By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider
The Investing in African Mining Indaba, which is currently underway at the Cape Town International Conference Centre (CTICC), and one of the key highlights was the conversation regarding the de-risking of the energy transition which the world is moving towards.
Considering the constant evolution of vehicle and energy technology, naturally, this will affect mining sector relationships. In today’s climate, partnerships in the PGM sector remain crucial because of the complex value chains, evolution of technology, and the shifting geo-political landscape.
These partnerships take various forms including; financial, equity-linked and involving Original Equipment Managers (OEMs). In 2026, PGMs like iridium are being discovered and are found to have key usage in technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells.
“The evolution of the PGM sector has been in lockstep with the automotive sector…in many respects, sustainability and ESG have been an indelible part of the journey for PGMs” said J.J Messner de Latour, who serves as the purchasing sector lead at the initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA).
He also highlighted that it was in the best interest of automotive-sector consumers to establish offtake agreements in order to guarantee price, secure supply, and encourage responsible sourcing.
“Resilient supply chains are built on transparency and good governance…a business with a social licence to operate will have continuity of supply” he explained further. In regards to the current developments in the OEM sector, CEO of SFA, Henk de Hoop, shed light on how the Chinese car-sector had begun to export large amounts of vehicles globally.
“These new vehicles have to be catalysed…that makes it crucial for PGM miners to build relationships with the Chinese motor sector,” said De Hoop.
“The problem is that only around 259 000 ounces of iridium are produced every per year, and about 80% are committed to customers already, through offtake agreements” said De Hoop as he elaborated on the importance of iridium despite how small of a component it may be.