Rejigging the mix in the fibreglass recipe and China selling on the savings domestically has cut deep. About three years ago, Chinese manufacturers of fibreglass began shifting the metals mix in their product in ways that would have profound implications for platinum group metals (PGM) producers and, by extension, South Africa’s ailing economy. Rhodium had just scaled record highs of close to $30,000 an ounce, making it the most expensive precious metal in recorded history.
For Chinese brands of fibreglass, this rendered its cost radioactive. This had huge implications for the global economy as China accounts for 70% of the global production of fibreglass, which has a range of industrial applications, including in the blades of the wind turbines that are helping to power the green energy transition.“Rhodium has suffered tremendously from substitution in the Chinese fibreglass industry,” Paul Dunne, CEO of Northam Platinum, told journalists during the company’s recent results presentatio