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Gold/Mining/Energy : SRU-ASE : STARFIELD RESOURCES -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elizabeth Andrews who wrote (695)	11/11/1999 10:53:00 AM
From: CIMA	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1239

Palladium sweetens recipe for Amplats, Impala It seems it can only get better for palladium. The metal, used predominantly in autocatalyst fabrication, has a promising future. According to one analyst, there is a 2,1-million ounce palladium supply shortfall each year which is satisfied by metal drawn from Russian stockpiles. However, these stockpiles are now thought to be in decline and forecast to run dry in up to five years. Then there is platinum. Annual growth rates are expected to be 3% a year. Theoretically, this increase can support a new mine every year taking into account total annual demand of 5,2-million ounces. The producers can't keep up and there's no sign of the bubble bursting. Platinum has averaged $416/oz over the last two months compared to $372/oz for the whole of last year. By way of further comparison, the average platinum price for the first ten months of this year is $365/oz. Amplats derives 68% of its income from platinum and Impala 62% at last year's prices. Rhodium, too, has touched levels in excess of forecasts while the nickel price – of which Implats derived a not insignificant 7% of revenue in its last financial year – has doubled. Nickel can be bought at a cash price of $8 070 per ton currently compared to an average of $4073/t in 1998. Amplats is bringing an additional 800 000 ounces of platinum to the market over the next few years, but if Russian supply remains spotty and stockpiles are being depleted, the SA group's expansions will not completely plug the supply deficit. So where will the renaissance in pgms all end? Not in the short-term is the view of most analysts and industry players. Platinum and palladium prices normally have a boost at the end of the year as the severe Russian winter prevents metal shipments. This factor is likely to be exacerbated by the well-documented ongoing politicking within Russia. Base metal producer Noril'sk (which produces pgms as a by-product) is also thought to be losing its recently granted 10-year export permit introducing further uncertainty over the regularity of pgm shipments from Russia. More in David McKay's detailed write up at: 196.36.119.130.