What is it?
A dense, unreactive metal that speeds up chemical reactions without being consumed by them.
Why does it matter?
Platinum cleans diesel exhaust, and it is the catalyst on both sides of a hydrogen fuel cell and most electrolysers.
Deeper written sections for this material have not been published yet. Everything below is drawn straight from the source datasets and is complete.
Where it comes from in the rock
All ore minerals →These are the minerals that actually carry platinum. A deposit is only an orebody if one of them is concentrated enough to pay for digging it up.
Sperrylite
The most common platinum mineral, a hard arsenide found in nickel-copper sulfide ores.
Pentlandite
The main nickel sulfide ore mineral, and the host that also carries most by-product platinum-group metals.
Who produces it
See it on a map →Mine production: Platinum
Mine production: Platinumkilograms 2025 (estimated)
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · Reported in kilograms of contained platinum; supply is dominated by a small number of orebodies. · source ↗
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Country | Production | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 120,000 | — |
| Russia | 20,000 | — |
| Zimbabwe | 18,000 | — |
| Canada | 5,000 | — |
| Other countries | 3,900 | — |
| United States | 1,800 | — |
Mine production: Platinum, rounded
Mine production: Platinum, roundedkilograms 2025 (estimated) World total 170,000 kilograms
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · Reported in kilograms of contained platinum; supply is dominated by a small number of orebodies. · source ↗
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Country | Production | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| World total | 170,000 | 100% |
“Withheld” means the USGS suppressed the figure to avoid disclosing an individual company's data — it does not mean zero. Country rows do not always sum to the world total because the source rounds each figure independently and does not always break out an “other countries” line.
Price
dollars per troy ounce: Platinum
Annual averagedollars per troy ounce
Basis: dollars per troy ounce: Platinum. Annual averages as published in USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗. These are reference annual averages, not a live market quote.
Mines that produce it
All mines →
Norilsk-Talnakh
The largest palladium source in the world and a major nickel producer.
Sudbury Basin
One of the longest-producing nickel districts on Earth.
Where it is processed and refined
| Plant | Kind | Stage | Country | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant | Smelter | Processing | Russia | Output |
| Jinchuan Group Smelter-Refinery | Refinery | Refining | China | Output |
| Rustenburg Base & Precious Metals Refineries | Refinery | Refining | South Africa | Output |
What it is used for
All end markets →| End market | What it does there | Importance |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrogen & Electrolysis | PEM cathode catalyst and fuel cells | Defining |
| Medicine & Health | Chemotherapy drugs and electrodes | Important |
How much of it a technology needs
| Technology | Quantity | Quoted | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| PEM Electrolyser | 0.1–0.3 kg | per MW of capacity | Cathode catalyst |
| Three-Way Catalytic Converter | 0.002–0.008 kg | per vehicle | Coating, mostly diesel |
Indicative range compiled from published technology studies and chemistry; verify against a manufacturer specification before use. Run these numbers at any scale in the material calculator →