Platinum Prices Spring Ahead in 2023
“Prices leaped from just above $900 an ounce in late February to $1,132.17 on April 21, the highest in more than a year, before easing to around $1,050 by Tuesday.” [May2]. – Mining.com Platinum price surges as speculators bet supply will run short
Platinum is more precious than ever in 2023, but the greenster effect on the global economy once again seems ubiquitous and inescapable. Now platinum speculators are betting on power outages that can blackout operations for as long as 10 hours per day at South African mines restricting production.
Couple rising demand from automakers with the emerging hydrogen industry, and a hefty bet on supply shortages is far from a longshot for investors.The mining industry has cleaned up its balance-sheets and returned record sums to shareholders, but ongoing shortages are still the smart bet from the speculator’s point of view. “We think this is the first year of serial deficits in the platinum market,” said Standard Chartered analyst Suki Cooper.
Now the question is whether the major mining mergers will result in the oft-mentioned “megamines” and “gigamines” that can produce the record tonnage of platinum, lithium, cobalt, and other essential “magnet metals”, all for sustaining the clearly unsustainable transition to solar and wind that leaves the world in the dark on every calm cloudy day?
South African lithium operations are yet another ironic example of ”sustaining the unsustainable”; where production of the mined metal so essential for emissions control in catalytic converters is restricted by rolling blackouts that are encumbering that nation’s economy. It’s the same way that rolling blackouts and a premature push to “sustainable energy” drove Elon Musk and other industry leaders out of uber-green California.
In the meantime, auto manufacturers, already the most voracious consumers of platinum, are expected to increase demand by another 8% as vehicle production rises.
From Megamines to Mega-Mergers
A quick look at heavy industry headlines easily explains why the money men are purchasing piles of platinum for ETFs and why the major mining players are ready to merge full steam ahead in 2023. As the Economist reported, for mining movers and shakers, “dealmaking is the new digging”.
“Years of discipline, a surge in commodity prices and the prospect of an explosion in demand for “green” metals have mining bosses again dreaming up fantasy deals. For growth-hungry firms, the high costs and risks of developing new projects and relatively cheap valuations for companies in the sector mean that buying looks more attractive than digging. Last year, as dealmaking slumped in other sectors, mining bosses shook hands at a rate not seen in a decade.”- The Economist- Is mining set for a new wave of mega-mergers?
As a decades-old heavy industry human resource “mining” enterprise ourselves, Resource Erectors has made it our business to track and report the trends that result in turbulent workforce shuffles. The green effect on heavy industry operators is one of the most potent trends as world industry attempts to meet ambitious green policy benchmarks, many by 2030 which is now right around the corner.
2030 Benchmarks- Just 7 Years to Achieve Green-topia?
7 years may seem like long-term thinking to speculators, politicians, and bald world bankers, but it’s not much time at all for engineering R&D teams to deliver more with less. In the 21st Century engineering world of Kaizen, 6 Sigma, and other traditional continuous improvement philosophies to live by, those talented R&D teams have already shown time and again that given time and resources they can deliver incredible advancements to keep the world cleaner and greener.
Taking the venerable diesel engine as an example of genuine green engineering and the timetable required for improving existing technology”, the most significant advancements took a minimum of 20 years.
“Nobody 50 years ago would have believed a fuel injection system could produce 44,000 psi and multiple injection events per cycle and still live for thousands of hours. This is a key enabler to performance and meeting emissions standards.” – 50 Years of Equipment Impact: Five Decades of Diesel Engine Evolution
Then there are the political factors, such as the energy crisis situation in South Africa, the world’s largest platinum producer. There, man-made corruption has far more serious consequences on the power grid than any alleged man-made “climate warming” will ever have.
With 75% of the world’s mined platinum at risk, the ambitious all-electric vehicle transition schemes of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos may prove to be the losing bets. The gloomy production forecast for South African miners may be bright for investors, but a wet blanket for EV and other platinum-dependent industries across the board.
“South Africa produces 70-75% of mined platinum supply. Miners there have said rolling power cuts could cut their output by 5-15% this year, Cooper said, adding that Russian production may also disappoint.”- Platinum price surges as speculators bet supply will run short
Caught in the Merger Shuffle? Resource Erectors Can Deal You a New Hand
Just as career enhancing opportunities to advance are created by mergers, not a few once critical vacancies aren’t so critical anymore when both companies have redundant leadership talent available for those positions.
Fortunately, with more than 20 years of ongoing industry connections, Resource Erectors has the inside scoop on the top professional candidates available and the companies who need those talents to thrive in a vibrant but turbulent business environment.
“Our focus at Resource Erectors is to develop and nurture long-term relationships with companies offering fulfilling careers and strong, long-term career advancement opportunities for their people. Companies known to provide professionals with attractive financial incentives including attractive bonus, retirement and profit sharing plans and more.” – Dan Duszynski– CAREER SEARCH SERVICES FOR MINING, CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS, AND CIVIL CONSTRUCTION PROFESSIONALS
If you’re a seasoned heavy industry professional in mining, industrial minerals, civil construction, concrete, aggregates, sales, safety, and of course engineering in every way shape and form, don’t hesitate to contact Resource Erectors so we can put you in touch with the industry-leading companies who need your talents for 2023 and beyond.
