With rhodium and platinum touching record prices, Podium Minerals has revealed a swathe of notable rhodium assays at its Parks Reef platinum group metals project near Cue in WA. Demand for the rare metal is forecast to soar ahead of its increasing use as a catalyst in automotive catalytic converters, a vehicle part that cleans up exhaust fumes.
The company is now looking at rhodium as a potential “credit” metal, with re-assay results from seven drill holes averaging about 3% to 4% rhodium within the platinum, palladium plus gold zones across the entire Parks Reef deposit, with a higher 5% to 7% rhodium in the footwall horizon.
Podium said it re-assayed a number of drill holes for rhodium across a spread of its Parks Reef deposit which already plays host to a resource containing an impressive 1,140,000 ounces of combined platinum, palladium and gold plus base metal credits with 37,300 tonnes copper.
According to a 2020 report by sustainability experts at Johnson Matthey, automotive demands for rhodium will gain as vehicle emission standards continue be set at unprecedented lows in an effort to improve air quality.
About 70% of all rhodium is used in the manufacture of catalytic converters and spot prices for it have more than doubled from 2019 levels to around USD$12,700 this week.
Parks Reef consists of a 15km long, broad, near-surface series of ore “reefs” or “horizons” containing platinum group metals plus gold and significant copper and nickel mineralisation.
The platinum group metal market continues to experience strong price growth too with palladium touching highs of just over AUD$2,700 per ounce recently, driven by continued strong demand and constrained global supply.
Going forward, Podium will re-assay all remaining drill holes that it has and it will also assay for rhodium as standard in future drilling.
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