Platinum group metals company Platinum Group Metals (PTM) believes platinum-group metals (PGMs) will start to play a greater role in the development of more efficient lithium-ion batteries.
PTM recently partnered with Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) to launch a new venture, Lion Battery Technologies, to investigate the benefits of adding PGMs to battery technology.
The venture is 52%-owned by PTM and 48% by Amplats.
The companies are backing a researcher at Florida International University, who found that lithium oxygen and lithium sulphur batteries can perform better with the addition of PGMs, which can increase a battery’s energy density.
PTM CEO R Michael Jones says the company has since filed several patents and is getting to a more advanced stage, where the likelihood of making the leap to battery chemistry and lithium-ion batteries "looks promising".
The first batteries of this kind are likely to go to China, he adds, as the country has made significant advances in the use of fuel cells in trucks.
PTM is currently developing its Waterberg project, in South Africa, which is predominantly palladium based and has 19.5-million ounces of proven and probable reserves, Jones says. MW