Platinum Nudges Up As South African Miners Strike At Impala

Johannesburg-S.A. (July 7)  Platinum and palladium prices rose Monday as the South African mining industry was shaken by a new labor dispute.

A wildcat strike by 2,000 miners at Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd.'s (IMP.JO) Marula mine came just days after the end of a five-month industry stoppage, and demonstrated the continued risks to supply and fragile state of the mining industry in the world's top platinum producer.

Spot platinum was trading 0.4% up from Friday's settlement price, at $1,497.20 a troy ounce, while palladium rose 0.7% to trade at $863.40 an ounce.

"Marula is a small contributor to Implats, however the development is concerning for other platinum metal assets that were unaffected by [the recent] strike action, if workers who have not got the same deal push to have the salaries brought into line with the recent settlement," said industry analysts at asset manager Investec.

Elsewhere in the precious metals group, spot gold fell 0.5% from Friday's settlement price, to trade at $1,313.10 an ounce, while silver fell 1% to $20.927 an ounce.

Source: WSJ