Impala platinum up in price.
Impala Platinum rose as much as 2,14% to an intraday high of R168,98 today, its highest since February 1, after saying it is working with its largest trade union to rehire dismissed employees and start output at its Rustenburg mine after it was closed by an illegal strike.
The strike has cost the market about 3000 ounces of metal a day, equivalent to be about 17% of estimated global supply this year, buoyed platinum prices and led to the “collapse” in the gold-platinum premium, according to Royal Bank of Scotland.
“We expect this trend will continue and forecast gold will move to a discount against platinum” by the fourth quarter of the year, RBS analysts Nick Moore and Nikos Kavalis wrote in a report yesterday.
Some workers have been reinstated at the mine, National Union of Mineworkers spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said.
Platinum rose as high as $1668 per ounce yesterday, just a few dollars short of a three-month high of $1670,50 per ounce it reached last week.
It has been supported by concerns about supply from major producer SA, source of three-quarters of the world’s platinum.
