Tanzania power cuts damage machinery

Miners inside the Buzwagi gold mine in Shinyanga. Picture: File

By KENNEDY SENELWA, Special Correspondent   (email the author)

Posted  Sunday, May 22 2011 at 11:37

African Barrick Gold will make huge losses as the Buzwagi mine in Tanzania will run at reduced capacity for the next two weeks. Its equipment failed following a power outage.

The London listed firm estimates about 10,000 ounces of gold would be lost in production following a malfunction of its semi-autogenous grinding mill motor. But officials are optimistic the firm would recover most of the lost production during the second half of the year.

The company had to downgrade its production guidance twice last year after it experienced problems, including a fuel theft syndicate at the Buzwagi mine.

Miners and other industries are under pressure to invest in own power generating facilities to mitigate effects of supply interruptions experienced by the national grid of Tanzania Electric Supply Company Ltd (Tanesco).

Chief Executive Officer Greg Hawkins said the plant will run at reduced capacity as the work will take up to two weeks given scale of unit being replaced, need for specialist equipment to remove and install motors.

Buzwagi located in Kahama district of Shinyanga region, is a large operation consisting of an open pit mine, ore processing facilities, waste rock storage facility, water management and other ancillary facilities. 

The firm will continue to work with Tanesco to improve the quality and reliability of power supply to prevent repeat of the recent incident, improve performance and thorough put of the process plant.

TanzaniteOne another London listed company was not significantly affected by power shortage as its own generating facility can produce over 1.6 megawatts which exceeds the amount required for mining, processing among others.

TanzaniteOne realised 48 per cent growth in total sales amounting to $3.96 million in the first quarter of 2011 from the previous year’s $2.68 million as the gemstones market recovered. It produced 609,737 carats of material at an average grade of 71 carats per tonne in the first quarter of 2011.

Strong investment in Tanzania’s abundant natural resources has spurred a robust expansion in exports, while domestic policy buffers shielded the country from the worst effects of the global financial crisis.

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