Board-Ansicht
Mix-Ansicht- PALLADIUM - large producers... - Wolfgang, 12.01.2001, 13:49
- Strategie - MJW, 12.01.2001, 13:56
PALLADIUM - large producers...
Gefunden unter: http://www.medallionresources.com/platinum/risepall.html
The Major Players in Platinum and Palladium
The dramatic rise in the platinum and palladium prices has naturally attracted a lot of investor attention to the companies involved with these metals. Many of these companies have already enjoyed big gains in their share prices, up as much as five times in the past few months.
The following section will briefly introduce some of the more important companies involved in PGMs. Resource Opportunities will be following the companies in this sector closely, and will be making more specific recommendations over time.
South African Producers
Anglo American Platinum is the world's largest producer of PGMs, with annual production of 1.9 million ounces of platinum, 950,000 ounces of palladium and 150,000 ounces of rhodium. Amplats has several expansion projects underway that will increase production 20% by 2002. That expansion comes with a heavy capital cost: over $400 million in the past two years, and a requirement for a further $100 million a year to maintain the production level. Amplats' share price is up 130% from a year ago, giving it a fair value at the current metal prices.
Impala Platinum produced 2.04 million ounces of PGMs last year. The company has the capacity to produce over 3 million ounces with its existing smelter and refinery, but has limited potential to expand its mining operations. Implats has chosen to partner with smaller mining companies that will operate the mines to produce concentrate to feed its processing facilities. Two of these arrangements will be discussed below.
This partnership approach will allow Implats to increase its PGM output with minimal capital cost. Even though the share price is up 250% in the past year, Implats' share price will likely move higher as the production level rises.
The third major South African platinum producer is Lonplats, a division of Lonmin plc, a diversified mining company whose interests include a big stake in troubled Ashanti Goldfields. Lonmin produced 625,000 ounces of platinum and 288,000 ounces of palladium last year. Lonmin's other holdings make it an unattractive PGM play.
Aquarius Platinum, the newest platinum producer, began full commercial production from its Kroondal Mine is South Africa last November. Aquarius is being valued on the basis of its 45% interest in this mine, with little recognition of its developing Marikana project, and other projects soon to get underway.
North American Producers
There are only two primary producers of PGMs outside of Russia and South Africa.
Stillwater Mining Company (SWC-AMEX) is mining a large, high grade PGM deposit in Montana. The Stillwater Mine produced 315,000 ounces of palladium and 94,000 ounces of platinum last year. Development work is well advanced to increase production to 1.2 million ounces per year by 2002. Stillwater's price is up more than 100% from its low of last year, but could move higher as investors get more comfortable with progress on the expansion plans.
North American Palladium (PDL-T) produced about 75,000 ounces of PGMs last year, mainly palladium, from its Lac des Iles mine in Ontario. The company struggled for years to make a profit from the small, low-grade operation. Things changed dramatically for the company when it announced a feasibility study on an expansion project that will boost output to 249,000 ounces of palladium and 24,000 ounces of platinum, plus gold, copper, nickel and cobalt. These projections, together with the higher metal prices propelled the share price as high as C$12.50 from the C$2.50 level last fall.
Development Companies
There are only a few development level PGM projects held by smaller companies. Here are two.
Platexco Inc. (PTX-T) holds a deposit in the Bushveld Igneous Complex in South Africa that has 11.1 million ounces of PGMs. A prefeasibility study projected 200,000 ounces per year of production. The company is now completing a full feasibility study. Platexco's price has already tripled in the past year.
SouthernEra Resources Limited (SUF-T) is a sleeper in the PGM world. It is better known as a diamond producer and explorer. In addition to its diamond interests, it also holds an option from Implats to buy a 54% interest in Messina Platinum, a Johannesburg listed company. Messina has a 10 million ounce PGM deposit, which already has a shaft in place. Messina's deposit is only 16 kilometers from SouthernEra's diamond mining operation, and could be brought to production quickly and inexpensively. SouthernEra is close to completion of a feasibility study that will
allow it to complete the acquisition and finance the development.
Exploration Companies
There are only a few places in the world with realistic potential to find PGM deposits. The known areas, of course, are already covered with mining concessions, mostly held by North American juniors. The Sudbury Region of Ontario is one of the most promising areas to search for PGMs. This area has produced more PGMs than any region outside of Russia and South Africa. Almost all of the production, which is mainly palladium, has come as a by-product of massive nickel and copper mines. Two of the world's largest nickel producers - Inco and Falconbridge - are based in this region.
These two major mining companies have spent decades searching for additional deposits in their back yards. However, almost all of that work was done at a time when the palladium price was less than $100 per ounce. The work was focused on finding base metal deposits. At that time, it was believed that the PGMs were directly associated with the base metals. Areas without obvious base metal content were ignored. Today, geologists know that PGMs can be found in rocks devoid of other metals, and therefore not have any visual clues. This necessitates a sophisticated geological approach.
Numerous junior companies are exploring in this region. We will be profiling the companies with the best prospects over the coming months, but two company deserve a mention at this time. Pacific Northwest Capital (PFN-CDNX) has numerous properties, and a highly qualified exploration team. Even more importantly, PFN has a joint venture with Amplats, the world leader in platinum. That joint venture is a strong endorsement of the world-class potential of this region. Implats, the number two platinum company, is also involved in the region, by way of a joint venture with Mustang Minerals (MMIN-CDN), adding to the credibility of finding major deposits in the region. Most of the prospective ground in the area is now held by junior companies.
The biggest PGM production outside of Russia and South Africa at the moment comes from the Stillwater Complex in Montana. Stillwater Mining Company has delineated reserves of 26 million ounces of PGM in a narrow zone known as the J-M Reef. The company has outlined a further resource of about 27 million ounces, in the same structure. The J-M Reef grades about 0.71 ounces per tonne of palladium plus platinum.
Idaho Consolidated Metals (IDO-CDNX) has staked or optioned virtually all of the potential areas in the Stillwater Complex not now held by Stillwater Mining Company. There is very good evidence that PGMs are hosted in the Stillwater Complex outside of the J-M Reef, giving IDO a good chance of a major discovery.
Altoro Gold (ATG-CDNX) holds two large PGM-bearing intrusive complexes in South America. The company recently announced a joint venture on its Pedra Branca property that will accelerate work on the project. Anooraq Resources (ARQ-CDNX) is currently drilling on its Platreef property in South Africa, making it the only junior company to be exploring in the Bushveld Igneous Complex. The property is immediately adjacent to one of Amplats' mines. Previous drilling has shown that the PGM-bearing zone is present on the Anooraq property, and the
current program is designed to delineate the zone.
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So die nächste Frage lautet dann, auf welche Companies leben haupts. von Palladium, hedgen nicht selbst und es gibt Puts drauf...
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