Mining Veteran Gilbertson: New Platinum Output To Fall Short Dow Jones August 20, 2008: 05:38 AM EST
JOHANNESBURG -(Dow Jones)- New production of platinum group metals will fall substantially short of recent calls, mining industry veteran Brian Gilbertson forecast Wednesday.
Gilbertson, formerly chief executive of BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), told reporters on a conference call that beyond the sharp drop seen in the price of platinum in recent weeks, the metal will remain valuable.
He declined to predict where the metal might trade, but said "demand is going to be huge."
"Platinum really is my first love," Gilbertson said, adding it was a material essential in many areas of industry, from automotive catalysts to the refining of crude oil. The metal also is used in jewelry.
Gilbertson is chairman of Pallinghurst Resources Guernsey Ltd. (PGL.JO), which Wednesday debuted on the Johannesburg stock exchange. The company's investments include stakes in two adjacent properties in South Africa.
South Africa produces more than three-quarters of the world's supply of platinum, although production has been dented first by safety issues and power shortages, which helped send the spot price of the metal spiking. Platinum touched an all-time high of $2,299 a troy ounce in March, but now is trading at $1,352/oz, down 14% this week alone.
'Critically vital' platinum 'misunderstood' metal – Brian Gilbertson Text Size Text Smaller DisabledText Bigger
By: Martin Creamer Published on 20th August 2008 Updated 7 hours ago Platinum-group metals (PGMs) were a “very much misunderstood” group of metals that “the world just wouldn't operate without”, platinum mining doyen Brian Gilbertson said on Wednesday at the listing of his new Pallinghurst Resources company on the main board of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).
Gilbertson said that, while the use of platinum in automobile catalysts and jewellery was well-known, what was not as well known was the fact that without PGMs there would be: * no fibreglass; * no refining of oil that put petrol into vehicle fuel tanks; * no nitric acid and therefore no nitrogenous fertiliser to grow crops; and * the absence of an estimated 20% of all consumer products, that either contained PGMs or required the metals in their production.
“It’s a critically vital element, and 80% of the world’s reserves are here,” he said of the preponderance of PGMs in the Southern African region.
“It’s a set of metals that has a wonderful future for the years ahead,” said Gilbertson of the industry that provided his "first serious job” in the late 1960s.
Pallinghurst, which made its JSE debut at R7 a share as a large volume of equity was transferred from the Bermuda exchange, had two platinum projects that Gilbertson believed the company would be able to develop “very successfully”.
MMB Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
