Email of the day
Comment of the Day

August 29 2012

Commentary by Eoin Treacy

Email of the day

on platinum miners:
“Is it not also the case that a number of South African mines are less profitable because the easy ore has gone?

“As there is no shortage of good Canadian / US and Australian assets in this sector, one would have to be particularly short-sighted to invest in SA mines at this juncture, no? The political trend is there for all to see- some facts do not present in graph form?"

Eoin Treacy's view Thank you for this email which others may also have an interest in. The political risk associated with South Africa is non-trivial. However, since all platinum mining shares have fallen abruptly, regardless of geography, it would suggest that declining ore grades and/or rising costs are not issues specific to South Africa. I agree that from a private investor's perspective a non South African platinum miner may be less of a political risk, provided it has a high ore grades, a scalable resource, can control costs and replace reserves.

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