PGE Overview
Platinum, palladium, iridium, osmium, rhodium and ruthenium occur in close association with one another and with nickel and copper. They are among the least abundant of the Earth's elements. Of the few known deposits, those in South Africa and Russia are by far the largest. There are fewer than ten significant PGE mining companies in the world.
Platinum and palladium have the greatest economic importance and are found in the largest quantities. Rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium are produced only as co-products of platinum and palladium.
Applications
PGE are used in a multitude of applications. Many of the key uses are as follows:
Autocatalysts: A pollution control device fitted to cars and trucks, the catalytic converter (autocatalyst) is the largest application of platinum group elements (PGE). Platinum, palladium and rhodium are coated onto a substrate housed in the exhaust system and act as catalysts to reduce levels of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen to legislated levels.
Jewellery: The second largest sector of PGE demand, 85% of platinum jewellery is made and consumed in China, Japan and the USA. Manufacturers have begun to produce palladium jewellery recently, making it a significant demand sector. Ruthenium and iridium are used as constituents in jewellery alloys and rhodium is used for decorative electroplating.
Investment: Platinum is a tangible asset which has many of the attributes of other precious metal investments. During the last thirty years a number of different retail investment platinum products have been introduced.
Industrial Applications: The physical and chemical properties of the PGE make them invaluable to many industries. Here are some of the key areas where they are used:
- In chemical and petroleum industries, platinum-based catalysts and compounds are used in the manufacture of nitric acid and silicones. Platinum catalysts are used to upgrade low octane petroleum naphtha and to make petrochemical feedstocks for the manufacture of plastics, synthetic rubber and polyester fibres. Palladium is used in hydrocracking while iridium is used with platinum in niche reforming applications.
- In electronics, palladium-containing components are used, as multi-layer ceramic (chip) capacitors, conductive tracks in hybrid integrated circuits and for plating connectors and lead frames. Platinum is also used to improve the data storage capacity of hard disks.
- In health and medicine, platinum, palladium and small amounts of ruthenium and/or iridium are used to produce alloys for dental restorations and crowns. In certain chemical forms, platinum inhibits the division of living cells resulting in the development of platinum-based drugs to treat cancer.
Production
South Africa
South Africa is the world’s largest producer of platinum and a significant producer of palladium, accounting for 5.22 million ounces of platinum and 2.795 million ounces of palladium in 2007. The Bushveld Complex, which is the source of South Africa’s PGE, began production in 1925 producing platinum as its main product with palladium and rhodium being the by-products.
The Bushveld Complex
Formed about 2,000 million years ago, the Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC) can be compared to an enormous, irregularly-shaped saucer 370 km across, with its centre buried deep underground but its rim exposed. It has a series of distinct layers, three of which contain economic concentrations of PGE. The principal PGE-bearing reefs are the Merensky Reef and the Upper Group 2 (UG2) Reef, which occur around the Eastern and Western sides ("limbs") of the Bushveld. A third PGE-rich layer, the Platreef, is found only on the Potgietersrus limb at the north-eastern edge.
The Merensky Reef has been the principal source of PGE since it was first worked in 1925. However, the other reefs have grown in importance, so that by 1999 the Merensky Reef accounted for just over 50 per cent of all the platinum-bearing ore processed in South Africa. Exploitation of the UG2 began in the 1970s and has steadily increased; in 1999, it was the source of 42 per cent of ore processed. The Platreef, briefly mined in the 1920s, was not exploited on a large scale until 1993.
Russia
Russia is the second largest producer of platinum. Large alluvial platinum deposits were discovered in the Ural Mountains in 1823, and have been exploited continuously up to the present. The Noril'sk site in Siberia began production in 1935 producing copper and nickel as the main product with palladium and platinum being the by-products.
The Noril'sk-Talnakh mines
Production from the Urals placers probably started to decline from the 1920s. But in 1935, exploitation began of PGE-containing copper-nickel deposits on the Taimyr Peninsula in northern Siberia. The first to be discovered and exploited was the Norilsk deposit. Mining was initially via adit operations, but in the 1940s, two open pits were developed.
In 1960, high grade copper-nickel deposits were discovered at Talnakh, 27 km north of Norilsk. Four mines were developed between the 1960s and 1980s, all of which are still in operation.
Zimbabwe
The presence of platinum, along with nickel and copper, were found in the rocks of the Great Dyke in 1918. It was not until 1996, however, that the geology of the deposits were understood and production could begin in earnest.
Source: Johnson Matthey website
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