Platinum Futures

Sibanye-Stillwater confirmed Wednesday that its workforces at the Stillwater East mine and Columbus metallurgical facility in Montana ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with the United Steelworkers through May 2029. The agreement provides a wage increase of 4.5% in year 1, the greater of 3.5% or the Consumer Price Index in year 2, and the greater of 3% or the CPI in year 3. The ratification ends the strike notice and strike action since September 3, and employees are expected to resume their duties starting October 9. The workforce of the East Boulder mine in Montana also ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with USW on September 30, effective retroactively on August 1 and lasting through July 2029. CEO Richard Stewart said the labor agreement sets a pathway for lowering costs through mechanization at the company's US platinum group metal operations, but the company will need time to rebuild from the disruption, adding that the strike lasted longer than expected and forced a difficult conversation about fundamentally changing the business.

Precious metals consultancy Metals Focus said in its annual report that it expects gold prices to set a record high in 2027. It said persistent inflation, a widening U.S. fiscal deficit and policy uncertainty will drive the rise as investors seek alternatives to traditional dollar-denominated assets. The average gold price in 2027 is projected to reach $5,330 an ounce, about 22% above current levels, though the U.S. Federal Reserve could tighten monetary policy further to counter above-target inflation, which could pose short-term headwinds. Spot gold hit a record high of $5,594.82 in late January 2026, but has since fallen 25% amid soaring energy prices and Fed tightening, and is currently trading around $4,152.27. Metals Focus also expects silver to benefit from many of the same macroeconomic factors supporting gold and to rise over the next 12 to 18 months, with average prices climbing from $70 an ounce in the fourth quarter of 2026 to above $90 an ounce in the fourth quarter of 2027. For platinum, it expects the average price in 2027 to be $2,060 an ounce as tight physical supply eases but a continued supply deficit supports prices, marking a fifth consecutive annual supply shortfall.

Greenland Mines Ltd announced the successful completion of its more than two-month 2026 field program at the Skaergaard Project in southeast Greenland, a campaign the company describes as one of the largest and most comprehensive modern multidisciplinary efforts undertaken at the site. The program completed 4,480 meters of diamond drilling across 17 holes, including the first large-diameter HQ core ever recovered at Skaergaard, and extracted more than 105 tons of bulk material from mapped and channel-sampled gold and palladium-platinum mineralized horizons, an unprecedented scale-up from the two approximately 800-kilogram historical mini-bulk samples. The company's July 2026 S-K 1300 Mineral Resource Estimate reported 15.00 million ounces PdEq in Indicated Mineral Resources and 17.49 million ounces PdEq in Inferred Mineral Resources, covering only approximately one-quarter to one-third of the intrusion hosting the defined precious-metal horizons. Greenland Mines said potential vanadium-bearing titanomagnetite, iron and gallium value streams are being evaluated alongside the palladium-platinum-gold flowsheet, with gallium occurring throughout Skaergaard's mineralized horizons, though no economic credit is currently assigned to these potential by-products. The campaign also delivered the first integrated mining-oriented geotechnical, structural, LiDAR, high-resolution aeromagnetic, ground-penetrating radar and environmental baseline programs across priority development areas, with the data intended to advance Skaergaard toward metallurgical flowsheet development, mine planning and an Initial Assessment, the S-K 1300 equivalent of a Preliminary Economic Assessment.

Impala Platinum Holdings reported record financial results for fiscal year 2026, with revenue surging 58% to ZAR 135.1 billion and EBITDA margin expanding from 12% to 32%. The company generated free cash flow of ZAR 22 billion, enabling it to return approximately 90% of second-half free cash flow to shareholders, including a final dividend of ZAR 14.45 per share totaling ZAR 13.1 billion. Headline earnings reached ZAR 22.9 billion, or ZAR 25.48 per share, while basic earnings were ZAR 31 billion, supported by a ZAR 8.1 billion after-tax reversal of impairment losses. The company ended the period with net cash of ZAR 22 billion and liquidity headroom of ZAR 37 billion. Looking ahead, management guided for flat production in fiscal 2027, with a 60,000-ounce impact from a safety reset at Rustenburg and unit costs expected to rise 4-8% due to inflation and planned maintenance. CEO Nico Muller noted that the Styldrift 2 project is in the concept study phase, with a typical timeline of five years to completion, and confirmed the company is not currently considering diversification into metals beyond PGMs.

Global gold prices surged 2.4% to $4,175.53 per ounce, the highest level in one month, during Wednesday trading, supported by a weaker US dollar and falling oil prices. Spot gold rose for a third consecutive day, while US gold futures gained 2% to $4,235.30 per ounce. Investors are watching US employment data to assess the Federal Reserve's interest rate direction. Meanwhile, softer oil prices helped ease inflation concerns, leading the market to scale back expectations of a Fed rate hike at the September meeting. Other precious metals also advanced, with silver up 3.8% to $61.76 per ounce, platinum up 2.6% to $1,779.25 per ounce, and palladium up 2.6% to $1,389.15 per ounce.

Gold prices advanced on Tuesday, remaining comfortably above the key $4,000-an-ounce threshold as markets evaluated renewed diplomatic efforts between the United States and Iran and their potential impact on energy prices, inflation and Federal Reserve policy. Spot gold climbed 1% to $4,049.47 an ounce, while gold futures also rose 1% to $4,054.35. Silver gained 2.6% to $57.87 an ounce and platinum added nearly 1% to $1,611.09. Investors are now looking ahead to next week's Federal Reserve meeting, where policymakers are widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, with markets currently assigning a 64% probability to a September interest rate increase. Afdhal Rahman, Executive Director of Wealth Advisory at OCBC, noted that renewed tensions in the Gulf could keep oil prices, inflation expectations and the U.S. dollar volatile in the near term, leaving gold under pressure until expectations for tighter monetary policy begin to ease, although sustained central bank buying should continue to provide longer-term support.