Deep Potential

Stillwater deal seen positioning Sibanye as globally competitive mining champion.

- Martin Creamer

The acquisition of America’s Stillwater Mining has the potential to put South Africa’s Sibanye on the inside track of low-cost mechanised primary mining as well as provide it with deep insight into secondary mining – the recycling of platinum-group metals (PGMs). Both these inputs will help Sibanye to become the globally competitive South African mining champion that it is going all out to be.

By putting its arm around the planet’s other platinum producers, Sibanye is boosting South Africa’s own Aladdin’s Cave of platinum treasure, which keeps the air above the world’s biggest cities clean, catalyses electricity generation in a manner that protects the environment and brings about a myriad of other crucial chemical reactions that make the world a much better place.

A 400 kW platinum fuel cell provides four times greater carbon reduction than a 400 kW solar photovoltaic farm, generates six times more energy and occupies 300 times less land.

Little wonder then that South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation, as a major Sibanye shareholder and custodian of the pensions of South Africa’s civil service, has given its formal blessing to the Stillwater deal.

Including Stillwater, Sibanye has now com mitted, mostly in hard cash, more than $2.8-billion to its future in platinum.