https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Platinum bridal jewellery demand up in China, fuel cells powering blocks of flats

Platinum investment bars

Platinum investment bars

Photo by Bloomberg

23rd July 2015

By: Martin Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

  

Font size: - +

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Platinum marketing money previously devoted largely to discounts and commissions is now being used to boost platinum jewellery, investment and fuel cell promotion, says Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) CEO Chris Griffith.

Bridal platinum jewellery demand is growing in China, platinum demand growth is under way in India, where demand was previously negligible, cars fleets are running on fuel cells and blocks of flats are being powered by large stationary fuel cell units.

Amplats, which increased headline earnings to R2.5-billion from R157-million in the first half of the strike-hit 2014, despite the steep decline in the dollar prices being fetched by most of its metals, has become far more focused in its marketing spend of some R1-billion a year.

“We’ve done a piece of work to understand why people would buy jewellery in the rest of the 70% that’s not bridal and even then we see about half still being linked to the theme of love and emotion,” Griffith outlined to Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly Online.

Birthdays and anniversaries have been found to drive a big portion of China’s non-bridal platinum jewellery demand and steps are being taken to capture more of that market segment.

In the same way as Platinum Guild International promotes platinum jewellery, the new World Platinum Investment Council is promoting platinum investment.

“It’s still early days. We’re just a year into setting up the World Platinum Investment Council and we believe that there is more potential development of the platinum investment market,” Griffith says.

Convincing development of both stationary and vehicle fuel cells is now clearly evident and the Amplats CEO points out that Korean automotive manufacturer Hyundai is targeting the production of 1 000 ix35 fuel cell vehicles in the UK by the end of this year and car companies, such as Toyota and Honda, have impressive launch plans.

On the infrastructure front, Hyundai expects 65 hydrogen stations to be available in the UK this year, 300 by 2025 and 1 150 by 2030, to serve 10 000 fuel cell vehicles by 2020 and 1.6-million-plus by 2030.

California is targeting 100 hydrogen stations by 2017 and Japan 1 000 stations by 2025.

“It’s not yet out the woods but we’re seeing increasing demand and we’re seeing platinum going there and real vehicles on the roads,” was Griffith's comment to Mining Weekly Online.

While small platinum-using fuel cells have been providing back-up power to telecommunications towers, larger units were now also powering blocks of flats, with Japan leading the way.

“I’ve refused to buy a diesel power generator set for my home until such time that the fuel cell one works. Maybe I’ll wait a while. But we’re seeing genuine development in this area,” he adds.

A number of ultra low profile machines are being fuel-cell driven in narrow underground stopes and fuel cells are powering a few mine locomotives.

An off-grid power system, sufficient for lighting, cooking, refrigeration, radio and television, has been under field trial in Kroonstad and the Department of Science and Technology, in partnership with Amplats and gas products company Air Products, has three 5 kW hydrogen fuel cell systems providing backup power to three schools in the Cofimvaba area of the Eastern Cape.

“None of these things happen overnight, but I can tell you we’re putting in effort everywhere in fuel cells.

“We have quite a few irons in the fire around fuel cells and we think there is really good potential. It’s now more about the infrastructure than the fuel cell,” he adds.

While platinum market fundamentals continue to have downside risk potential, the reality is that 1% more light duty vehicles were sold across the entire world in the first half of the year, which has created additional demand for both platinum and palladium.

In Western Europe, first-half autocatalysis demand growth rose by the highest percentage of 8% year-on-year, followed by the North America at 4% and China at 3%.

Light duty vehicle sales have increased for 22 months in a row with vehicle emission standards under Euro Six increasing platinum group metal (PGM) loadings.

While China was slightly down, India was slightly up but still not offsetting China’s fall.

Jewellery overall is slightly down, industrial and investment are flat, but recycling supply is less than previously anticipated.

Although there is still an anticipation of a platinum deficit of between 200 000 oz and 300 000 oz this year, this is failing to move the dial, which is being held back by the world’s poor macroeconomic position, which is dominating the fundamentals of platinum, palladium and other PGMs in the near term, influenced by the strength of the dollar, interest rate expectations and the uncertainty in China and Europe.

