Under current market conditions, many platinum mines will close prematurely due to a lack of financial resources – and even without financial constraint, closure of depleting mines will result in platinum availability being considerably below the level that has prevailed for the past quarter century, Minerals Council South Africa VP Paul Dunne informed last week’s Shanghai Platinum Week audience. Displaying a graph projecting two global platinum scenarios, Dunne said the lower declining darker dotted line shown in the image above would be platinum’s downfall should current platinum group metals (PGM) pricing persists.