Target $18.72, page-4867

1. VOA V. Stark 7.2.23 said

"South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says the county's electricity crisis has severely damaged its mining industry, a key pillar of the economy. Ramaphosa made the comment while addressing Investing in African Mining Indaba, the world's largest mining investment conference.

The Minerals Council South Africa, which represents mining companies, estimates that total mining volumes were down by 6%, or $1.8 billion last year.

In his address, Ramaphosa admitted that the ongoing power cuts implemented on 200 days in 2022 contributed to the slump.

“The electricity crisis on its own has had a huge impact on the mining industry as it has had on other industries,” he said...

Touching on the other challenges of transport and logistics, Langenhoven said coal exports which for 12 months were up nearly 150% due to demand caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine, were also down (now- my word) due to bottlenecks in South Africa’s rail and harbors".

SA's president also states that increased use of renewables can alleviate the chronic, constant power outages SA is having; as well as mining companies generating their own electricity (diesel?), & not relying on the states grid power.




2. Eskom, SA's national, state power provider said 27.2.23 that "coal supply/handling issues at power stations" are also major contributing factors to the chronic power outages.

If SA can't solve the urgent & crucial problem of delivering sufficient coal supplies to its power stations, it is reasonable to assume the volume of its thermal coal exports will be much lower in 2023, cf 2022.

WHC is likely to benfit, eventually, from these chronic problems SA is experiencing.

https://twitter.com/Eskom_SA?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
(scroll down to 27.2.23)