US hands Sibanye-Stillwater much needed double boost

SIBANYE-Stillwater on Thursday was handed a much-needed boost from the US after Washington published final regulations of incentives for mining of critical minerals, including palladium and platinum.The incentives are part of the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA’s) Section 45X (S 45X) which allows for a 10% ‘Advance Manufacturing Production’ credit. In a previous iteration of this part of the Act, the incentive was restricted to refiners of metals – excluding miners – but this has since been amended.“We welcome the amendments to the S 45x regulations made by the US Treasury and applaud its foresight and willingness to understand our industry and operations,” said Neal Froneman, CEO of Sibanye-Stillwater.“We firmly believe that such proactive and supportive legislation will deliver real benefits for mining and processing critical minerals in the US. This will ensure the future sustainability and growth of the regional critical minerals value chain in a responsible manner,” he said.Froneman said the regulations would provide “essential financial support for our US PGM operations” which have fallen under huge pressure lately.A 28% lower average rand 4E PGM basket price and a 30% lower average US dollar 2E PGM basket price resulted in the group cutting production at its Stillwater palladium and platinum mine by 200,000 oz a year. 2E production at Stillwater in the six months ended June was 238,139 oz (2023 H1: 205,513 oz) at an AISC of $1,343/oz ($1,737/oz).Last year Sibanye-Stillwater delayed an expansion of Stillwater to 700,000 ounces a year and then abandoned it setting a new production target of between 440,000 to 460,000 oz for the 2024 financial year.There is a double benefit for Sibanye-Stillwater as the IRA incentive also relates to the production of lithium. It comes just as US federal authorities rubber-stamped an environmental permit for the Rhyolite Ridge lithium/boron mine in which the miner has an option to invest.James Wellsted, spokesperson for Sibanye-Stillwater said the company aimed to complete a feasibility study into the project after which it would decide whether to pump $490m into the project for a 50% stake.The US Bureau of Land Management’s provided support for the project in September in its final environmental impact statement.The company was also buoyed by a short-term improvement in the price of palladium following a report by Bloomberg News that the US has asked the Group of Seven allied countries to consider sanctions on exports of palladium and titanium from Russia.Palladium futures rallied Thursday to their highest price of the year to a high of $1,173/oz, according to Dow Jones Market Data.Shares in the company were up nearly 8% this week.The post US hands Sibanye-Stillwater much needed double boost appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.comWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com