Platinum gains on smelter closure

Precious metals prices were mixed Monday, with gold and silver down after the US dollar made gains against the euro after being down against the shared currency earlier in the session.

October platinum, however, added $9.60 to $2,072 per troy ounce on the news of a smelter closure in South Africa.

The Lonmin (LSE: LMI; JSE: LOLMI) smelter is scheduled to be closed for about a week for repairs of a small water leak.

August gold was $3.50 lower to $927.80 per troy ounce while September silver was down 20 cents to $17.51 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, September copper was trading about even at last report at $3.88 per pound in New York while three-month copper in London dropped about $10 from Friday’s close to $8,260 per tonne even though London Metal Exchange inventories were down 300 tonnes on the session to 122,600 tonnes to highlight supply concerns.

Other base metals prices were mixed.

Tin saw gains, closing at $23,450 per tonne in London, while nickel and zinc both remained unchanged at $23,950 per tonne and $1,930 per tonne respectively.

Aluminium fell $5.50 to $3,114.50 per tonne and lead dropped $10 to $1,790 per tonne.