Vanggatfontein coal deliveries to Eskom interrupted as striking miners dismissed

24th April 2019 By: Simone Liedtke - Creamer Media Social Media Editor & Senior Writer

Vanggatfontein coal deliveries to Eskom interrupted as striking miners dismissed

Production at Wescoal’s Vanggatfontein mine, in Mpumalanga, will be suspended for six to eight weeks after the mining contractor dismissed its 274 employees at the mine following unlawful industrial action – that turned violent – earlier this month.

The mining contractor and Wescoal have, on April 23, embarked on a recruitment drive to hire new employees.

Wescoal expects the mine’s production for the 2020 financial year to be between 15% and 20% lower than guidance.

As a result of the production downtime, Wescoal has provided a notice of force majeure to State-owned Eskom of its inability to continue supplying coal in terms of the mine’s supply agreement with the power utility.

The coal miner will hold further discussions with Eskom shortly to address the impact of the supply shortfall.

Other Wescoal businesses are not affected and are expected to continue deliveries of coal to Eskom as scheduled.