Plans under way to build platinum fuel cell parts

SOUTH Africa plans to set up a fuel cell component plant by 2018, the latest initiative to increase demand for platinum and support firms hit by plunging prices and labour strife.

The price of platinum has fallen about 30 percent year on year, forcing mining companies to sell assets and cut output and jobs. About two-thirds of the industry, which was also damaged by a five-month strike in 2014, are making losses.

Vinay Somera, the chief executive of Isondo Precious Metals, said his firm was preparing a feasibility study and had secured a licence from US-based Chemours Technology, to assemble components for the fuel cells using platinum.

Fuel cells generate electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen over a catalyst such as platinum. The metal has so far mainly been used in catalysts to make diesel cars cleaner.

“We are looking to get manufacturing in the ground in the next one to two years,” Somera said on the sidelines of a Cape Town mining conference.

Under the Chemours deal, Isondo would manufacture, market and sell licensed fuelcell components globally.

Somera said a key advantage for his firm would be to bring the cost of the technology down by sourcing the metal locally. The government had also promised tax incentives for manufacturing to take place in special economic zones, he said.

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said at the conference his department was paying R15 million to fund part of the cost of the feasibility study.

“We want to establish this technology as something which builds into the platinum industry, supports and sustains an expansion and stabilisation of the platinum industry,” he said.

Somera said his firm was also looking at fuel cell stacks on gas pipelines in Nigeria and using micro-grid fuel cells for rural power across Africa.

The current market for fuel cells was about 15 000 to 20 000 ounces of platinum a year, with a projected outlook of 50 000ounces-plus beyond five years, Somera said, adding that the automotive sector was the “holy grail”.

Fuel-cell powered cars use between five and 10 times more platinum than a diesel catalytic converter. – Reuters