Howdy Jones,
According to market reports, Stillwater sold a 51% controlling interest to
norisk , a Russian firm back in 2002.
Hmmm
Richard
Stillwater Mining in Montana is an interesting company to follow,
especially for those of the LENR persuasion.
It runs the only palladium mine in the USA, and its stock price of 2
bucks+ has fallen to about one-tenth of its 52 week high - this is due
primarily to the crash in prices for all of PGM (platinum group metals)
and with Pd below $250 and no bright spot on the horizon for a boost. Well
over half of that market for PGM is for automotive catalytic converters.
http://www.stillwatermining.com/index.html
When car sales bounce back, this would be a good stock to own, but if they
continue to fall, then it is too risky to buy Stillwater now, since Russia
is flooding the market with PGM to make up for the shortfall in oil
revenues.
Russia would love to see this company fail or to acquire it cheaply...
that, in fact, could be part of the reason they are flooding the market
with precious metals at half of lasts year's price.
Palladium is found as a component of PGM ores in various proportions, and
its price as a refined metal used to be more as a by-product of the
others, particularly platinum, more so than for its own value as a
catalyst.
Ore from this location in Montana is not only high grade (good) but
contains an unusual palladium:platinum ratio of just over 3:1 (not so good
for the bottom line of SM) which is an anomaly that does not favor
Stillwater vs the Russians, given that Pt is far more valuable.
[side note] Since Pt is twice as dense and ~3 times as valuable as Pd -
the same value of ore by volume usually means that Pt is the prime metal
for covering mining costs, a factor of 6-to1 over Pd -- and everything
else varies with that Pt demand - but not at Stillwater. However, this
company would be very profitable with $350 Pd, even if Pt fell further -
so there is a curious competitive situation to be found if a breakthrough
in Pd-D LENR reactions makes that process robust (so that the push in
demand comes from Pd and not Pt.)
The market for precious metals is not a free market in one sense of the
word and companies like Stillwater are not a normal part of the "club"
that controls platinum though they do have ties to J-M. Plus, other PGM
metals like iridium work well for automotive without Pd so this mine,
almost single-handedly would favor the supply situation for energy uses:
LENR or SOFC as opposed to the rest of the market mix.
Furthermore: It could very well be that in the future, there will be found
to be a natural alloy in the Stillwater ore from which Pd is now being
refined, which is every bit as effective as the pure metal. In that case,
the pricing situation could favor a massive increase in demand which would
not necessarily push the price upwards far above the $350 level and
thereby quench demand (which would happen if pure Pd came from Russian
supplies alone, as they would take the price over $1000 at once).
Within days of any announcement for a new energy process requiring Pd,
even if it is for fuel cells like those from Bloom - look for the
Russians, or other foreign interests like the Chinese - to try to take
control of Stillwater. The US DoE cannot let that happen.
If LENR (or the Bloom SOFC) is now becoming viable as a future energy
resource, then Stillwater will be a national treasure due to these
economic realities (due to its large ore body, the so called "reef" of
high palladium content - and we should never let it be taken over by
another country in the name of "free market" capitalism.
Jones
