Johan Odendaal
MD: Southern Palladium
‘We are confident Bengwenyama’s strong fundamentals will attract strategic partners and investors’
IF ever there was a time to ‘feed the ducks when they’re quacking’, then it is now for platinum start-up Southern Palladium. MD Johan Odendaal & Co may never get a better chance. Last year, the platinum market was just plain ugly and, despite the optimism expressed by Odendaal and chairperson Roger Baxter, the chances of a new developer getting significant support were the square root of zip.
That was then. The platinum price has since nearly trebled, exceeding the previous all-time high of 2008. The trigger was a slowing in the growth of electric vehicle sales, an increase in derivative trading, geopolitical uncertainty, and spill over investment appetite for critical metals of nearly all types. This was good tidings for internal combustion engine vehicles, which use platinum group metals (PGMs) to control emissions. At the same time, the whole precious metals complex – gold, silver and the PGMs – exploded as investors sought out alternatives to certain dicey-looking US assets. Do we need tell you this cannot last? So Odendaal is rightly acting now.
Southern Palladium raised A$28m last year to fund the detailed financial study for the proposed Bengwenyama project and Baxter has been talking about an IPO in Toronto. That move should be fast tracked to raise a big slug of funds while the ducks are hungry. One sidelight: Southern Palladium ditched a proposed name change to Southern Platinum. Shareholders voted it down – perhaps wisely given the fickle nature of the metal markets.
LIFE OF JOHAN
He’s described as a mineral economist but Odendaal holds qualifications across the suite of professions that are key to the mining industry, with a BSc in geology, a BSc (Hons) in Mineral Economics and an MSc in mining engineering. He cofounded Minxcon in 2005 and has advised mining companies, investors and financial institutions on valuations, mine-financial analysis and corporate strategy. He headed up mining research for South African broking firm Huysamer Stals and held the position of vice president at Merrill Lynch. He was appointed MD at Southern Palladium in 2022.
