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Platinum and palladium have been spotlighted on day-two of Shanghai Platinum Week, where South Africa is well represented by Minerals Council South Africa as well as platinum group metals (PGM) mining company executives.

The newly announced ingot and sponge monthly contracts offer a domestic mechanism to hedge price risk and boost the ongoing development of China's PGMs market, which is essential to the Asian giant's energy transition and ongoing decarbonisation efforts.

No other exchange in the world enables the delivery of sponge, which could be transformative for industrial users of PGMs, as well as automakers, as this is the main form typically used for their manufacturing purposes, Mining Weekly can report.

Chinese national futures exchange dedicated to green commodities essential for the energy transition - Guangzhou Futures Exchange - on Tuesday revealed the details of its platinum and palladium futures contracts during a keynote speech at Shanghai Platinum Week.

The new contracts, which are denominated in local renminbi yuan currency, will be the first platinum and palladium derivatives available in China, marking a highly consequential new hallmark in global PGMs marketing.

The new futures contracts represent an important shift in the way both metals are purchased, traded and how price risk is managed, particularly for domestic market participants in China, but also internationally.

Rather than the three-month contracts typically offered by other exchanges, key features of the new products include twelve-month contracts, which not only bestow escalated hedging flexibility but also more frequent opportunities for settlement.

If they hold contracts to expiry, participants will be able to opt to offset the position or to take delivery of either form of the metals.

Uniquely, platinum and palladium in the form of ingots and sponge - pure metal in powder form - as opposed to just ingots, will be accepted if delivery is required.

Other benefits of Guangzhou Futures Exchange 's new futures include providing a mechanism for businesses involved in the market to hedge price risk and better manage their operations, something that is currently not freely accessible in China.

For example, the removal of price risk will allow platinum jewellery and investment product fabricators to reduce the premium charged for platinum products as well as the discount on buyback.

Guangzhou Futures Exchange platinum and palladium futures research and development lead Chen Xuanchen emphasised the impact this was likely to have on platinum and palladium markets, domestically and globally.

"Our exchange fills a gap in the Chinese market, providing the mechanisms to discover the domestic prices of platinum and palladium in China and help businesses hedge price risk, opening up working with the two metals to a greater number of market participants throughout the metal value chains.

"The ability to hedge price risk will provide a welcome boost to the ongoing development of China's PGMs market which is essential to the country's energy transition and ongoing decarbonisation efforts. The availability of domestic futures could potentially boost consumer confidence in both metals, increase the availability of recycled metal and further accelerate demand growth," added Xuanchen.

World Platinum Investment Council CEO Trevor Raymond described the platinum and palladium contracts as a ground-breaking development for the PGMs market globally.

"Any mechanism that enhances the overall stability and efficiency of the Chinese platinum market will have significant benefits for the broader global market," Raymond noted.

The advance arises at a particularly important time for platinum investment demand growth in China, with last year's demand for coins and bars under 500 g in size growing 37% to 52 000 oz, with an additional 134 000 oz of demand from platinum bars in the 500 g to 1 kg ra...

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Thrifted platinum is continuing to play its critical catalytic role in the significant strides that have been made towards making liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) competitive, SherLOHCk reported on Monday.

South Africa foms part of the international SherLOHCk project that is enabling clean hydrogen to be transported and traded globally in the same way as oil and in the process make use of existing oil infrastructure.

As a clean and sustainable energy carrier, which produces no emissions except water, hydrogen has the potential to become the universal energy carrier, but without the environmental impact.

SherLOHCk's aim is to take LOHC down the cost curve and lower the energy it requires to facilitate catalytic reactions.

Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies, part of the South Africa-linked AP Ventures' investment portfolio, has developed a technology to bind hydrogen to an oil, allowing for more efficient and lower cost transport in ambient conditions

Meanwhile, the SherLOHCk project is focused on creating cost-effective and environmentally friendly catalysts that enhance the efficiency of both hydrogenation and dehydrogenation processes and multiple catalyst formulations have been prepared and tested achieving a low platinum content bimetallic catalyst as the most promising ones.

