Arnot Opco Coal Mine Bags 1st Agreement by Signing 10 Year Contract with Eskom

• Embattled power utility Eskom has entered into a 10-year-long coal-supply contract agreement with the Arnot Opco coal mine located in Mpumalanga
• The Arnot Opco coal mine shared information that negotiations around the contract stretched over a few months
• The new contract agreement between Arnot Opco and Eskom is official and Arnot Opco's first signed agreement since its formation

DURBAN - Arnot Opco has entered into a 10-year coal supply contract with Eskom, signalling the start of its business with the state-owned power utility. The mine, situated in Mpumalanga, expressed that the agreement is the result of negotiations that have been conducted over the course of a few months.

The contract is currently Arnot Opco's first following its formation two years ago and contains a clause that permits the parties to leave the agreement after a six-year period.

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The coal from the dedicated coal mine has been described by Eskom as being of high quality and if necessary could potentially be supplied to other power stations.

The coal will be supplied from the firm's Middelburg-based mine dedicated for the Arnot power station with recent expectations from Wescoal predicting the mine to supply 190 million tons of coal to the group, according to Fin24.

Following reports by The Citizen, Sandile Siyaya Eskom’s general manager for Primary Energy stated that the agreements will aid in the development of employment and promote a cost-effective coal supply for the station.

Eskom says illegal connections in the Western Cape cost R700m per year

Previously, Briefly News reported that on Thursday, 12 August, Eskom revealed that illegal connections resulted in losses amounting to over R700 million a year. Over the past week, the embattled power utility implemented load reductions in certain areas in an attempt to steer clear of overloading the network.

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The load reduction was implemented in Khayelitsha, Western Cape. Eskom has warned that load reduction may branch out into other areas in the province outside of Khayelitsha. Alwie Lester from Eskom stated that the load reduction is necessary as the overloading of networks damaged equipment.

According to EWN, Lester stated that their intention is to find some of the overloaded networks and turn them off at certain times in the day so that the power utility may be able to protect its equipment and make sure that legally paying customers receive a steady supply of power.

Source: Briefly News