Ghana tells mines to cut power during Cup

JOHANNESBURG, June 20 (Reuters) South African gold producer Gold Fields was told to temporarily cut power usage at its mines in Ghana during the World Cup as thousands of televisions sucked up power.

''We were asked to cut down on our power use during the World Cup... it was a formal letter that came through,'' Terence Goodlace, head of international operations, told an analysts' presentation today.

Gold Fields has two gold mines in Ghana, Africa's second biggest gold producer after South Africa.

Ghana, playing in their first World Cup, earned a stunning 2-0 victory over the highly-rated Czech Republic on Saturday and meet the United States in their final Group E match on Thursday.

Ghana lost their opening match 2-0 to Italy but can still qualify for the last 16. The Italians are top with four points followed by the Czechs and Ghana on three and the U.S. on one.

REUTERS AY HT1647