BBX Minerals hits platinum at Brazilian Três Estados; extends key target to the west

BBX Minerals (ASX:BBX) is up just over 1% in early afternoon trades as the company announces fresh platinum hits at its flagship mine in Brazil.

In late August, when the company last reported assay results, the company noted it was intending to explore the extent of mineralisation at the western end of the Adelar target. 

Today, it has had success: fresh platinum hits are present in the latest RC cores run through the company’s own assaying equipment on-site. 

Mineralisation assays have come thick and fast after a long delay after the company purchased its own Atomic Absorption Spectrometer, allowing BBX to fastrack its assay operations for platinum and iridium, with evidence of surface mineralisaton for both now confirmed. 

Drill results are from a campaign concluded five years ago in 2017. 

What are the latest results? 

Investor information provider Undervalued Equity notes high grade platinum is that in concentrations over 2.5 grams per tonne (2.5g/t).

Compare that to the following: 

TERC 009 

• 04m @ 1.30g/t platinum from 24m depth 

• 05m @ 1.34g/t platinum from 40m depth

TERC 010 

• 02m @ 3.65g/t platinum from 18m depth 

Only one 2m section from this contains high-grade platinum, but at relatively shallow depths, the company will need to proceed with diamond drilling to ascertain a better idea of what lies at depth. 

What is platinum used for? 

At this current time, the price of platinum is most dominantly linked to output from the vehicle industry. 

Platinum is a key component in catalytic converters, devices which filtrate vehicle exhaust. Such is the concentration of platinum in the devices that they are typically targeted by car thieves.

However, following suppressed demand and output in the vehicle sector broadly (driven by a microchip shortage and depressed economic outlooks,) platinum futures have fallen in August, continuing a year long trend which sees platinum prices down 12% year-on-year. 

Platinum futures are traded on the NY Mercantile Exchange, the Tokyo Commodity Exchange and the London Bullion Market. Platinum is also used in energy (refineries) and the chemical and power industries.

But there is good reason to bank on platinum in the early 2020s. 

Future in green hydrogen 

By 2030, Bloomberg Intelligence expects platinum demand to grow by 700,000oz a year and potentially doubling to 1.7Moz a year by 2035.

This thesis was backed up by the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) this month, when it released its August market report. 

Ultimately, the WPIC expects demand for electrolysers to boost demand for the  metal. 

BBX Minerals' six month charts