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Precious Metals

The catalogue

Precious Metals

Gold, silver and the platinum group — money, catalysts and contacts.

Gold bullion bars · Stevebidmead · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

All · 146 Rare Earth Elements · 18 Aerospace & Defence Materials · 10 Agricultural Minerals · 3 Battery Materials · 5 Copper & Electrical Materials · 4 Energy Raw Materials · 7 Industrial Minerals · 35 Nuclear Materials · 5 Precious Metals · 10 Semiconductor Materials · 11 Steel & Alloy Metals · 13 Wood & Forest Products · 25

Critical Mineral · 63 Strategic · 36 Construction · 35 Byproduct Only · 27 Energy Transition · 26 Defence · 24 Chip Chain · 17 Forest Product · 12 Recyclable at Scale · 9 Magnet Chain · 8 Hardwood · 8 Softwood · 7 Renewable · 6 Food Chain · 6 Engineered Wood · 4 Grid Chain · 2

Sort: Shelf Name World production Reserves U.S. import reliance Full screener → Periodic table →

3 materials shown. Figures are from USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · as each source defines it for each commodity · source ↗

Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.

Material	Shelf	World production 2025	World reserves	Leading producer	U.S. imported
Silver criticalThe best electrical conductor there is, and the metal that has been used as money for longer…	Precious Metals	26,000metric tons · Mine production	610,000	Mexico24% of world production	77%
Platinum criticalA dense, unreactive metal that speeds up chemical reactions without being consumed by them.	Precious Metals	170,000kilograms · Mine production: Platinum, rounded	—	South Africa71% of world production	89%
Iridium criticalThe most corrosion-resistant metal known, and the second densest — a litre of it weighs about…	Precious Metals	not published	—	—	—

Photographs on this page · 4

Gold bullion bars.jpg · Stevebidmead · CC0
Native silver 1.jpg · Parent Géry · CC BY-SA 3.0
Wellgreen Platinum project in Yukon (22284209294).jpg · MINING.com · CC BY 2.0
Iridium (Element - 77) 2.jpg · James St. John · CC BY 2.0

Every photograph is from Wikimedia Commons and is used under the licence shown.