Uncertainty is prompting bailout, which is resulting in additional supply volume, not from production, but from previously held stock.

Should additional supply come into the market, it could then quite easily result in a surplus.

Both industrial and investment demand were flat in the half-year with platinum exchange traded fund volumes remaining constant.

While mine production is likely to increase in line with 2013, there are indications that falling prices are suppressing recycling volumes.

Impala Platinum (Implats) is studying the feasibility of taking its entire platinum refinery off the national electricity grid and powering it with platinum fuel cells.

The refinery already has a supply of available hydrogen to fuel the cells and would need some 20 MW of fuel-cell power if it were to do without the Eskom grid.

In the interim, plans for an initial 2 MW fuel cell, which would be the biggest such unit in the southern hemisphere, are at an advanced stage.

In March a call was made for platinum-rich South Africa to commit to 1 000 MW of platinum fuel cell-generated electricity by 2020, when Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies unveiled a baseload fuel-cell power unit for the Chamber of Mines building in Johannesburg.

Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) CEO Geoffrey Qhena committed the IDC to supporting the new technology and helping to develop a local supply chain that would include local component manufacture. Japan’s Fuji Electric is proving to be a major technology provider for fuel cells that convert chemical energy into electrical energy using platinum as a catalyst.

Fuel cell electric vehicles already have the environmental and performance edge over their battery car rivals. For example, Hyundai’s ix35 fuel cell cars have a 594 km range, take three minutes to charge and produce no harmful emissions at all.

Toyota has raised $4.2-billion to advance its fuel cell thrust still further.

Low-carbon energy consultancy Element Energy says that, provided infrastructure is in place, fuel cell vehicles will take half of the new car market by 2050.

SFA Oxford chairperson Stephen Forrest told this year’s Mining Indaba, in Cape Town, that the move towards cleaner fuel and the focus on fuel cells for cars would be the sources of new demand for platinum, as Toyota, Honda and Hyundai release fuel cell vehicles, with Daimler expected to follow suit in 2017.

Forrest put platinum loadings for fuel cells at close to 14 g a car, possibly reducing later as technology improves.

Ivanhoe Mines executive chairperson Robert Friedland told the same Indaba conference that Japan was building platinum-using fuel cells to provide clean electricity for the heating of 5.3-million homes.

He reported that Japan was also planning to run the Tokyo Olympics on fuel cells to showcase the arrival of the hydrogen economy.

In addition, it had become mandatory for all Japanese government cars to be fuel cell driven to ensure cleaner air, a growing imperative in a world where 66% of people will be living in cities by 2050.

Fuel cells are also supplying low-cost electricity to the 34 participating households in the Naledi Trust community, in the Moqhaka municipality of the Free State, where Amplats has a 15 kW system from Ballard Power Systems.

Fuel cell mini-grid technology is a competitive alternative to extending Eskom transmission lines to provide lighting, refrigeration and cooking power to far-flung rural communities.

Fuel cells are also being tested to drive underground locomotives and ultra-low profile equipment in mines. Palladium is being used to extend the shelf life of food and to purify groundwater and rhodium to make fibreglass, wind turbines and insulation.

Lesser known PGMs like iridium and ruthenium are earmarked for use in products being developed to store electricity from utilities during nonpeak periods, for use during peak periods, as well as to store solar energy while the sun is shining so that it is available for use after dark.

The largest current use of PGMs is in catalytic converters, where progress has been made to such a great extent that 100 vehicles with catalytic converters today emit the equivalent of a single car’s emissions in the 1960s.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

Showroom

Booyco Electronics
Booyco Electronics

Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Booyco Electronics
Booyco Electronics

Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Photo of Martin Creamer
On-The-Air (15/03/2024)
15th March 2024 By: Martin Creamer
Magazine round up | 15 March 2024
Magazine round up | 15 March 2024
15th March 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.064 0.111s - 156pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now