The oversupply of chrome ore globally could be curbed if South Africa’s government forces platinum group metals (PGMs) producers to have a separate licence for selling chrome ore, some market participants have proposed.
At the moment, PGM producers receive a licence to mine and sell the metals. Chrome is not specified in the list of products understood to fall under PGMs. However, as chrome is mined as a by-product of PGMs,these companies also end up selling it.
“Perhaps the oversupply of chrome ore is a regulatory problem and the government could extract more, or better, value from the minerals in South Africa’s ground by requiring the separate licensing of chrome ore that comes from PGM mines,” an executive at a ferro-chrome producer told Metal Bulletin.
“Surely it is in the government’s interest to maximise this mineral asset? Would this not control the oversupply we have?” he added.
He noted that some of the PGM producers enjoy substantial income from the sale of UG2 chrome ore, which supplements their main business – in some cases in such quantities that the chrome ore business could no longer be deemed “incidental” to their revenues.
如果南非政府迫使铂金矿业集团必须拥有单独的铬矿销售许可证才能进行铬矿销售的话，那么全球铬矿供应过剩的局面就会得到控制，部分市场参与者提议说。
目前，铂金矿业集团拥有煤炭和金属的销售权。铬矿不在所列举出的铂金矿业集团可销售产品列表中。然而，由于铬矿是铂金矿开采的副产品，这些公司最终还是需要将其销售出去。
“或许铬矿供应过剩的问题也可以得到调整，并且政府可以通过要求铂金矿业集团拥有单独的铬矿销售许可证来保证从这些南非出土的矿物中获取更多的好处和价值。”一位铬铁生产企业的总经理告诉MB。
“增加这些矿石的价值真的是政府感兴趣的事吗?这些政策真的可以控制供应过剩的局面吗？”他补充问到。
他指出说部分铂金矿生产者可以从销售UG2铬矿中获得丰厚的收入，这些可以增加他们的总收入——在某些情况下，现在铬矿业务收入对于他们的总收入来说甚至已经不能再算做附加值了。