JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Amid coal miner Glencore’s supply dispute with State-owned entity Eskom – the latter claiming that the coal supplied is below standard – Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi would act as mediator between the parastatal, the Department of Public Enterprises and the miner.

At a media briefing on Wednesday, Ramatlhodi said he had been in touch with Eskom custodian Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown and Eskom acting CEO Brian Molefe with regard to their specific issues. He pointed out that there were two separate themes. “We are dealing with a situation with Optimum and Eskom - with regard to the quality of coal, as Eskom put it to me, as well as the punishment that had been issued on Optimum,” he said.

Glencore stated in a media release that Optimum had been supplying coal to the power utility at a price “significantly less than the cost of production” for a prolonged period, but Eskom served a notice in which it asserted its rights to claim significant historical specification penalties from Optimum and sought to impose future penalties, which would see the miner supply coal at an effective price of R1/t.

Ramatlhodi noted that “all sort of assertions” had been made from both sides and that he was “sitting in the middle of that, mediating the situation”.

“It is not in our interest to shut the mine down. . . Let’s not shut down these mines now, because as we do so, we contribute to job losses. I am hoping that we will find solutions,” he said.