South Africa’s worst ever power blackouts are threatening platinum and palladium supplies in the top miner, both now and in the years ahead. Outages last year curbed output of the metals, and the power crisis that’s crimping the economy has worsened in recent months. The nation’s platinum-group metals production will likely fall this year, according to Impala Platinum. The electricity crunch is hurting South African industry and agriculture and blackouts are expected for at least two more years, threatening output in Africa’s most industrialised economy. It’s yet another headache for major mining companies such as ... (full story)