Platinum

By Robert J. Garino

Robert J. Garino is director of commodities for ISRI.

Platinum is the most abundant of six so-called platinum-group metals, a family that includes palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, iridium, and osmium.

In mining, platinum is usually associated with nickel and copper sulfide deposits. The vast majority of platinum metal—68 percent—is derived from South African ores, with Russia and Canada accounting for 26 and 5 percent of supply, respectively.

Aside from virgin platinum, increasing quantities of the metal are recovered each year from spent automotive catalytic converters, or autocats. In North America, approximately 260,000 troy ounces of platinum was recovered last year, giving secondary platinum a 33-percent share of the 790,000 troy ounces used in autocats for the year.

Platinum has several characteristics that make it ideal for many commercial applications. For instance, it doesn’t oxidize at any temperature, is readily fabricated at room temperature, and is immune to attack by most chemical reagents. These attributes make platinum a favorite in catalysts, particularly automotive-type, as well as jewelry, electronic and electrical products, anodes, thermocouples, and other chemical industry applications.

Refined platinum is bought and sold in kilograms and troy ounces (one troy ounce is equal to 1.097 avoirdupois ounce). Most end users of refined platinum are supplied directly by producers at a producer price. Futures markets exist, however, on both Nymex and the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, on which trading activity is mostly confined to speculative and investment interests. In addition, the London Platinum & Palladium Market quotes daily buying and selling prices for spot delivery. •