ABSTRACT
The platinum group metals occur in association with each other (and other metals) in mined ores. Mining companies are thus constrained by geology, so PGM output can’t be optimised to perfectly meet demand for each individual metal. For example, palladium and rhodium in particular are currently in high demand for catalytic converters, making them valuable co-products of platinum mining and impacting the overall output from the PGM mines in southern Africa. On the other hand, ruthenium and iridium are almost entirely produced as minor by-products of platinum mining in southern Africa and their supply is thus inelastic. This means that markets for the individual PGMs are typically never ‘balanced’ and some mismatch between supply and demand every year can be expected. We examine this more closely and show that this association, together with the demand profile and circularity of the PGMs, presents significant opportunities for research into new applications for these metals. Natural demand shifts will support availability of platinum, palladium and rhodium for clean energy and other new applications in future, while constrained supply of iridium and ruthenium means that efficiency of use and recycling are important to support new applications for these metals.
Slide deck: The PGM Supply-Demand Equilibrium_Marge Ryan_July 2023
BIOGRAPHY
Marge Ryan is Industrial PGM Research and Strategy Manager at Johnson Matthey and a member of JM’s PGM Market Research group, who are global experts on platinum group metal supply and demand. She began her career as an engineer in the South African platinum mining industry, before emigrating to the UK in 2006. In 2011, she joined the team at Fuel Cell Today, an organisation that tracked key trends and developments in the then-nascent hydrogen and fuel cell industry. The knowledge gained from this was instrumental when she joined JM’s PGM Market Research group in 2014, taking on responsibility for forecasting the long-term PGM requirements of the global hydrogen economy, a function she still fulfils. Marge is also a member of a cross-functional team at JM that constructs long-term scenarios for how the energy transition will play out in key markets and is responsible for generating and communicating insights on the implications of the energy transition for the PGM markets.