Interesting articles relating to platinum and miningStandard Bank:
International Investigations
In the past year Standard Bank was fined by regulators in the U.K and South Africa for failures in anti-money-laundering controls. It may be facing a U.S. investigation for precious metal price manipulation along with some of the world’s biggest banks, according to people with knowledge of the matter. It has also been named in a U.S. class action suit that claims the lender, and others, manipulated platinum and palladium prices.
“We agreed a year ago that the platinum and palladium fix should move to the London Metals Exchange, but just before it moved a U.S. institution decided it’s moving because of wrongdoing and launched a class action,” Kruger said. The judge in the case has yet to approve the class action, he said. “We’ve received no notification of the precious metals probe.”
Standard Bank is involved through its investment arm in the oil and gas industry, as well as mining, across the African continent. The slump in the oil price, which led to drillers idling 589 rigs in the past 12 weeks, has prompted the bank to examine the potential impact on its business.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-05/standard-bank-gains-most-in-six-years-as-africa-business-expands
South Africa and Canada sign MoU for cooperation in mining development
https://www.mining-technology.com/news/newssouth-africa-canada-sign-mou-co-operation-mining-development-4526183