South African Platinum Miners Surge as Metal Prices Pick Up

(Bloomberg) -- South African platinum miners’ shares surged on Friday as prices of the main metals they produce extend a recent recovery.

Sibanye Stillwater Ltd., Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., Anglo American Platinum Ltd. and Northam Platinum Ltd. rallied at least 12% in Johannesburg. The moves come as platinum and palladium round out big weekly gains — with palladium hitting the highest since April — and after Sibanye on Thursday said it will likely cut US platinum-group metals production by up to 45%.

PGM miners have been slashing costs in response to slumping prices – which they have attributed to destocking by manufacturers and a subdued global economy – by trimming their workforces and shelving expansion projects.

Palladium and platinum — which are used in autocatalysts to curb emissions — have jumped 16% and 8% this week, respectively. Still, palladium is about 40% lower than it was at the start of last year, while platinum has seen a smaller drop over the period.

While the production cuts at Sibanye’s US mines “are welcome news for the PGM market, we don’t see these cuts going far enough to re-balance fundamentals,” BMO Capital Markets said in a note.

Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday asked his government to consider if it makes sense to limit exports of some commodities such as nickel in retaliation for Western sanctions. The country is the world’s top producer of palladium, which is extracted as a byproduct of nickel mining.