South African mines shut

The unthikable has happened AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., Gold Fields Ltd. and Anglo Platinum Ltd. shut their South African mines as the nation's power shortage worsened, threatening growth and investment in Africas biggest economy.
Eskom Holdings Ltd. told mining companies it couldn't guarantee power today, prompting AngloGold and Gold Fields to stop underground operations on concern outages might trap miners. Anglo Platinum and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., the world's biggest platinum producers, also shut most mines. Their shares dropped and precious metals rose to a record.
Power is like oxygen, for any modern economy, and Eskom, which supplies 95 percent of the country's power, can't meet demand after the government delayed a decision on expansion by four years to 2004.
AngloGold dropped as much as 8 percent in Johannesburg trading and was 5.4 percent down at 297 rand at 10:28 a.m. local time. Gold Fields, Africa's second-biggest producer, declined 5 percent to 112 rand. Anglo Platinum dropped 1 percent to 960 rand while Impala lost 1.6 percent to 244 rand.
South Africa is the world's biggest platinum producer and ranks second, after China, for gold output, so this is very negative for the industry and for the country, It will affect the economy across all industries.
Eskom sent a request to 138 industrial customers yesterday to cut electricity use, the request followed an unprecedented number of power cuts yesterday. According to Eskom power cuts are expected to last until at least 2013!!!
The decision to keep underground workers on the surface will have an impact on productivity as well as on operating costs, it is not clear when the workers will resume their underground shifts.