https://www.miningweekly.com
Africa|Environment|Mining|Platinum|Technology
Africa|Environment|Mining|Platinum|Technology
africa|environment|mining|platinum|technology

World’s biggest platinum miner makes another bold call on prices

Sibanye Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman

Sibanye Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman

15th January 2021

By: Bloomberg

  

Font size: - +

The world’s No. 1 platinum miner said the price of the metal could climb more than 80% over the next four to five years as the global economy recovers and supply dwindles.

That forecast comes as demand for platinum-group metals has already rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, Sibanye Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman said in an interview from his farm in South Africa’s Limpopo province. Platinum has almost doubled from an 18-year low in March amid supply disruptions and a revival in China’s auto industry, which uses the metal in pollution-control devices.

“Platinum has only just started to re-rate and it will continue,” Froneman said. “There is no reason why platinum will not eventually trade at $2 000 an ounce and probably even higher.”

It’s not Froneman’s first bold call. When the South African dealmaker acquired Stillwater Mining Co. four years ago, critics lined up to say he had overpaid for the US palladium producer. Since then, the price of palladium has almost quadrupled, allowing Sibanye to resume dividends and repay debt.

Platinum will be supported by its increasing use in hydrogen fuel cells, while automakers in China and North America are starting to switch the metal in for more expensive palladium in autocatalysts, Froneman said. New technology developed by BASF SE -- with backing from Sibanye and Impala Platinum Holdings -- to partially replace palladium in autocatalysts could boost platinum demand by at least 300 000 oz/y, he said.

“Substitution has taken off very well in China and the regulatory environment there is a lot more flexible,” Froneman said.

Froneman isn’t alone in his optimism for platinum. The metal could trade at around $1 500/oz  in 2022, according to Georgette Boele, a senior precious metals strategist at ABN Amro Bank. The metal traded just above $1 100/oz on Thursday.

“Slowly but surely the stars are aligning for this precious metal,” Boele said in a note January 6.

As for rhodium, the world’s priciest precious metal that climbed to a record on Thursday, its rally could continue, according to Froneman. There’s still a “substantial” shortfall, said the CEO of Sibanye, which is the biggest rhodium supplier.

“There is no reason for rhodium and palladium prices to come back and there is every reason for the platinum price to increase,” he said.

Edited by Bloomberg

Comments

Showroom

Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East

Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Booyco Electronics
Booyco Electronics

Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
27th March 2024
Resources Watch
Resources Watch
27th March 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.132 0.171s - 108pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now