Originally posted by soarer
This piece of your car is more valuable than gold, and thieves know it
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Dubbed the “
most precious of precious metals”, palladium is having a bit of a moment and enterprising thieves across the US and the UK are making the most of it.
Palladium has surged in price as car manufacturers seek to make their vehicles more emissions friendly. The metal is used in catalytic converters to transform harmful pollutants like carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide and water vapour.
The metal has surged in price by around 50 per cent over the last four months, leaving gold behind.
While it’s been on investors’ radars for a while now, it’s recently reached the attention of thieves. Catalytic converters tend to sell for up to $550. Thieves in Virginia, USA have stolen 15 converters since the beginning of December.
In Missouri, thieves are targeting U-Haul trucks as the volume of palladium is larger than in cars.
Over in the UK, thieves are targeting Audis, BMWs and VWs. The London police warned it can cost thousands to replace catalytic converters.
However, according to a Reuters poll, the frenzy is unlikely to last.
It found most analysts and traders predict that palladium will have its biggest year in 2019 but fall slightly behind gold in 2020 as supply starts to meet demand.
At time of writing, palladium is $1,895.10 for an ounce, and gold is $1,823.88 for an ounce.
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/piece-car-valuable-gold-thieves-know-223207907.html
The local car wreckers must be thinking their Xmas has come in big time .. next time you want to dump your car to the car wreckers for $100 ..pull out the Cat converter you might have $500 of Palladium in it.
Just a Thought .. At least it's an end product you can sell, unlike the in ground , yet to be realised potential massive deposit of Palladium that may or may not be commercially viable to mine in say 5 years, with a massive Capex attached to it. It sounds great at the current Palladium price, but it's nowhere near production. Sadly,the only valuation you can attribute to it today is a Blue Sky valuation. Looks fantastic , but a lot can happen in the next 5 years. Best to Flog it off quickly to the very few majors that know how to turn it into some serious dollars in a shorter space of time.
PGM may well have to cop it sweet in terms of a deal, otherwise the holding costs and timeframes may see them lose the tenements. Pretty sure the small number of potential suitors have already worked that out.
Just my views, Lets hope for all concerned, the rehashed Scoping study is done quickly and not at great expense to the company. Timing is everything in the Resources game.
Cheers
HR
