South Africa's biggest gold mine is switching to solar power later this year, saving R123 million in electricity costs, lowering its carbon footprint, and mitigating load shedding disruptions.

Carbon taxes, as proposed by the Treasury, are too high and could make mining companies in SA less competitive if they do not act fast enough to cut their emissions, says Niks Lesufi of the Minerals Council SA.

CAPE TOWN (miningweekly.com) – Gold Fields’ South Deep gold mine west of Johannesburg in Gauteng will be generating its own solar power at a mere 8.5% of the cost of power from the national grid.

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Dual-listed gold producer Gold Fields has reported a 22% year-on-year increase in its headline earnings to $890-millon, or $1 a share, for the year ended December 31.

Having turned a profit for the third year in a row, the once-troubled South Deep gold mine is on track to becoming "bulletproof" at any gold price, Gold Fields has said.

GOLD Fields CEO, Chris Griffith identified South Deep as the group’s stand out performer in the company’s 2021 financial year saying gold output of 293,000 ounces – 29% higher than forecast – would be exceeded this year.

On the back of a major solar project, which is mere months away from powering up the South Deep gold mine in Johannesburg, Gold fields is now turning its attention to the possibility of introducing wind energy to the operation, too.

The mining industry has called for urgent deregulation of the energy sector so that private players can help to relieve crippling energy shortages facing South Africa.

South Africa needs more power generation to overcome the supply gap and underpin economic growth, and investments by private companies, including mining houses, are essential to close that gap.