South Africa’s Platinum Miners Brace for More Pain This Year – by William Clowes (Bloomberg News – March 6, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — South Africa’s platinum producers are in crisis, as slumping metal prices force jobs cuts and erode profits. The nation’s platinum sector — which accounts for about 70% of global output — has been a key export industry and generates jobs for hundreds of thousands of people in a country with one of the world’s highest unemployment rates.

Over the past two weeks, the four biggest producers — Sibanye Stillwater Ltd., Anglo American Platinum Ltd., Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. and Northam Platinum Ltd. — have all released sobering earnings reports. Those results have helped us learn the following:

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Palladium price drops below platinum for first time in five years – by Staff (Mining.com – February 8, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

The palladium price fell on Thursday below the platinum price for the first time since April 2018, as growing demand concerns and bets on stable supply weighed on the metal.

Palladium retreated 2.8% to $869.6 per troy ounce, its lowest in five years, while platinum stood at $874.5.Palladium fell by 39% in 2023 after rising prices from 2018 to 2022 caused the auto sector, accounting for 80% of demand, to start replacing it with cheaper platinum in autocatalysts.

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Slowdown in financing affords opportunity for Thunder Bay mining company to gain ground – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 31, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Clean Air Metals on the hunt for ‘distressed’ mineral projects in northwestern Ontario

It’s a lousy financing environment in junior mining, but Thunder Bay’s Clean Air Metals sees a strategic opportunity to go big. The owners and mine developers of the Thunder Bay North palladium-platinum project are out to enlarge its mineral holdings and are scanning the North for acquisition targets and partnership deals.

Northwestern Ontario is the place to be, the company said in a recent news release. Given the significant nickel, copper and palladium group metals showings, it “remains one of the best places in the world to explore for this suite of metals.”

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Nornickel expects palladium and platinum shortage to widen this year – by Vladimir Basov (Kitco News – December 4, 2023)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – In its recent research report released today, Nornickel, the world’s largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel, said that it has revised the 2023 palladium market deficit from -0.2 Moz to -0.9 Moz.

The company added it has reviewed the secondary supply of palladium from +9% growth down to 15% fall, while slightly lower than expected primary production from North America will be offset by weaker electronics demand. As for the platinum market, Nornickel expects it to flip into the fundamental deficit this year.

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Low Platinum Prices Show How Banking on Miners Could Threaten the Energy Transition – by Yusuf Khan (Wall Street Journal – November 15, 2023)

https://www.wsj.com/

South Africa’s platinum-sector woes show how quickly fortunes can change in mining

Plunging prices for platinum and other critical metals could derail mining investment needed to develop new supplies, posing a significant threat to decarbonization targets set by countries around the world.

Platinum is used to make the electrolyzers that produce hydrogen and the sharp down cycle in South Africa’s platinum mining sector demonstrates how low prices and a lack of investment could slow the energy transition.

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UK Sanctions on Russian Plant Send Jitters Through Palladium – Eddie Spence (Bloomberg News – November 10, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The cost of borrowing palladium has climbed since the UK imposed sanctions on a key Russian refiner earlier this week, reflecting bets that it may lead to supply disruptions.

Britain on Wednesday announced sanctions on Krastsvetmet JSC, which is the main refinery used by top palladium producer MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC. If Western companies seek to avoid products processed at the refinery in response to the sanctions, Norilsk — which accounts for about 40% of global output — may struggle to find a more palatable alternative.

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How the wheels came off for SA’s platinum group metal miners – by David McKay (MiningMX – September 27, 2023)

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We didn’t see it coming” are not the words investors typically want to hear. But it was a refreshingly honest take from Northam Platinum CEO Paul Dunne, when asked about the decline in platinum group metal (PGM) prices that led to his company calling off its 18-month pursuit of Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat).

Tearing up the tarmac one day, wheel-less the next. So often that’s the story of commodities. But in PGMs — a niche, yet critically important family of metals that supply the global car industry — the past three years have been quite the ride. To be clear, Dunne’s dismay wasn’t about a market correction. That much was anticipated — rather, it was the speed and extent of that correction.

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The Drift: Smaller is greener and cheaper for Sturgeon Falls-area palladium mine developer – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – July 5, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

New Age Metals rolls out revised economic assessment for its River Valley PGM project

The company that once hawked its River Valley project, east of Sudbury, as the “largest undeveloped primary PGM resource in North America” has come back with a revised mine plan.

