[miningmx.com] – THE JSE will have a new platinum exploration
hopeful in Sable Platinum, which said in an announcement today that it would
reverse list into cash shell New Corpcapital. The listing is planned for September 17.
The listing comes amid wide distress in the South African platinum sector where an
oversupply of metal has depressed the platinum price which, coupled with double-
digit increases in labour and power, has forced new projects into mothballs.
However, James Allan, CEO of Sable Platinum, said he and his colleagues had a
positive outlook for the platinum sector in the long term: “We obviously have a
positive view on the medium- to long-term prospects for platinum. The global car
pool is still growing.’
This refers to the demand for platinum and palladium in autocatalysis. Presently the
Eurozone, which accounts for about half the autocatalyst market in diesel
applications, has been flat-lining, especially as manufacturers have been thrifting to
palladium.
The key Sable Platinum asset is the 47 million ounce Klipfontein property, which is
adjacent to the properties of Toronto-listed Platinum Group Metals (PTM). Sable has
a 51% interest and PTM a 23% stake.
Allan will effectively relinquish his day-to-day duties at AllanHochreither, a private
equity and consulting firm, in order to become the full-time CEO of Sable, retaining
non-executive involvement as its Chairman.
Rene Hochreiter, for years a top-rated platinum analyst, will be Sable’s part-time
technical director and also work at Allan Hochreiter.
Sable raised R65m privately over the last two years and has been spending this
money on drilling four of the five properties. There’s also about R45m in Corpcapital,
although in terms of Sable’s reverse takeover offer, its shareholders can extract half
their cash.
If this happens, Sable Platinum will still have nearly R25m, and with cash likely
raised from the listing, Sable will be well on its way to being fully funded for
exploration. In terms of previous statements, total drilling costs will be R186m.
