Sibanye Stillwater says it needs government support to compete with foreign producers that pay workers less and abide by looser environmental regulations.
Sibanye Stillwater, the South African company that operates the nation’s only major palladium mine in south-central Montana, said Thursday that it plans to lay off about 40% of its Montana workforce as it scales back its operation in an effort to offset losses caused by low metal prices.
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Generation Mining focusing on copper amid permitting delays, hunt to secure project financing
Generation Mining president-CEO Jamie Levy wants to assure all that the Marathon palladium-copper mine will get built. Ever since the Toronto junior miner first appeared on the north shore of Lake Superior in 2019, the company has been a press release-generating machine with its ambitious plans for an open-pit operation.
But in recent months, there’s been a lull in news flow that’s prompted a few concerned investors to ask Levy if the project is stalled.
The World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) has highlighted the launch of a new platinum alloy named Inoveo Platinum, which it believes has the potential to transform platinum jewellery design and manufacturing.
Established by Platinum Guild International (PGI) USA, Inoveo Platinum was codeveloped by mining major Anglo American and materials designer and developer Alloyed following years of research and development.
The platinum market faces its largest supply shortfall in 10 years in 2024 as shipments from Russia return to normal from last year’s highs and industrial demand stays firm, Johnson Matthey said in a report on Thursday. The autocatalyst maker added that it expected all platinum group metals (PGM) – platinum, palladium, and rhodium – to remain in deficit in 2024.
The three metals are used in autocatalysts that reduce emissions from vehicle engines, with platinum also used in other industry and for jewellery and investment.
(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:
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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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.”
(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.
(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.
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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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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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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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.
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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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.
