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FILE| A miner working underground.
The Minerals Council South Africa and the Ferro Alloy Producers Association (FAPA) have rejected the introduction of a chrome ore export tax, saying electricity prices need to come down to save the industry.
Industry players argue that the cost of power is the real cause of the sector’s decline, not ore prices.
Tharisa COO Michelle Taylor says engagements with government are ongoing.
Taylor adds, “In our view, it doesn’t benefit them because their issue is not chrome feedstock or the price of chrome ore or the volume of chrome ore available to them. They’ve got more than sufficient. What makes them not competitive is electricity tariffs.”
She says, “We’ve seen electricity tariffs increase by some 900% since 2008. So when you then go to, say, impose a chrome tax, you’ve got to say, well, all right, well, who’s going to consume that chrome tax? Who’s going to absorb it and who’s going to pay it?”
