The minister also announced that failure to follow the Covid-19 regulations under level 3 will be regarded as a criminal offence.
Gwede Mantashe briefs the media on the outcomes of the special National executive Committee meeting at Luthuli House, 14 November 2017. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark
Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe announced on Friday that the mining industry has reported 384 positive cases of Covid-19 as of Thursday, 28 May 2020.
“That means of the current 27,403 cases in South Africa, 384 are in mining and over 4,600 people were tested in the process. While mines are doing well in testing, they are failing to keep up with it,” he said during a media briefing.
Mantashe said that prior to ramping up production, all mining operations are required to prepare and implement a mandatory code of practice to manage the Covid-19 regulations, and failure to do so will be regarded as a criminal offence.
The minister said his department will continue to monitor compliance through regular unannounced and scheduled visit to mining operations. The testing and screening of people has helped to detect the virus in various mines.
“A new complication that is emerging is people who show no signs of Covid-19, but test positive. This tells us that we need to intensify our screening and testing programme,” he continued.
On energy, Mantashe said to ensure security of energy supply to society, collieries that supply Eskom continued to operate at full capacity.
“During alert level 5 of the lockdown, we allowed refineries to continue operating at full capacity to avoid shortages of fuel because at the time, demand had collapsed due to the closing of the economy. As a result, four refineries were closed,” he said.
The minister added that with the gradual opening of the economy under level 4, the demand has increased sharply, resulting in low stocks of diesel.
“It is expected that diesel will be rationed until the end of May, when refineries that were closed start producing,” he said.
On mining, he said that all deep mining operations are expected to ramp up to full capacity under lockdown level 3.
“Under level 5, collieries that supply Eskom and oil refineries were allowed to operate at full capacity. This was extended to open cast mines under level 4, so all mining operations must prioritise the health and safety of mine workers and other persons who may be directly affected by the operations of the mine.
“We believe that the directive to all mining operations to ensure safe start-up procedures, and the systematic phasing in of workers, will allow the sector to operate safely and optimally,” he said.
(Compiled by Molefe Seeletsa)
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