Cost of Electricity Load Shedding to Mines in Zimbabwe: Direct Assessment Approach

Zimbabwe's mining sector has been hit hard by electricity load shedding from the power utility. Load shedding was seen as a solution to the inability of power utility to supply electricity to meet demand. Electricity supply problems has so many cause and some of which are inability to expand generation capacity, aging equipment, droughts, cost coal supply to thermal plants, vandalism and political disturbances. Mines flooded as a result of poor pumping of water outside the tunnels and mine shafts, and also lost productive hours of production. This study applied the direct assessment approach to estimate the cost of load shedding. A survey method was adopted for the mines as they are scattered. A questionnaire was opted as a research instrument and was administered to mine captains. The results revealed that low capacity mines incurred higher load shedding cost compared to high capacity mines. It was also observed that high valued mineral mines (gold, diamond and platinum mines) incurred high outage cost as compared to low valued mineral mines (vermiculite, graphite and phosphate). From the study it can be concluded that electricity load shedding resulted in high cost to mining sector in Zimbabwe. It is recommended that the power utility should increase power supply to minimise the load shedding and cost of load shedding.