Post #319

Power to Smelt Electricity may kill or save South Africa's chrome production 🇿🇦 South Africa's chrome manufacturershave grabbed preferential electricity tariffs from Eskom, the country’s main power utility. With it a chance arrives to preserve the domestic industry and avoid becoming yet another raw-material appendage of China. 🔥 In the 2000s, South Africa became both the world’s leading producer of chrome ore and the leading manufacturer of ferrochrome. But this advantage started to evaporate when electricity began to soar in price. The smelters of the country’s two major processors — Glencore and Samancor — consume around 6–7% of all electricity in South Africa, while the cost of power has increased eightfold since 2008. ⚙️ As a result, raw ore began to bypass local plants and flow to China, where electricity is roughly 50% cheaper. South African processors responded by shutting down furnaces and threatening the Govt with massive layoffs. The national responsibility of South Africa’s government now is to preserve its place under the industrial sun — even at the cost of preferential treatment, lower revenues and direct state intervention — before Chinese factories occupy that space entirely. ➡️ Follow to stay informed - @devilsbelow