African Barrick hit by power outages in Tanzania

African Barrick Gold (ABG) is to miss its annual production target of 700,000 ounces due to the power disruptions that have plagued output at its Buzwagi mine in Tanzania throughout 2011.

The firm assured today that it has now implemented an additional back-up power facility at the mine.

"As a result of the broader drought conditions experienced in East Africa this year, the availability of this hydropower has been severely limited, placing significant strain on the network and leading to regular power outages," ABG said, adding that maintenance work on the transmission network and gas pipelines didn't help.

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Power-related issues - leading to plant down time and maintenance shutdowns - have cost the firm 35,000-40,000 ounces of gold, the majority of which would have come from Buzwagi.

At points in the fourth quarter, ABG was reported to be having up to five or six daily power outages a day at the mine, meaning that the quarterly production run rate target was not met. As such, the firm has had to scale back it production targets for the full-year.

"As we go into 2012, we will benefit from our investment in additional back-up generating capacity. We are also encouraged by the commitment from the Tanzanian government and the national utility provider TANESCO to add to the installed generating capacity as well as to improve maintenance of the existing infrastructure in the country," the group concluded.