A Mega Mine, NSW lateritic clay belt, page-20

@Winfield - someone else has your lateral thinking abilities.

Platinum - Not just for batteries.

Demand for platinum has soared in India after the “platinum day of love” ad campaign helped to popularise it as a gift for weddings
When the Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna and his wife, the psychologist Supriya Annaiah, wanted to commemorate the day they fell in love they did it with platinum, exchanging rings from a Bangalore jeweller and sharing photos on social media.
“If I were to choose one attribute of platinum that mirrors our relationship, I would say purity,” Bopanna, 37, said.
This was their “platinum day of love”, a tradition that derives not from the Mughal period or Vedic age but a marketing man’s drawing board eight years ago. Led by sports and Bollywood stars, the day is an increasingly popular ritual among middle-class Indian couples, including those who have arranged marriages, and symbolises love discovered months or even years after their wedding day.
Although platinum has been valued for its strength in securing gemstones and its catalytic properties, which helps to scrub pollutants from car emissions, the resurgence of gold and demonisation of diesel cars has caused prices to crash by nearly 60 per cent in the past decade.
Now the hopes of the platinum industry rest on the shoulders of Huw Daniel, a British marketing executive who is helping to create demand for the metal in India and China. The efforts of the chief executive of Platinum Guild International (PGI) are reaping huge rewards, with demand up 40 per cent in India in the past year. China, the largest platinum jewellery market, has also recorded a significant rise in sales.
Mr Daniel, a former executive with the creative and advertising company Saatchi & Saatchi, said: “Platinum primarily has been in demand in industry and auto vehicles. The jewellery market . . . wouldn’t be there if we hadn’t created it.”
His team has taken a leaf out of De Beers’ “A diamond is forever” campaign, which began in 1948 and made diamonds a must for engagement rings.
In India, PGI has also encouraged parents to give platinum jewellery to the bride and groom. Demand has grown from essentially zero in 2000 to about 190,000 ounces this year.
“We look at what consumers aspire to. In a rapidly changing society, consumers aspire to relationships that will stand the test of time and we match that with the qualities of platinum, which is the strongest precious metal and does not tarnish or change colour over time,” said Mr Daniel, who grew up in Prestatyn, north Wales, and studied at the Cass Business School in London. He said that gold was viewed in China and India as a way of transferring wealth between families and did not have an emotional association.
“In China we introduced the idea of exchanging platinum rings during the wedding ceremony. The consumer in China now more strongly associates platinum with love than any other precious metal.”
The PGI, whose headquarters moved to Hong Kong from London in 2015 to reflect their focus on emerging Asian markets, has trained thousands of salespeople in India to persuade consumers to switch from gold. Film stars such as Freida Pinto and cricketers such as Dinesh Karthik flaunt their platinum rings and necklaces. In China they are trying to tap into the “tier 3” cities, which could become home to a booming middle class in coming years.
However, platinum producers are not out of the woods yet. Volvo announced in July that by the start of next year all its new models would have an electric or hybrid motor. Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler have made other similar commitments. Electric vehicles do not require the catalytic converters that need a platinum lining to oxidise carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons in emissions. Platinum used in catalytic converters accounts for the sale of 3.2 million ounces of the metal a year, more than 40 per cent of demand. Jewellery, by comparison, requires only about 2.3 million ounces a year.
More than 100,000 miners toil daily around the South African city of Rustenburg, the platinum capital of the world, and a collapse in demand would be catastrophic for the country.
Mr Daniel said: “Platinum has been the fastest growing area of the jewellery industry in the past seven years. This year we are expecting 40 per cent growth. With the question marks over the future of automotive, jewellery has become a great focus.”
Centuries-old affair

• Specks of platinum are found in some ancient Egyptian gold objects. The metal was subsequently used in South American metalwork and named platina del pinto by the Conquistadors, meaning the silver-like metal from the Rio Pinto (in today’s Colombia).
• The first platinum jewellery in Europe is believed to have been made around 1780 for Louis XVI of France. The metal was regularly used in industry from the early 19th century.
• The market for platinum jewellery grew in the early 20th century under the influence of jewellers such as Peter Carl Fabergé and Louis-François Cartier. The invention of the catalytic converter in the 1950s and introduction of air quality standards boosted demand.
• It is much rarer than gold but its price is more volatile.
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Just wish the BoD would stop treating us like idiots. Sadly I have bought into a couple of clangers of late and now with the volatility of the past few days I am becoming more disillusioned. We don't need this additional drama that the BoD is subjecting us to.
It was a leaky ship just before RM went so how come all of a sudden the news flow is zero???
IJM