Every Friday, SAfm’s radio anchor Sakina Kamwendo speaks to Martin Creamer, publishing editor of Engineering News & Mining Weekly. Reported here is this Friday’s At the Coalface transcript:

Kamwendo: A new trading launch in London is helping the platinum and palladium metals that South Africa produces.

Creamer: It’s fantastic to have all these futures trading launches. We had one last month in Guangzhou in China, which is a very important one. Now, we have got the Intercontinental Exchange, a New York-listed company that is operating from London. The Chicago side also is still operating and you get Japan working, another second one in London. This is very good news for South Africa's platinum group metals. We are becoming more and more reliant for our economy from these metals and we host them in big quantities. So, it is great that the world is recognising the growing demand for platinum group metals and trading them well, which will help with price discovery.

Kamwendo:  A new South African platinum group metals mining project is taking shape in Limpopo.

Creamer: Yes, this is the Bengwenyama project. Platinum group metals is being developed by Southern Palladium. They are listed in Australia and also in Johannesburg. It is very important. They have done a study on this and they think that they can get their payback in 2,8-years, which is pretty fast and which also shows you the state of the platinum group metals market as being good. They have done the feasibility study. They are now moving into a definitive feasibility study and they are so confident that the planning of the mine is already taking place.

Kamwendo: Inflation caused by the war in the Middle East is slowing South Africa’s mining industry.

Creamer: The mining industry lamented this month that the inflation rate is getting hot for them and it is all because of this terrible war in the Middle East, which is lifting the price of fuels. We know when you have got mining, you have got a lot of diesel in the opencast mines. Then when you go deep, there is a lot of electricity, there is a lot of water, there is a lot of energy required. So, the inflation rate is something that they have to look at very carefully and unfortunately, it’s rising pretty rapidly for them.

Kamwendo: Thanks very much. Martin Creamer is publishing, editor of Engineering News & Mining Weekly.