SherLOHCk, which received financial support from the Clean Hydrogen Partnership and the European Union, is targeting cost-effective and environmentally friendly catalysts for hydrogenation and dehydrogenation. Hence, multiple catalyst formulations have been prepared and tested achieving a low platinum content bimetallic catalyst as the most promising ones.

Approaches to reactor design and thermal management have been developed to reduce the overall energy consumption of the LOHC system. Novel catalytic system architecture and internal heating has reportedly proved a stable behaviour in continuous mode.

Initial testing results of a scaled-up LOHC technology demonstration system are described as being very promising.

Moreover, preliminary findings of environmental impact assessments point to LOHC being techno-economically and environmentally.

By pushing the boundaries of LOHC technology, the way is being paved for sustainable hydrogen storage and transport.

"These advancements are crucial for the future of green energy," SherLOHCk stated in release to Mining Weekly, as they address the practical and economic challenges of hydrogen logistics.

Hydrogen is thus poised the viable way of rendering sun and wind energy transportable and tradable on a global scale amid the storage density of hydrogen in LOHC being up to five times higher than conventional high-pressure storage. A cubic metre of LOHC can carry about 57 kg of hydrogen. Thus, transport capacities on trucks, trains, buses, ships and planes are increased, and total cost of hydrogen supply to customers reduced.

Hydrogenious of Germany have developed an efficient and completely safe method for storing and transporting hydrogen - and therefore renewable energy - by chemically binding the hydrogen molecules to an easy-to-handle oil, through LOHC.

The carrier oil is readily available. The fluid used is non-toxic, hardly flammable, non-explosive and remains in a useable and convenient liquid state through a broad temperature range of -39 ºC to 390 ºC, which makes it possible to transport the LOHC in the existing global fuel infrastructure.

The technology as such is thus simple since it is based on a reversible catalytic hydrogenation and then dehydrogenation process. After the release of the hydrogen, the carrier substance can be reused as carrier for several hundred times. With hydrogen being the smallest and the lightest molecule, the efficient storage and transport of hydrogen is the key to connect the upstream and downstream of the complete hydrogen supply chain.

The storage density of hydrogen in the LOHC system is u...

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer notes that South Africa is expected to be well represented at the Shanghai Platinum Week next week; he discusses the potentially game-changing technology for platinum group metal mines; and talks positivity among investors for South Africa’s government of national unity.

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Over the course of April and May, an inflow of more than half a million ounces of platinum flowed into exchange trade funds (ETF) holdings in the UK, the biggest since South Africa's ETF initial public offering (IPO) on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange nearly a quarter century ago.

"The more than half a million ounce inflow we saw into the UK ETFs is the biggest ever addition into any of the regional ETFs, with the exception of when, for example, the South African one was first set up.

"That initial ETF IPO obviously attracted a lot of attention, and therefore a lot of demand for platinum, but this is the biggest non-IPO flow of material we've seen," World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) director of research Edward Sterck highlighted in interview with Mining Weekly ahead of next week's Shanghai Platinum Week from July 8 to July 11.

With studies suggesting that platinum is an effective diversifier of risk alongside other investments and a long-term store of value, Minerals Council South Africa members and South African mining company executives will be well represented at the Shanghai event amid globally up to $10-billion in assets already being invested in platinum.

Chinese investors have known platinum for many years as jewellery and with more people saving for retirement, having platinum as part of a retirement investment is being increasingly seen as making sense.

Shanghai Platinum Week 2024 comes at a time of buoyant platinum investment demand in China, boosted by an increased availability of investment products, including the 100g Dragon platinum bar series and a 1kg bar produced by Metalor.

Last year, retail investment demand in China - encompassing coins and bars under 500g - grew 37% year on year to 52 000 oz. At least a further 100 000 oz of demand came from platinum bars in the 500g to 1kg range. This year, further growth is forecast, with coin and small bar below 500g investment demand alone expected to reach 60 000 oz.

There are no platinum mines in China and having platinum on Chinese soil is seen as a good idea.

China is the world's largest consumer of platinum group metals (PGMs) and South Africa is the biggest supplier of PGMs.

FIVE-YEAR PGMS PROGRAMME

With the New York Platinum Week that is scheduled to take place in September, a company that has had a long association with South Africa as a PGMs promoter - Johnson Matthey - has joined the US Department of Energy's Critical Materials Innovation Hub (CMI) to help shape their five-year PGMs programme.

