SURFACE MINING
This extremely rare metal is outperforming all other products, including Bitcoin
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his year, one metal is eclipsing all other resources, including Bitcoin. Buying it is the difficult part for buyers.Iridium, one of the rarest precious metals and a byproduct of platinum and palladium mining, has risen 131 percent since January 1, outperforming Bitcoin's 85 percent gain. According to refiner Heraeus Group, it has risen as a result of supply disruptions over the last year and increasing demand for use in electronic screens. With a far smaller market than its more well-known sisters, production problems can have a huge effect on prices. It's also difficult to bet on it because industrial users control demand. Iridium isn't exchanged on a stock exchange, and retail customers can only buy ingots from a few dealers. The few big investors that deal in it go straight to manufacturers. According to Johnson Matthey Plc records, the price of iridium has risen to $6,000 per ounce - three times the cost of gold. Part of the appeal of iridium is the low investment in platinum processing, which is mainly used in autocatalysts to minimise emissions, as investors balance possible rises in platinum demand from emerging hydrogen technologies against a move to electric vehicles. Other platinum-group metals' prices rose as a result of the tight supply outlook. Palladium is down about 9% from its alltime peak, while rhodium hit a new high of $29,800 per ounce this week and ruthenium rallied to an almost 13-year high.
44 | SKILLINGS MINING REVIEW May 2021
1,100 miles west Alabama mine employees have announced their intention to strike
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arrior Met Coal has been presented with a strike notice by the United Mine Workers of America. According to the UMWA, the strike will begin at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday. The notification affects over 1,100 employees at the company's various facilities, including the No. 4 mine, No. 5 preparation factory, No. 7 mine, and its central store. Members who engage in picket line or other strike duty will receive biweekly strike assistance payments from the union's Selective Strike fund, as well as health care benefits for members and their families for the duration of the strike. The union members, says UMWA International President Cecil Roberts, “are the reason Warrior Met exists today." As Warrior Met emerged from the bankruptcy proceedings of the former Walter Energy, which declared bankruptcy in 2016, the new agreement with the union was negotiated. “They made the sacrifices to bring this company out of the bankruptcy of Walter Energy in 2016,” Roberts said. “But today, instead of rewarding the sacrifices and work of the miners, Warrior Met is seeking even further sacrifices from them, while demonstrating perhaps some of the worst labor-management relations we’ve seen in this industry since the days of the company town and company store,” Roberts said. Attempts to contact Warrior Met Coal for a statement were unsuccessful for some time. Warrior Met's behaviour during talks has prompted the UMWA to file unfair labour practices charges with the National Labor Relations Board.
