Why South Africa needs a PGM Commodity Exchange for a sustainable future

SOUTH Africa should adopt a long-term beneficiation strategy for platinum group metals (PGMs) through establishment of a commodity exchange, experts said on Wednesday, while also calling for miners of the precious metal to deepen research on wider use cases as the uptake of green hydrogen is emerging off a very low base.

- TAWANDA KAROMBO

AN EMPLOYEE works at a platinum smelter. South Africa should adopt a long-term beneficiation strategy for platinum group metals, experts say.

(SUPPLIED)

Despite their widespread use in internal combustion vehicles, PGMs are also considered essential for free energy transition as they can still be used in hybrid vehicles and in hydrogen vehicles.

Nimrod Zalk, the chief research officer for climate and development at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, said on Wednesday that PGMs have become the largest mining sector in the South African economy as a big employer and revenue generator for the government. However, to sustain future benefits for the South African economy, PGM miners need to research and explore other industrial use cases.

“PGM miners really need to be putting a lot of resources and probably a lot more resources into the research and development that’s needed to develop new industrial uses for PGMs to ensure that significant chunks of those industrialization opportunities actually take place in South Africa,” said Zalk.