Here, we are only looking at the amount of these metals in the earth’s crust. How Much Gold, Silver and Platinum Exists on Earth? However, the sale price of rhodium is typically a bit less than that of platinum, and the rest are even less expensive because they are simply less useful. Rhodium, iridium and ruthenium are perhaps the rarest, roughly 1/5 as common as platinum. Silver may be more useful industrially, but it is somewhat less rare, so less precious. Gold and platinum definitely count as contenders for the number one spot. The most expensive are at once very rare and very useful. You can get a good sense for how precious a metal is by comparing it to others on international markets. Whilst some is used in jewellery, the majority of the palladium and platinum produced today is snapped up by automobile manufacturers, to produce catalytic converters.Ī metal must have all three aspects to be precious, and even then some are more precious than others. Gold and silver are highly sought after both as currency, bullion and for making art, but are also vital to the electronics industry. However, modern production techniques relegated it to the status of a common metal.Ī metal might pass both of the other tests, but if it isn’t desired by people, it does not count. Aluminium was once considered a precious metal because it was nearly impossible to refine. Copper, while traditionally used in coinage and jewellery, is far too common to count it as ‘precious’. The amounts of the metal found in the earth’s crust must be quite small. Unstable elements that must be created in a lab (typically by fusing or irradiating other elements) can never count as precious metals. Gold, silver, platinum and even the unusual precious metals like osmium are all metals (in a chemical sense) and naturally occurring. It must be a naturally occurring metallic element There are three areas which are often referenced when discussing precious metals:ġ. Platinum and palladium have international currency codes assigned by ISO, just like gold and silver.īut what makes these metals special? Is it simply their rarity, beauty and utility? What Makes a Metal Precious? However, the platinum group of elements (platinum itself, palladium, iridium, osmium, rhodium and ruthenium) are also important precious metals. The best known precious metals are of course gold and silver, which have both been made into currency and objects of art since before recorded history began.
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