SA PLANS to set up a fuel cell component plant by 2018, the latest initiative from the world’s top platinum producer to increase demand for the metal and support firms hit by plunging prices and labour strife.The price of platinum has fallen 27% year-on-year, forcing miners to sell assets and cut production and jobs. About two-thirds of the industry, whose mines were damaged by a five-month strike in 2014, are making losses.Isondo Precious Metals CE Vinay Somera said his firm was preparing a feasibility study and has secured a licence from US-based Chemours Technology, to assemble components for the fuel cells using platinum.Fuel cells generate electric power 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," Mr Somera said on the sidelines of this week’s Mining Indaba in Cape Town.Under the deal with Chemour...
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