From hydrogen fuel cells and electrolysers to sustainable fuels and chemicals PGMs are poised to play a key role in the world's advance to a net-zero emissions era.

The company will inform the CMI Hub in developing technologies that make efficient use of PGMs and embed circularity, applying expertise from its decades of experience across the PGM ecosystem, Johnson Matthey industrial PGM research and strategy manager Marge Ryan stated on LinkedIn.

Global advocacy work by the company also extends to membership of UK Government advisory councils and other global organisations.

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The pace of platinum group metals- (PGM-) enabled green hydrogen generation and clean PGM-catalysed fuel cell electricity adoption is building up steadily worldwide.

In a global online communication conducted by Mission Hydrogen and covered by Mining Weekly, Japan's Toyota this week strongly re-emphasised the forward momentum of big and small hydrogen fuel cell electric mobility.

Simultaneously, in Europe, a global pioneer in the production of green and renewable hydrogen, Lhyfe, announced the building and operating of a green hydrogen production plant for Deutsche Bahn in Tübingen, while Siemens Mobility is collaborating with Tyczka Hydrogen and Smart Train Lease in the hydrogen railway sector to provide hydrogen fuel cell trains.

Canada has passed a major clean hydrogen investment tax credit, which will provide green hydrogen developers with tax rebates as big as 40% off their project costs when they develop within the country. Others making similar moves have included Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, India and the US.

Air Products has announced that it intends building a network of permanent, commercial-scale, multimodal hydrogen refuelling stations stretching from northern to southern California, with the New York Stock Exchange-listed company describing the building of robust hydrogen infrastructure as critical to meeting global climate change goals.

As the world's largest supplier of hydrogen, Air Products has hands-on operating experience with more than 250 hydrogen fuelling station projects in 20 countries; its technologies are used in more than 1.5-million fuelling operations a year.

In South Korea, Hyundai's XCIENT fuel cell electric heavy-duty hydrogen truck has clocked 10-million kilometres of total driving distance in Switzerland in three years and eight months, which is seen as testament to the technology's long-term reliability.

In Germany, Hamburg is positioning itself as an international hub in the European hydrogen network, covering both regional and parts of national and European hydrogen supply.

Norway is funding a new hydrogen cargo ship conversion project that will refit green hydrogen fuel cells into an existing vessel to make it environment friendly.

Steps are being taken to locate a green hydrogen-cleaned stainless steel production facility in Savoie, France, that will also provide green hydrogen to decarbonise mobility in the French Alps region where the 2030 Winter Olympics are to be held. In the process, green hydrogen will be highlighted as the sustainable model of winter tourism.

By deciding to use green hydrogen at its Ugitech plant in Ugine, in the French Alps, Swiss Steel Group evoked this comment from Lhyfe vice-CEO Philippe Desorme: "Green hydrogen can and must be deployed as quickly as possible."

At the Tübingen innovation hub, DB Energie is testing new technologies for sustainable rail energy supply, including in the H2goesRail project. Using the green hydrogen produced, a climate-neutral hydrogen train will be put into operation this year on a test route in Baden-Württemberg, between Tübingen, Horb and Pforzheim.

"This project demonstrates the economic viability of hydrogen solutions in the transport and mobility sector," Lhyfe central and eastern Europe head Luc Graré commented.

Speaking to Australian media at a preview event for its iX5 hydrogen prototype car, the head of BMW's hydrogen programme Jurgen Guldner, who recently also took part in a clean mobility presentation in South Africa, reaffirmed BMW's strong faith in hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) technology. A fleet of BMW iX5 hydrogen cars is already on South Africa's roads, with refuelling taking place in Midrand.

Anglo American Platinum CEO Craig Miller emphasised at Resources for Africa's 2024 London Indaba that platinum-enabled and hydrogen-powered FCEVs are poised to play a key role in zero-emission global transport. "We continue to ...

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The reputation of the large Kibali gold mine, run by Barrick Gold in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is being significantly enhanced by its far-reaching contribution to the development and upkeep of key infrastructure, the building of a vibrant local socio-economy, protection of the environment, restoration of game in national parks, and even the revitalisation of an attention-catching coffee cultivation opportunity.

