
closures, which will cut ferrochrome production by about 100,000
metric tons, according to the statement. The shutdowns won’t
result in job losses, the company said.
Energy efficiency at Rustenburg will improve once a
pelletizing and sintering plant there is completed in the second
half of the year, Merafe said.
Merafe and Xstrata co-own the Xstrata-Merafe Chrome
Venture, the largest producer of ferrochrome, used in stainless
steel.