(miningmx.com) - Paul Dunne says he was teased for claiming Northam Platinum would become a one million ounce a year platinum group metals (PGM) producer. The ribbing may have been entirely warranted: when Dunne took up the firm’s leadership seven years ago, there was some skepticism about him. Amid today’s rocketing PGM prices it’s difficult to recall just how tough it was for the sector’s miners in 2013. “We had the deepest downturn in the PGM industry’s history,” Dunne said at the firm’s north Johannesburg offices. By the end of the price drought, two platinum miners had gone out of business, while the industry’s balance sheet shrank drastically. With no money to spend, PGM mining firms stopped projects and with that, retarded the industry’s ability to respond to a demand recovery. Dunne describes this condition as a “deep hurt” that damaged the industry’s asset base. It is, in fact, at the root of the price rises today across every metal in the so-called PGM basket.
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13 october 2026
