JAMIE CARR: Northam shows platinum can be a tidy earner
Northam is doing a decidedly competent job of demonstrating that the metal can be a tidy earner in the hands of a disciplined operator
Despite its perky price per ounce, platinum has never attained the lofty profile of its neighbour in the periodic table, gold. It’s a regular at the punchy end of a frequent flyer programme, and as a credit card it can do the old "Open Sesame" trick in a nightclub such as Platinum Lace, which claims somewhat surprisingly to have been voted the "best gentlemen’s club in London" on more than one occasion. It’s handy in a catalytic converter, but its price volatility is more than that of gold, which remains the metal of choice as a safe haven.
Northam is doing a decidedly competent job of demonstrating that the metal can be a tidy earner in the hands of a disciplined operator, with its results for the year to June showing a record operating profit of R2.4bn. The market as a whole is playing into its hands, with demand on the rise and supply from primary producers predicted to decrease. Northam is investing to grow all its operations into long-life producers of platinum group meta...
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