pla considers partner for $170 million project

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-19/platinum-australia-considers-partner-for-170-million-project


March 20 (Bloomberg) - Platinum Australia Ltd. (PLA), operator of a mine in South Africa, is considering a Chinese partner to develop a $170 million project in Western Australia that may hold the biggest reserve of the precious metal in Asia-Pacific.

The Panton mine will be able to supply customers in Japan and China, Managing Director John Lewins said in an interview in Hong Kong. China, the largest consumer of platinum, barely produces any of the metal used in everything from jewelry to automobile catalytic converters, he said.

The Perth-based company is focusing on the home market as it joins Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (AAL), the largest producer of the metal, and Lonmin Plc in facing mounting labor and power costs as well as supply disruptions because of labor strikes in South Africa. The nation produces as much as 75 percent of the world’s platinum, Lewins said.

Platinum Australia’s payroll increased from 30 to 800 in January after it hired employees directly from its South African contractor, which failed to meet production targets, Lewins said. The company lost production last year when employees of JIC Mining Services Pty at its Smokey Hills mine in South Africa went on strike.

Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMP), the South African company to which Platinum Australia sells all its current output, also stopped production on Jan. 30 over a pay dispute.

“We’ll continue to see supply interruptions, there’s no doubt about that,” Lewins said, referring to its South African operations.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle Yun in Hong Kong at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rebecca Keenan at [email protected]


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