In early morning trading, the platinum price rose 2.8% at around 8:30am AEST today (10 September), reaching US$1,905 ($2,642) per troy ounce, according to Trading Economics.
The initial price jump sits within an 8.57% monthly increase and a 36.30% yearly increase, before the metal retreated back down to around US$1,889 by 11:40am AEST.
The metal is performing better than the Q3 forecast of US$1,849.
As reported, platinum reached US$1,782.10 last week on 3 September after a 3.77% weekly decrease, indicating a month of growth for the metal.
Demand for industrial metals, along with a constrained mine supply, is believed to have contributed to this price jump. Industrial demand is forecast to rise 9% this year.
Platinum still sits below its record high of US$2,919 per troy ounce, which was achieved in January this year.
The World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) states in its June 2026 Five-Year Supply/Demand Outlook report that the metal is expected to remain structurally resilient, albeit clouded by negative sentiment.
WPIC states that the ongoing Iran war is unlikely to structurally change platinum markets, with demand for the metal declining 12% during the global financial crisis and recovering within a year.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for platinum took three years to recover. This longer recovery rate is related to a compounding chip supply shortage.
South Africa is the leading supplier of platinum group metals (PGM), producing 126,000kg of platinum in 2024 and 120,000kg in 2025, according to the US Geological Survey.
Along with producing 82,600kg and 70,000kg of palladium in 2024 and 2025, respectively, South Africa is estimated to have 63 million kilograms of PGM reserves.
Meanwhile in Australia, the country’s total ore reserves of PGMs are marked at 50.6 tonnes of metal (around 50,600kg), Geoscience Australia reports.
Reversing constrained mine supplies
As Australia’s mining powerhouse, Western Australia is looking for new PGM opportunities.
The Western Australian Government, along with the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA), conducted a research project to strengthen the state’s understanding of the PGM industry in 2023–24.
These metals are needed for a range of new applications including hydrogen electrolysis and industrial chemical production, and are in abundance in WA.
MRIWA contributed $292,678 to this research project, highlighting Podium Minerals (ASX:POD), Chalice Mining (ASX:CHN), and Future Metals (ASX:FME) as key resource holders in the state.
In the East Kimberley region of Western Australia, Future Metals is focused on its Panton PGM Project, which hosts a current resource estimate of 82.3 million tonnes (Mt) @ 1.6 grams per tonne platinum equivalent (PtEq) for around 4.24 million ounces PtEq.
The resource contains 40Mt in the indicated category and 42.3Mt in the inferred category.
Mineralisation at the project occurs in the Panton intrusion, which is a layered mafic-ultramafic body.
Future Metals is currently undertaking a Scoping Study at its Panton Project, aiming to demonstrate improved economics under a higher pricing environment and potentially lower capital requirements, as reported by Mining.com.au.
The company received firm commitments to raise $3.6 million mid-last month, supporting costs related to the Scoping Study.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
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