Three hydropower stations have put Kibali in the green energy drive lead, with more than 80% of the mine's power provided by renewable-energy sources, which will be further increased by an upcoming solar power plant. Generated is 40.16 MW of power at an average cost of 0.100 $/kWh.

A previously non-existent economy has been interestingly uplifted by the mine, which has built and still maintains 300 km of road, including DRC's connection to the Ugandan border.

Meanwhile, community growth from 30 000 to more than 500 000 people has resulted in multiple partnerships with local businesses, such as the all-Congolese team that built the Azambi hydropower station.

Nationals make up 95% and expatriates 5% of Kibali work force and it continues to increase local content in its support of 500 DRC companies.

Since 2009, payments to local contractors and suppliers have amounted to $2.78-billion and investment in the recruitment and training of Congolese nationals continues.

Kibali has also written a new chapter in its long support for Africa's biodiversity and the Garamba National Park by introducing a sustainable population of white rhinos in partnership with African Parks and the DRC people.

Procurement of long lead items for the upcoming solar plant and energy storage is underway, which will increase renewable-energy penetration to 85% (from 81%), decreasing thermal power generation fuel consumption by 53%.

Kibali's KCD UG Deeps expansion project being implemented confirms the high-grade down-plunge extension from currently defined reserves, with the deposit remaining open at depth.

Commitment to biodiversity preservation continues, with finalisation of a feasibility assessment to transfer the first additional 30 white rhinos to Garamba to be completed shortly.

Execution of the Cahier des Charges initiative, officially launched in 2023, has now seen the completion of five projects, with four more nearing completion and three in progress. The investment for this initiative over five years totals $8.9-million.

Execution of community development projects continues with 34 projects already completed out of 44 projects launched.

The 2024 fresh-water abstraction target from the Kibali river is 10%, down from last year's 14%, and more than 90% of non-hazardous waste is recycled.

In May, Kibali management visited Loyola University in Kinshasa, which has engineering faculties, with the aim of extending its partnership to secure future human resource growth. Two Kibali bursars have completed their master's studies in mining engineering from Lubumbashi University and engagements continue with key stakeholders to drive and manage local employment.

Targeted is the planting of 1 000 ha of coffee in the Haut-Uele region by 2027 as well as the establishment of a coffee facility to process beans for export and sale within East Africa. By the end of 2025, two-million tons of beans are planned to be processed. The area has favourable conditions for coffee cultivation, including good rainfall. The aim is to revitalise the once vibrant Robusta coffee industry, for which Isiro was once renowned.

"We are not only looking after our host countries in the present but also to their national heritage in the future," Barrick Gold president and CE Dr Mark Bristow told media and other stakeholders.

Kibali, he added, was not only Africa's largest gold mine but also its most automated.

"When we started building Kibali 14 years ago, this was one of the DRC's most und...

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Development of an innovative new mining method for narrow tabular steep dipping orebodies has reached an advanced stage after four years of effort.

"I think this technology has the potential to be a game changer for the right orebodies," African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) executive growth Jacques van der Bijl commented to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Rock around the clock, 24/7 mining, along with surface-controlled automation looks like possibly being on the way in the not too distant future in some of South Africa's narrow tabular orebody platinum group metals (PGM) mines on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex.

Especially with the advancement of electronic control systems and software, the reef boring machine that has already been put through its preliminary paces, is seen as having the potential to boost PGM grades through more selective mining, which then lowers unit costs, enhances safety, streamlines downstream materials - and looks like also potentially being able to slash the size, risk and environmental impact of tailings storage facilities.

By targeting the high-grade upper group two (UG2) reef and minimising dilution, the mined stoping grade can be made to rocket by up to 60%.

The reef boring machines will be equipped with position sensing and steering capabilities to follow the UG2 reef horizon.

Mining Weekly: What are the objectives that African Rainbow Minerals set for this potentially game-changing new reef boring development?

