Zimbabwe lithium miners want royalties to be linked to prices
The battery metal has slumped from a peak in late 2022 amid oversupply and weak demand from the electric vehicle sector.
Bongani Mbindwane, CEO of South African junior explorer Platfields (SJ:PLL), has written an open letter to South Africa’s mineral resources minister calling for direct assistance in dealing with the platinum sector’s dire condition.
According to Mineweb the letter calls for the government to introduce extensive legislative measures to bolster and protect the ailing platinum industry.
Measures include the extension of mining and prospecting rights to strengthen tenure security, improving the marketability of platinum with the introduction of a platinum Mandela Rand for investment purposes, the establishment of a South African-based platinum exchange platform, and arranging for the South African Reserve Bank to hold platinum in addition to gold and foreign exchange reserves.
The letter is critical of the ANC’s State Intervention in the Mineral Sector (SIMS) report, saying its measures could imperil the beleaguered platinum sector and making increased taxation of the sector and export tariffs particular objects of reproach.
International platinum prices have been in the doldrums of late amidst the world’s ongoing economic woes, with some imputing the precious metal’s poor performance to its lack of appeal as a store-of-value investment.
