JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Two of the six furnaces at Xstrata’s Rustenburg operation had been switched off for maintenance, spokesperson Songezo Zibi said on Monday.

The two furnaces were due for scheduled maintenance during the winter months.

“We have decided to move the scheduled maintenance of the furnaces forward, thereby assisting State-owned power utility Eskom to reduce the electricity demand on its supply-constrained grid,” Zibi told Mining Weekly Online.

He explained that should Eskom ask Xstrata to assist in reducing electricity demand to stabilise the grid supply, the miner could respond by either placing a number of furnaces on ‘idle’, which means they are kept hot, but out of production, or by bringing forward scheduled maintenance, which results in furnaces being shut down.

He said the shutdown would not result in production losses, owing to it being scheduled maintenance.

Xstrata’s other furnaces at Wonderkop, in North West, Lion, in Limpopo and Lydenburg, in Mpumalanga were still operating at normal capacities.

He pointed out that 6 out of Xstrata’s 20 furnaces operated with the company’s propriety Primus technology, resulting in a 33% reduction in energy use when compared with other available furnace technology.
 

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