Widespread Rhodium From Resource Expansion Drilling Stillwater West
VANCOUVER - Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. reported on the rhodium (Rh) assays conducted on core from resource expansion drilling on its 100%-owned Stillwater West platinum group element, nickel, copper, cobalt, and gold (PGE-Ni-Cu-Co + Au) project in Montana, adjacent to Sibanye-Stillwater's world-class critical minerals mining operations.
Widespread rhodium was returned in drill results at potentially significant co-product grades including: 1.13 g/t Rh in an interval that totaled 7.96 g/t Pt+Pd+Au+Rh ("4E") over 1.2 meters in CM2023-03, starting at 308.8 meters and set within 14.6 meters of1.38 g/t 4E including 0.118 g/t Rh; and 0.162 g/t Rh over 3.7 meters in CM2023-01 starting at 407.8 meters within an interval of 0.99 g/t 4E.
Supply constraints have resulted in elevated rhodium prices since 2017. At its current two-year average price of USD 6,500/oz, and three-year year average price of USD 9,500/oz, rhodium equates to more than five times the current value of palladium or platinum. Results are expected to expand upon the 115,000 ounces of rhodium defined in the January 2023 Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") and are similar to results from past campaigns which returned 0.103 g/t Rh over 7.9 meters in hole CM2020-05, and 0.100 g/t Rh over 6.1 meters in hole CM2007-02.
Rhodium is mined solely as a co-product at grades that are often below 0.1 g/t. South Africa dominates global production, and there is very little mine supply in North America. Sibanye-Stillwater, adjacent to Stillwater's Stillwater West project across 32 kilometers in the Stillwater Igneous Complex, is the primary US producer of Rh, mining the highest-grade PGE deposit in the world, the J-M Reef deposit.
Rhodium has a high melting point, is highly corrosion resistant, and is critical in catalytic converters, along with platinum and palladium, for cleaner vehicle emissions.
Michael Rowley, President and CEO, said, "The strength and sheer scale of mineralization at Stillwater West continues to impress us as we add mineralization at several grade cut-offs, providing us with excellent optionality on potential mine methods as we advance towards our vision of becoming a primary source of critical minerals in the US. The polymetallic nature of our deposits is also strongly in our favor as the longest lived and most profitable mines in the world are almost without exception large and polymetallic."