Robert Friedland: Platinum Becoming Increasingly Key in Japan

Mining Weekly reported that according to mining magnate Robert Friedland, platinum is becoming an increasingly important metal in Japan. For instance, the country is building fuel cells that use platinum to provide clean electricity and heat, and plans to run the Tokyo Olypmics on fuel cells.

As quoted in the market news:

Platinum-group metals (PGMs) were absolutely critical to having cleaner air, Friedland said in outlining the progress being made at Ivanhoe’s rich Platreef PGMs and nickel project on the northern limb of the Bushveld Complex in South Africa’s Limpopo province, where Japanese government agencies are 10% shareholders.

To show the growing use of PGMs in everyday products, he flashed on to a large screen pictures of fuel-cell driven Toyota and Honda cars as well as fuel-cell-powered smartphone chargers, before going on to provide detail on Ivanhoe’s upcoming Platreef project, where a Stage 2 drilling programme has firmed up 78-million ounces of mechanically mineable PGMs and substantial nickel at a depth of 700 m.

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