The World Platinum Investment Council is reporting that Zimbabwe’s output of the commodity only grew by 6% in 2021, moving from 448,00 ounces to 475,000 ounces year on year. This is despite wide projections that the country will see a decline in its 2022 platinum production.
This is contained in the WPIC’s global production report for 2021. The marginal increase came off the back of the backlog on semi-finished inventory that was processed through South Africa’s refineries and smelters.
Zimbabwe has the second-largest deposits of platinum after South Africa but has only three production mines. Zimplats, Mimosa and Unki are functional while several others are at various stages of development.
The WPIC says in its report that the normalisation of semi-finished material going through South African smelters and refineries is expected to result in a slight decline in Zimbabwean refined production this year. Platinum is used as investment holdings, jewellery and with palladium and rhodium to neutralize exhaust emissions in cars.
Zimbabwe’s production capacity is expected to increase through a debottlenecking project at Unki and mine developments at Zimplats.