Sibanye Stillwater: US PGM recycling operations drops by 13%
The US PGM recycling operations fed an average of 9.3 tonnes per day (tpd) of spent autocatalyst material for Q1 2025, a 13% decrease from 10.7 tpd processed in Q1 2024, primarily due to the smelter being offline for approximately 10 days due to the run-out incident mentioned earlier.
3E PGM ounces fed of 74,717 3Eoz, was 4% lower than 77,873 3Eoz fed for Q1 2024, with the differential to the volume of autocatalysts fed due to higher loadings of PGM’s in autocatalysts processed. At the end of Q1 2025, recycle inventory increased to approximately 137 tonnes containing approximately 12,120 3Eoz compared with 23 tonnes at the end of Q1 2024. The smelter is scheduled to process this excess inventory to a sustainable level of around 60-70 tonnes during Q2 2025.
For Q1 2025 adjusted EBITDA from the US PGM recycling operations (excluding S45X credits) was US$4 million (R70 million) in line with Q1 2024 with the benefit of a 10% higher 3E PGM basket price (driven by platinum and rhodium prices which were 7% and 10% higher year-
on-year respectively) offsetting 26% lower volumes sold.
It is anticipated that the US PGM recycling operations will also qualify for a S45X credit of approximately 10% of operating costs. Once we have the contract certificate from our contractor refiner we expect to be able to also claim approximately US$6 million for the quarter with approximately US$30 million for 2025 (R547 million), improving the profitability of the recycling operations. Including estimated S45X credits of US$6 million (R111 million) for Q1 2025, would increase adjusted EBITDA to US$10 million (R185 million).
Reldan recycling operation
For Q1 2025, Sibanye-Stillwater’s Reldan recycling operation processed approximately 4 million lbs of mixed industrial waste, and sold 28,023 oz gold, 464,407 oz silver, 5,981 oz platinum, 8,638 oz palladium, and 747,577 lbs of copper, contributing adjusted EBITDA of US$7 million (R127 million) to the Group for Q1 2025, compared to adjusted EBITDA of US$2 million (R37 million) for Q1 2024 (noting that the Reldan recycling operation was only consolidated from March 2024).
