A precious metal is an uncommon or rare metallic element that is perceived as having a high, durable economic value. 

Precious metals fall into two main categories - those used for monetary purposes as a store of wealth and those used for industrial use.  This website focuses mainly on the monetary aspect of precious metals, namely platinum, gold and silver.

The industrial aspect of precious metals can fall into PGMs, or platinum group metals, such as platinum, palladium, rhodium, osmium, iridium and ruthenium.  Other industrial precious metals used in energy production are uranium and plutonium.

Gold and silver historically have been considered a store of wealth or a medium for the exchange of goods and services for thousands of years by many different cultures and civilisations across the world, from ancient Egyptians to the Nordic Vikings.  There is evidence to suggest that the pre-Columbian Indians used gold and platinum back in 100BC.

A one tonne cube of gold is about 37cm on each side and contains 32,150 troy ounces.

If gold is trading at USD$400 per ounce, it would be worth over 12.8 million US Dollars

 If all the gold in the world was melted into one large cube, it would measure about 19 meters

on each side, now try dividing that by six billion people, which would only leave about a couple of grams of gold for every person on the planet, so that’s why gold is a precious metal!  It is currently estimated that there is only some 40,000 tonnes of economical gold (which can be mined) at current prices left in the ground, or about 15 years of mine supply reserves.

Silver also has a monetary background in addition to industrial demands placed upon it.  It is believed that the above-ground supply of silver has been so drastically reduced due to industrial demand and uneconomical recycling that any excess consumption in retail investment could cause the above-ground supplies to be exhausted.  There are some 20 to 30 mining companies in the world that are producing silver.  Of these, not all are major producers and there is a current estimated in-ground mine supply of only 15 to 20 years at the current production rate.  Many believe that silver could become more scarce than gold.

Platinum has only recently become recognized as having some monetary value with the introduction of coinage over the past 90 years, although platinum has no historic monetary value.  It is, however, about 30 times rarer than gold and there is a large demand from both the jewellery and industrial sectors.

About Precious Metals.com 2005