Van der Bijl: I'm excited to talk to you about our innovative reef boring technology that we've developed with our partners. It's been an interesting journey over the past four years. Our main goal was to find a mechanised mining solution to extract UG2 reef more selectively and efficiently, particularly in our narrow tabular orebodies at our Modikwa and Bokoni PGM mines, where nature has given us a gift with the PGM ounces concentrated in a very narrow, 60 cm reef width. However, due to limitations in technology and mining methods, we typically only end up mining at twice that width, about 120 cm, which leads up to 100% waste dilution. The surrounding pyroxenite waste does contain some PGM ounces, but not nearly as many as the UG2 reef. We explored various mining methods and ultimately chose reef boring as the best solution. This method allows us to mine high-grade reef selectively whilst minimising waste dilution, and it also offers the potential for mechanisation and eventual automation. However, one of the main challenges of reef boring, which has been extensively tried in the past, has been to achieve sufficient production volumes to make a meaningful and significant impact on the overall PGM production. For example, if a machine can only do 1 000 t to 2000 t of high-grade reef a month, the PGM content recovered is too low to contribute meaningfully to the bottom line or the mine's production levels. To overcome this, we have set ourselves a target to achieve the same productivity, safety and cost performance as a mechanised, low-profile bord-and-pillar operation in a narrow tabular body, such as Two Rivers mine. We based our targets on the performance of a typical mechanised, stoping crew at a bord-and-pillar operation where 15 000 t a month would be typically achieved, and in the case of Two Rivers, a grade of about 3.3 g/t, 6E, which provides the equivalent of about 50 kg of PGMs a month, or about 1 600 oz. With these objectives that we set ourselves, we would not only be mining selectively and eliminating waste, but also mining at a scale that positively impacts the overall production levels.

How did you approach the development of this technology?

As a PGM mining company, we know our design objectives and mining limitations, but we're not experts in the mechanical aspects of developing reef boring technology. To bridge this gap, we partnered with He...

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Amongst all our investors, there's a very broad support for South Africa's government of national unity initiative, says Pallinghurst Co-Chief Executive and Co-Founder Arne Frandsen.

"I think it's absolutely the right thing that the politicians are doing and I really hope that it'll see the rand getting some muscles back," an upbeat Frandsen told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Pallinghurst's Sedibelo, which began operating the Pilanesberg Platinum Mine (PPM) on the Western Limb of South Africa's platinum group metals (PGM)-rich Bushveld Complex in 2008, has been marking time on the wholly-owned brownfield expansion of PPM into the contiguous deposits of Sedibelo Central, Magazynskraal and Kruidfontein - known as the Triple Crown properties, which have an estimated resource base of more than 60-million platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold, or 4E, PGM ounces.

The predominantly shallow deposits will allow for safe and sustainable mining activities for potentially more than 60 years.

The plan is for the expansion to be mined simultaneously, with ore from the existing opencast upper group two (UG2) and Merensky operation, using two decline shaft systems.

The existing PPM concentrator plant has the capacity to process the Triple Crown ore and ore from the openpits. With minimal reconfiguration, the Triple Crown UG2 and Merensky ore will be blended and processed through the existing Merensky plant, thereby significantly reducing capital expenditure and lowering operating costs.

Sedibelo also plans to commission a 110 000 t beneficiation plant at PPM using cost- and energy-efficient Kell Technology. Kell reduces energy consumption by an estimated 82%, with the associated significant reduction in carbon emissions also improving recoveries and lowering operating costs. Kell, unconstrained by concentrate grade, resistant to other impurities and is not sensitive to chrome levels, is a 'green' hydrometallurgical alternative to traditional electricity-intensive smelting, the most environmentally harmful phase of metal production.

Sedibelo shares an interest in Kell with the South Africa's State-owned Industrial Development Corporation and founder Keith Liddell, who conceived the smelterless concept in the late 1990s while working at South Africa's State-owned mineral research organisation, Mintek, in Johannesburg.

Mining Weekly: Regarding the PGMs market, are PGM prices coming off the bottom in your view?

Frandsen: If I had the dollar for each time I predicted the bottom of the PGM cycle, I would be rich man today. It has defied gravity so many times. But it doesn't change the fundamentals that the world as we know it will need platinum, and that platinum will predominantly come from the Bushveld Igneous Complex, so I remain positive. I guess the old saying that you either pick your timing or you pick your price is right. I believe that PGMs have a has a very bright future, especially if we go into the hydrogen economy and South Africa will play a very important role in that respect.

