:: Panton Project on Hold

Platinum Australia (PLA) has placed its Panton project in Western Australia on hold. The company said that the feasibility study indicated that although the project was technically sound, it was not commercially viable at current metal prices and exchange rates. During the study, the palladium price dropped from over US$600 per ounce to less than US$200 per ounce, while the Australian dollar climbed from US$0.52 to US$0.65. PLA said that it intended to focus on the commercialisation of the new calcine-leach-metal recovery process, which it developed in collaboration with Lonmin, by participating in PGM projects in Australia and South Africa.