Northam Platinum’s ‘mine without end’ exposes SA’s supply crisis
NORTHAM Platinum CEO Paul Dunne might joke that “there’s no luck in mining”, but fortune has certainly favoured his company in the past few months. For starters, resource…
Platinum selldown a “pothole, not the end of the road”
PLATINUM shares have returned to buy territory after months of falling metals prices, sending valuations lower. The basket price for platinum, palladium and rhodium, the main…
Gold, platinum shares in good space after metals correct
ENTHUSIASM for precious metals had evaporated in recent weeks, leaving mining shares in good buying territory, said analysts. “Investor sentiment towards South African mining…
Mining’s slow burn exposure to Middle East conflict
THE memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the US and Iran appears to have brought a relative calm to the Middle East, the occasional conflagration in the Strait of…
Platinum Week cognoscenti agree the metal will keep rolling on
PLATINUM has been on the wrong end of the Middle East crisis falling 13% since hostilities between the US and Israel and Iran began. Yet industry mavens who gathered for the…
Investors take profits from platinum but tailwinds persist
A RECOVERY in supply and reduced investor demand resulted in an oversupply of platinum in the first quarter of this year, said the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) in an…
Is this a new era for platinum? Its miners think so
SINCE the decline of gold production in the 1990s, platinum has become South Africa’s most valuable strategic metal, and among its most important economically. Of critical raw…
The stunning rebound of South Africa’s PGM producers
EXACTLY two years ago, Northam Platinum CEO Paul Dunne, who is also president of the Minerals Council South Africa, warned that a severe squeeze on the platinum group metals…
What’s really driving the platinum price?
WHAT’S driving the platinum price? Two things, say analysts. Firstly automakers were caught short by the decline in demand growth for electric vehicles; certainly more than their…
Valterra CEO confident platinum price rally is sustainable
THIS year’s Platinum Week conference in London in May was a turning point for platinum group metals (PGMs) and the miners, said Valterra Platinum CEO, Craig Miller. Speaking at…
How might Trump’s tariffs affect the global metals sector?
THE US government confirmed in February its intention to remove all exemptions and restore section 232 import tariffs on steel (25%) and aluminium (25%, up from 10%). Effective…
Sibanye-Stillwater pulls plug on US lithium project
SIBANYE-Stillwater has pulled out of US lithium/boron project Rhyolite Ridge which would have committed it to spending just under $500m for a 50% stake. The…
For many in the US, battery electric vehicles don’t add up
THERE is not a single charging station for electric vehicles (EVs) in Wyoming, a predominately rural state in the mountainous west of the US where people tend to drive large…
Neal Froneman’s greatest test lies ahead
Neal Froneman’s career has been a series of risky acquisitions. Either he turns around lossmaking mines bought at a snip, or he buys assets at the bottom of the market cycle.…
No sign of life yet in PGMs despite industry restructuring
IT is three years since the bubble in platinum group metal (PGM) prices began to deflate. Back in June 2021, rhodium was trading at over $20,000 per ounce. It’s now at $4,650/oz.…
Plant closures not enough to stimulate the nickel price
AN estimated 400,000 ton cut in nickel production in the last year, about 10% of total production, might not be enough to stimulate the nickel price, said the Financial Times.…
PGM market through the worst, says Tharisa CEO
THE platinum group metal (PGM) market had seen the worst of an 18-month price correction, said Tharisa CEO Phoevos Pouroulis in a third quarter update. “PGM prices for the…
Time to let out the handbrake on platinum group metals?
The JSE’s four largest platinum miners cut nearly R30bn in planned capital and stay-in-business expenditure in February in a clear vote that the metal’s price, and those of its…
‘A very bloody picture’. Why Northam is downbeat on PGMs
TWO years ago things were looking so good for the platinum sector that Impala Platinum (Implats) and Northam Platinum got into a corporate brawl over ownership of Royal Bafokeng…
SA’s platinum group metal miners hit rock bottom – hopefully
TRADING updates from Impala Platinum and Anglo American Platinum this week are telling the story of last year’s wipeout in share prices. According to RMB Morgan Stanley dividends…