SOUTH AFRICA AND HYDROGEN

Minerals Council South Africa VP Paul Dunne announced at the council's 134th annual general meeting in Johannesburg last week that South Africa would be well represented at the upcoming Shanghai Platinum Week 2024, which takes place from July 8 to 11 amid the growth in PGM applications in China being extremely high.

"While it's called Shanghai Platinum Week, in many respects it'll be the hydrogen metals that we'll be looking at," said Dunne.

Moreover, as reported by LinkedIn on Monday, Anglo American Platinum CEO Craig Miller has just attended the Fuel Cell Vehicle Conference, also in Shanghai, organised by the International Hydrogen Fuel Cell Association.

"I left Shanghai with a renewed confidence in the future of PGMs and their pivotal role in the evolving automotive and energy sectors," said Miller.

"I ...

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the initiative that will boost platinum-based hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles; the role of mining in South Africa’s socioeconomic wellbeing; and the the business model of the Western mining industry needing new power.

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South Africa will be well represented at the upcoming Shanghai Platinum Week 2024, which takes place from July 8 to 11, Minerals Council South Africa VP Paul Dunne has highlighted.

This major event will occur amid the growth in demand for platinum group metals (PGM) applications in China being extremely high, which makes detailed access to the Chinese market hugely advantageous for South Africa.

"There'll be a strong contingent of South African miners in Shanghai," Dunne, who is also CEO of Northam Platinum, assured.

"While it's called Shanghai Platinum Week, in many respects it'll be the hydrogen metals that we'll be looking at - and South Africa, as well as Minerals Council South Africa, will be well represented," said Dunne, in response to a question put by Mining Weekly during the media conference that followed the council's 134th AGM in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

Mining Weekly: At this week's South African-organised London Indaba, Barrick Gold Corporation chairperson John Thornton put major emphasis on the Western mining industry needing to see the future faster, an insight which, he pointed out, China, in particular, is able to offer. Is Minerals Council South Africa intent on assuring an East-West balance to enable South Africa's mining industry - which needs to take urgent steps to enter a crucial new growth phase - to see the future faster?

"Economies in the East are very, very important to the success of our industry," was another of Dunne's affirmative response comments.

In his response, Minerals Council CEO Mzila Mthenjane noted that, in addition to South Africa's need to have quicker access to what lies ahead, particularly in the case of critical minerals and metals, it is also vital that South Africa positions itself to be able to view the changing future from a South African perspective, taking into account the opportunities and the risks of the shifting geopolitical landscapes as they present themselves.

"We're in the very fortunate position of being potential suppliers of these commodities and our look to the future also needs to be considerate of ourselves, our needs, and what we can get out of these minerals from a developmental perspective, as well as how we can help to ensure that the rest of the world is able to climate transition competently and competitively."

Mthenjane is in full agreement with the need for East-West balance: "We need to look to both the East and the West," he stated unequivocally.

WORLD'S LARGEST PGMS CONSUMER

The Shanghai event - sandwiched between the London Platinum Week that took place in May and the New York Platinum Week that is scheduled to take place in September - will be conducted with simultaneous translation at a time when China is reinforcing itself as the world's largest PGMs consumer and South Africa being the largest PGMs supplier.

The crucial event will also unfold for the fourth time in an emerging new era where vehicle manufacture in China is increasing beyond that of the US, making the Asian country's market extremely important from a palladium, platinum, and even rhodium perspective, World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) CEO Trevor Raymond commented in a Zoom interview with Engineering News & Mining Weekly earlier this year.

Moreover, platinum is integral to China's commitment to global decarbonisation by 2060, with the country's strong interest illustrated by last year's Shanghai Platinum Week attracting more than 1 200 in-person delegates from more than 400 different organisations, as well as 180 000 online attendees.

Confirmed attendees include the Guangzhou Futures Exchange, the Bank of Montreal, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Japan's JPX, and many financial, recycling and industrial organisations within China.

Although roughly a third of all PGMs go into China, the country is one of the more opaque markets for non-Chinese market participants, which the week sets out to re...