Inflation and a number of other uncertainties forced New Age Metals to go back to the drawing board last spring to sketch out new plans for a potential platinum group metals mine in the West Nipissing-Sturgeon Falls area.

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Generation Mining primed to go ‘full bore’ on Marathon pit project – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – April 6, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Company lining up financing for $1.1-billion three-pit operation on Superior’s north shore

Generation Mining is hoping to tap into federal ‘green’ tax credits to help finance the construction of a $1.1 billion palladium and copper mine near the north shore of Lake Superior.

In a webcast this week, company management briefed shareholders on the updated feasibility study for its Marathon open-pit development and explained the path to production. The study revealed the project pricetag to build and outfit the predominately palladium mine and mill operation has increased by 25 per cent to $1.1 billion.

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Ouch! Thunder Bay miner’s resource estimate just doesn’t add up – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 16, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Clean Air Metals’ Current deposit may be off as much as 50 per cent, company retracts preliminary economic assessment report

Clean Air Metals has suffered a major setback in its plans to develop a mine north of Thunder Bay.

The local junior miner reports there’s been a miscalculation in the mineral resource estimate of one of its two platinum group metal and copper deposits at its Thunder Bay North Project. And the reduction in the amount of metal in the ground could be in the range of 20 to 50 per cent lower than what was originally reported in 2021.

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Extortion ‘mafia’ hits SA’s R947 billion mining sector – by Felix Njini and Antony Sguazzin (Bloomberg News/News 24.com – December 2022)

https://www.news24.com/

A threatening letter, a derailed train, blocked roads, burnt vehicles, workers locked up. That’s what some of the world’s biggest mining companies say they’re battling in South Africa: Extortion.

Covid-19 plunged Africa’s most-industrialised country — home to the biggest deposits of metals ranging from platinum to chrome and manganese — into the deepest economic contraction in more than a quarter century, and its aftermath has left it with soaring inflation, one of the world’s highest unemployment rates and a collapse of local government services.

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First Nation strikes benefits deal with Marathon mine builder – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – November 15, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Generation Mining anticipates construction start of open-pit project in early 2023

The developers of Marathon-area open-pit project have struck a community benefits agreement (CBA) with a neighbouring First Nation on the north shore of Lake Superior.

Toronto’s Generation Mining announced Nov. 14 that the membership of Biigtigong Nishnaabeg (formerly Pic River) has approved a community benefits agreement involving the construction and environmental safeguards of the proposed Marathon Palladium-Copper Project owned by Generation PGM.

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Russia Stake in Biggest Zimbabwe Platinum Project Deters Backers – by Felix Njini, Loni Prinsloo and Godfrey Marawanyika (Bloomberg News – June 3, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Zimbabwe’s biggest platinum project, struggling to get off the ground for the past two years has a new challenge. A major stake held by a Russian tycoon is scaring off potential financiers for the $3 billion mine, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Initial development work on the Darwendale deposit began in early 2020, but operations at the project were soon halted because of a lack of capital and the site has been abandoned since early last year, according to a report by Zimbabwe’s Centre for Natural Resource Governance.

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Gangs Stealing Cables Miles Underground Torment South African Platinum Mines – by Felix Njini (Bloomberg News – May 8, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — South African miners are battling a growing threat miles underground in the world’s deepest platinum shafts: Gangs stealing copper cables and disrupting operations.

Enticed by high copper prices, thieves are sneaking in, descending deep underground and setting up camp among vast networks of tunnels to strip metal from power cables. The country’s platinum giants are struggling to contain the syndicates of trespassers known as “zama zamas” — a Zulu name that means “take a chance.”

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South Africa would do well to highlight its key iridium status to world that needs this very rare metal – by Martin Creamer (Mining Weekly.com – May 3, 2022)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa would do well to highlight its key iridium supply status to gain the full confidence of a world that requires this very rare platinum group metal (PGM) to advance the fast-moving hydrogen economy.

Iridium is a potent co-roleplayer with PGMs stalwart platinum when it comes to electrolysing hydrogen from water. Because of South Africa’s solar power potential, land availability and PGM endowments, SFA Oxford CEO Henk de Hoop expresses the view that the country should raise its flag to highlight the key role it can play in fostering global decarbonisation. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

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