CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa's mining industry will get priority under measures aimed at cutting electricity use to solve a power crisis, a government minister said on Friday.

"Measures to reduce electricity use should not lead to employment losses. Instead as far as possible, they should maintain shared growth, including through energy-saving practices, development of new sources of electricity as well as production of energy-saving technologies," Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said.

"In this context, the mining industry is receiving priority attention," Erwin told a media briefing following a meeting by the presidential joint working group on electricity.