JOHANNESBURG -– It would be "all systems go" for the JSE-listing of junior platinum-group metals (PGMs) and gold explorer, Platfields, once the market recovered, CEO Bongani Mbindwane said.
He told Mining Weekly Online, on Wednesday, that there were already positive signs indicating some elements of a market recovery.
The company had postponed its fourth-quarter listing plans, with shareholders saying the current market conditions had not stabilised sufficiently for a successful listing.
"From the onset, Platfields' plans were premised on good market conditions. We have seen the sector's losses averaging at 70% while Platfields, as an unlisted company, only shed some 10% of its value [on the] over-the-counter market," Mbindwane said in response to e-mailed questions.
He asserted that it had been positive for the company to remain unlisted in the past three months' global market turmoil, but he expected the company to list in the first quarter of next year, if current trends continued. He added, however, that the company would let the market direct its plans.
Further, its long-term plans to list on the TSX also remained part of its strategy.
Meanwhile, Mbindwane was confident that the future of the PGMs market would only be "brighter" once the current panic settled.
"With the US spending on infrastructure and a slow bounce back in Europe, we are confident and bullish of the PGMs fundamentals in so far as the industrial sector. There is certainly a thinning in supply and added appetite for cleaner cars and from the industrial sector in general," said Mbindwane.
Meanwhile, Mbindwane said that despite the delay in its listing plans, through which it aimed to raise about R200-million for exploration, its exploration programme had been intensified.
"We are now drilling on our second PGMs project and will soon commence drilling at our gold project," he noted.
The company, in October, announced it would spend about R324,9-million on exploration drilling at its three projects over the next few years.
Exploration work at its Berg PGMs project, situated in the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex was ongoing, while drilling had now started at its Leeuwkop PGMs project.
The company would soon start drilling at its Grootfonteinberg gold project, which was adjacent to Simmer & Jack Mines' Beta gold mine, in the Pilgrim's Rest/Sabie goldfields.
Mbindwane added that the company would remain cash positive for another two years, while also continuing to look for potential property acquisitions.
Platfields was focused on acquiring near-surface mining properties, which could be quickly and easily mined and where the risks were manageable.
Bongani Mbindwane
Chief Executive
E-mail: bongani@platfields.co.za
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