South Africa's skills issue was a "national crisis", Exxaro CEO Sipho Nkosi, who is also president of the Chamber of Mines of South Africa, said on Thursday.

Nkosi told Mining Weekly Online in an exclusive televised interview: "It's not a one company issue, it's a country issue."

Exxaro is currently South Africa's largest coal producer and a major supplier to embattled electricity utility Eskom.

Nkosi's comment follow those of Impala Platinum CEO David Brown, who described South Africa's skills issue as the "single biggest issue facing the country and one which is a major, major area of concern".

"I don't think that it is a position that we can continue in this country forever and a day, otherwise costs, literally, are going to continue to spiral out of control for the whole industry," Brown warned, and called for the skills issue to become a high-level engagement between both government and industry.

He called for cooperative training initiatives through engagement with government in order to drive down costs and to increase the skills pool.

Brown pointed out that labour made up 60% of mine costs and was "the major driver of higher unit costs going forward".

Nkosi said: "If you look at our own organisation, the many vacancies we have are causing quite a lot of delay, not that it is solely us, but even our suppliers are battling."

He was, however, encouraged by the fact so many South African companies had become engaged in training "because we all know that we need to grow this pool".

Government, he said, had responded to some degree by putting up structures such as Jipsa to look at skills, and Exxaro was party to that, as was the Chamber of Mines and Busa.

"It's a national issue, it's a national crisis," he said.

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