The corporate’s board has authorized the development of a chrome restoration plant at its Bokoni platinum mine, the place the platinum ramp up shall be “phased and measured” because of the decrease costs.
The basket value of PGMs fell about 40% final yr and the slide has continued into 2024.
South African platinum miners are more and more turning to chrome, which is a by-product of their main manufacturing, to offset the affect of low PGM costs.
“That’s extra income. It comes on prime of what you have already got when it comes to fastened prices, subsequently diluting your general working prices,” ARM CEO Phillip Tobias stated throughout a outcomes name.
“In case you have a look at the traits, you’ll have seen that China has been shopping for plenty of chrome ore,” he added.
Different miners, together with Sibanye Stillwater and Concord Gold have just lately diversified into vital metals resembling lithium and copper, that are important for renewable power methods.
In Could, ARM acquired a 15% stake in Surge Copper, which has two copper exploration initiatives in Canada.
“We need to get in there. It’s a part of ARM’s technique of diversification into copper,” Mike Schmidt, ARM’s govt for development and strategic growth, stated throughout the identical name.
Tobias stated the ARM board thought of its 12% shareholding in Concord Gold to be extra strategic now because of the gold miner’s copper property.
Concord expects to begin producing from its Eva Copper undertaking in Australia by 2028. It additionally collectively owns the Wafi-Golpu gold-copper undertaking in Papua New Guinea with Newmont.
($1=17.6982 rand)
(Reporting by Nelson Banya; Modifying by Clarence Fernandez and David Evans)