World platinum production is still expected to rise this year despite the closure of several mines in South Africa, it has been claimed.

Speaking at a mining conference in Cape Town, Peter Duncan, General Manager for Market Research at British platinum specialist Johnson Matthey, said he expected global production of platinum to increase by around five per cent in 2009, with demand tipped to fall by a similar margin over the same period, Reuters reports.

New mines will more than offset the closure of those already in existence, Mr Duncan said, meaning South African production will increase marginally on 2008 levels.

Last year, production in South Africa was hit by power shortages, safety concerns, labour and skills issues and smelter outages.

"Production should be slightly up in 2009, it's not all doom and gloom with all the closures of mines in South Africa, we should see some growth in 2009 of less than five per cent," Mr Duncan confirmed, according to the news provider.

With investor demand also set to remain stable and the auto markets in countries such as China not as badly affected as the one in the US, Mr Duncan believes the market is likely to remain "in balance" this year.

"The fundamentals look good," Mr Duncan confirmed, pointing to support for the jewellery sector and the fact it is hard to see the dollar getting even stronger, which reduces the risk of pgm prices being pushed down.

"The price could go lower if there is more blood-letting from funds. But we feel the price has bottomed out and may start to climb, jeweller and investment demand is rising," he said.



SOURCES:

Platinum 2009 output to rise less than 5% - Johnson Matthey (09/02/09)
http://www.miningweekly.com/article/platinum-2009-output-to-rise-less-than-5-johnson-matthey-2009-02-09

GFMS raises red flag on gold (09/02/09)
http://www.miningmx.com/events/indaba_2009/940214.htm