Miners should be innovative amidst power shortages
Parliamentary Portfolio on Mines and Mining Development Chairperson Hon Edmond Mkaratigwa said miners should rethink strategies to counter electricity challenges as Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) gruelling power cuts worsen.
Rudairo Mapuranga
Miners have been lamenting over electricity challenges lamenting that the problem has ripple effects on mineral production targets. The government through the National Development Strategy_1 (NDS_1) is expecting the mining sector to fetch an annual revenue of US$12 Billion by 2023.
According to Mkaratigwa to ensure that the mining sector gets adequate power there is a need for the government and mining companies to be innovative around both the national grid and market or individual firm driven initiatives that can be off-grid.
“It is quite difficult to do away with the problem of electrical power energy completely. There are about three categories of miners and these are the large, medium and small-scale miners. These have different energy requirements and capacities to supplement their energy in times of bad energy supply times. This challenge has been there for a long time now. Nevertheless, to ensure that all mines and their levels get electrical power requires innovation around both the national grid and market or individual firm driven initiatives which can be off-grid,” Hon Mkaratigwa said.
Mkaratigwa said it was of importance for miners to have cooperative arrangements on power production to reduce power challenges that recurrently threaten production.
“We have advocated for collective thinking around this aspect and in some instances, dedicated power lines have been put in place for the bigger mines. Cooperative arrangements can also assist where smaller-scale miners require such services. Solar is usable in households and sometimes it may not be sufficient for baseload in the mining industry. We are also striving to go green on the other hand. So, solar is the best option as an alternative for household use while the main grid becomes more for industrially high energy consumption sectors. At the moment these are the main sources of power in the country. Many others are not yet locally fully developed for effective use,” he said.