Minister backs platinum coin

SA’s platinum industry, which has for years been pushing hard for the government to launch a platinum coin like the Krugerrand has a new champion in the form of Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe.

SA is one of the leading global sources of gold coins and the platinum mining industry, which is spearheading efforts to increase demand for the metal from a variety of sources, has argued that a Mandela platinum coin named after the country’s first democratically elected president would be a logical addition to the uses of the metal.

SA is the world’s leading source of mined platinum, dwarfing its rivals in Russia, Zimbabwe and the US.

Speaking after a conference on Tuesday, Mantashe said he was pushing his peers in Treasury and the Reserve Bank to adopt the coin.

“I’m already doing that. The response is that the coins are accepted in principle, but it must go through various government processes, and that’s a long process, I can tell you. We need those coins because it’s an intervention on the demand side of platinum,” Mantashe said.

At the conference, at which delegates from SA and Russia discussed platinum group metals, Mantashe and his Russian counterpart recommitted themselves to a 2013 memorandum of understanding between the two governments to foster, develop and discover new markets for the metals. Part of the discussion with Russia’s natural resource and environment minister, Dmitry Kobylkin, was how to better control the market, Mantashe said, pointing out that 95% of the world’s platinum group metals came from SA, Russia and Zimbabwe.

“Free markets are not controlled. If we start controlling it the World Trade Organisation will be on our case immediately. We must find innovative ways to ensure we control the supply and demand of platinum group metals,” Mantashe said.

Roger Baxter, CEO of the Minerals Council SA (formerly the Chamber of Mines), stressed the need for greater government involvement to help with the limited work platinum companies were able to do in promoting platinum for jewellery and investment.