Optimum mine fails to supply coal — Eskom
Eskom says it stopped paying the Gupta-owned Optimum Coal Mine at the beginning of the month because the mine had failed to supply the agreed amount of coal to the utility’s Hendrina Power Station.
Eskom revealed this on Thursday as workers at Optimum Coal Mine in Middelburg in Mpumalanga continued their strike for a second day over the uncertainty surrounding the future of the mine.
The country’s commercial banks have cut ties with Guptaowned companies, citing reputational risk, while the only bank that serviced the companies‚ Bank of Baroda‚ will exit SA at the end of March.
The Optimum workers wanted assurances from their employer that they will be paid on Friday since the company is experiencing financial problems. But Optimum CEO George van der Merwe could not give this assurance and claimed Eskom was sabotaging its operations by not paying Optimum.
However‚ Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said Optimum last supplied the power utility with coal on February 17 and the mine had indicated to Eskom that it was having difficulty in continuing the supply.
“We have chosen not to pay Optimum in January as it had failed to supply the 370‚000 tonnes of coal per month as per service level agreement.
“Optimum has been failing consistently to supply us with the agreed quantity of coal. Because they failed to supply‚
The Guptaowned Optimum Coal Mine in Middelburg. Workers have downed tools over fears they will not be paid. we did not pay them. What we then did was to impose a penalty in terms of the service level agreement,” Phasiwe said.
Phasiwe said Optimum only supplied 118‚000 tonnes of coal for January.
“We imposed a fine of R105m for February‚ and their invoice for January was R52m. Because the penalty was higher than the invoice‚ it would have been reckless to extend money to a defaulting party‚” Phasiwe said.
Eskom said Optimum supplied 80% of the coal for the Hendrina power station‚ and the rest was supplied by smaller mining operators.
“We have asked the smaller companies to increase their output and we have also diverted coal from other power stations to Hendrina‚” Phasiwe said.
National Union of Mineworkers spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu said because Optimum cannot commit to pay the workers their monthly salaries‚ they cannot go back to work. Workers downed tools on Wednesday.