A Precious Metal
By: Abby Hindle, Halal Incorp
Platinum is one of the rarer elements found on the earth and as a result only a few hundred tonnes a year are produced for use. It has various important uses and as such is a highly valued rare metal.
It has many physical characteristics which contribute to its high value. It is highly unreactive and resistant to corrosion, capable of withstanding even very high temperatures. It is often found chemically uncombined in its natural state. It has a broad range of uses, from laboratory equipment, to dentistry, to catalytic converters, to jewellery, to being used to manipulate molten glass.
It is more ductile than gold, being the most ductile of all the pure metals, but less malleable. It is very chemically stable and unreactive, which is what makes it ideal for industrial and laboratory uses. It also has a strong resistance to being tarnished and worn, which makes it highly desirable as a material for making high-end fine jewellery.
History
A Precious Metal
The metal has been in use for many centuries. It has been found in the gold ancient Egyptians used for their burials and was used by pre-Columbian Americans in what is now modern-day Ecuador. The exact dates for this use are uncertain – many archaeologists associate it with La Tolita culture, which existed circa 600 BC to AD 200 but most platinum artefacts were found through the antiquities trade rather than direct archaeological discovery, making ascertaining direct dates difficult. The Native Americans combined gold and platinum through a process called sintering. This is also known as frittage. It is a process by which heat or pressure is used to form a solid mass of material without reducing the material to liquid form, ideal for metals with a high melting point. This would make the resulting alloy easier to work.
As far as is known as a precious metal, the first reference made by a European to platinum was in the writings of Julius Caesar Scaliger, an Italian humanist. His 1557 writing made reference to a mysterious metal which no one had been able to melt. It seems it was initially regarded as an impurity in gold and discarded. A few centuries later in 1735, two Spaniards saw Native Americans mining for platinum. They took some nuggets back to Spain and established the first mineralogy lab in the country and used it, in part, to study this new metal. After publishing a report on the new metal, however, they did not continue to study it.
Later on, in 1741, British metallurgist Charles Wood sent samples of platinum to William Brownrigg who studied it and presented it to the Royal Society. He pointed out its unusual characteristics, such as its high melting point. This led to a rush of people studying platinum. The platinum that had been found was contaminated with impurities, leading to some erroneous assumptions on the part of the people studying it.
In 1786 Pierre-François Chabaneau, a French scientist working in Spain was given a laboratory to further his studies of platinum. This led to the first production of pure platinum, which Chabaneau quickly realised would be a very valuable metal. He started a business in platinum items, kickstarting Spain’s ‘platinum age.
Uses
The majority of platinum, as a precious metal sold is used to catalyse chemical reactions, most commonly in cars as a catalytic converter. It enables the complete combustion of hydrocarbons. Other uses as a catalyst include being used in the petroleum industry, and to reduce oxygen in fuel cells.
In laboratory environments, platinum is used in electrodes and in equipment like crucibles which need to be heated to very intense temperatures. Platinum is capable of withstanding both high temperatures and electrical arcs which makes it ideal for these purposes.
Investments in Platinum
Investing in platinum is much newer than investing in gold or silver, which have been known quantities for many centuries longer than platinum. Platinum is scarcer than gold; since 2014 rates of platinum have fallen much further behind gold. New production from mining operations comes out at about five million troy ounces a year on average, in contrast to 82 million troy ounces of gold. Due to this scarcity, it often trades for higher prices. Jewellery and automotive catalysts are the highest sources of demand for platinum, meaning that the price of platinum is partially determined by the auto industry. High demand for new catalytic convertors equals higher demand for platinum, which equals higher trade prices.
Most platinum is also located in South Africa, making extraction difficult; platinum mining encourages a degree of cartel action. The complexity of the refining process also makes platinum difficult and rare to produce. All these factors combined make it so that platinum is a potentially valuable but also potentially volatile investment compared to other precious metals.
Use in Jewellery
As is to be expected the second most common use of platinum is as jewellery. Out of all the metals used for jewellery, platinum is the strongest. Its durability and rarity make it highly desired among consumers, in addition to its connotations of luxury and expense. Its strength has also contributed to it becoming common in wedding and engagement rings, as people want to be sure that the jewellery they wear every day will not tarnish or warp.
Pure platinum jewellery is rare and expensive; a precious metal. Most platinum is mixed in alloys with other metals such as copper, rhodium, palladium and cobalt. The amount of platinum in a piece of jewellery is indicated by the hallmark. Each piece has a hallmark stamped on it somewhere indicating the purity of the metal. Unlike gold platinum is not highly malleable, so higher levels of purity are seen. Common platinum hallmarks you might see include: 950 plat/pt (the metal is 95% platinum and 5% alloy metals), 900 (indicating 90% purity), or 800 plat 20 PD (80 % purity, 20% alloy metals). No hallmark indicates less than 50% purity. Platinum under 80% purity is not considered genuine platinum.
Platinum’s rarity, weight and difficulties involved in producing and refining it make it more expensive than other precious metals usually used in jewellery. Specialised tools, higher temperatures and expertise are all needed to work platinum jewellery.
Other, cheaper substitutes for platinum are available but each has its drawbacks. White gold for example looks very similar to platinum. It is an alloy where yellow gold is mixed in with copper or nickel and is usually only around 50-60% pure gold. It is plated with rhodium which wears off over time, revealing the true yellow gold colour unless the jewellery is replated once every four years or so. If durability is something you desire from your jewellery, platinum is a superior choice. Silver is also a common substitute.
Silver tarnishes much more easily however and requires regular maintenance. Palladium is probably the preferable substitute for platinum. Lighter, easier to work, and with similar purity levels to platinum, palladium is the closest to real platinum available at a more affordable price.
Platinum as a rear and a precious metal is a highly valued rare metal with many applications in the modern world. Its rarity and high demand in certain industries make it potentially interesting as an investment opportunity, and its unique physical qualities make it highly desirable in luxury high-end jewellery.
Disclaimer: The view of the author does not necessarily represent the views of Halal Incorp