Platinum

Overview

Platinum is a dense, silvery-white precious metal and the best known of the six platinum-group metals (PGMs). It resists corrosion and keeps its strength at high temperatures, and it is an exceptionally effective catalyst. Most commercially produced platinum comes from South Africa.¹

Its largest use is in catalytic converters, which turn harmful vehicle exhaust gases into less toxic substances. It is also used in jewelry, in catalysts for nitric acid and silicones, in hard disks and thermocouples, in glassmaking equipment, in medical devices and in platinum-based cancer drugs.¹²

Platinum is critical because mine supply is highly concentrated and slow to respond to demand. The United States lists it as a critical mineral, and the EU covers it through its "Platinum Group Metals" entry on both the critical and the strategic raw materials lists.³⁴

Where it comes from

Platinum is mined from a small number of deposits. The largest resources and reserves are in the Bushveld Complex in South Africa.⁵ Zimbabwe's Great Dyke is the other major platinum-dominant deposit, while in Russia platinum is mainly a by-product of nickel and copper mining in the Norilsk-Talnakh area.² South African ores generally contain 2 to 6 grams of PGMs per tonne, so 10 to 40 tonnes of ore can be needed to produce one troy ounce of platinum.²

World mine production was an estimated 170 t in 2025. South Africa produced about 120 t, or roughly 70%, and its PGM output fell by an estimated 9% because of deep-level mining costs and disruptions to electricity supply.⁵

• South Africa120 t · 71%
• Russia20 t · 12%
• Zimbabwe18 t · 11%
• Canada5 t · 3%
• United States1.8 t · 1%
• Other countries3.9 t · 2%

USGS reports production in kilograms of metal content, converted here to metric tons (1,000 kg = 1 t). World total is the USGS rounded figure; the country rows sum to 168.7 t. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Platinum-Group Metals

Johnson Matthey estimates total primary platinum supply in 2025 at 172.9 t, with a further 48.1 t recovered from open-loop recycling of autocatalysts, jewelry and electronics.⁶ South African mine output was cut by extreme rainfall early in the year, and North American supply fell sharply after rationalization at the Stillwater mine in Montana.⁶

Reserves of all six PGMs total more than 76,000 t, and about 83% of them are in South Africa.⁵

• South Africa63,000 t · 83%
• Russia11,000 t · 14%
• Zimbabwe1,300 t · 2%
• United States590 t · <1%
• Canada310 t · <1%

Group figure for all platinum-group metals, not platinum alone. Converted from kilograms. World total shown is the sum of USGS country estimates; USGS gives the world total as more than 76,000 t and reports no figure for other countries. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Platinum-Group Metals

What it is used for

Global platinum demand reached 249.5 t in 2025. Automotive catalysts took about 41%, followed by jewelry at about 19%.⁶ Platinum has long been the main PGM in diesel catalysts, and automakers have recently put more platinum into gasoline catalysts in place of palladium.²

{{chart:end-uses}}

Industrial uses are varied. Platinum catalysts are used in petroleum refining and in making paraxylene, and platinum-rhodium alloys are used in equipment for producing glass fiber and display glass.⁶² Platinum is also central to proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers and fuel cells for hydrogen, a use that is still small but expected to grow over the long term.²

The market was in deficit for a third straight year in 2025, with demand exceeding supply by 28.5 t. Johnson Matthey forecasts a smaller deficit in 2026 as investment and jewelry demand weaken.⁶

Grades and forms

Refined platinum typically exceeds 99.95% purity and is produced as ingots, grains or a fine powder known as sponge.² Bars traded on the London and Zurich markets must meet LPPM Good Delivery rules: a minimum fineness of 99.95% and a weight of 1 to 6 kg.⁷

Trade and policy

The United States relied on imports for 89% of its platinum consumption in 2025, up from 85% in 2024. Its main sources in 2021–24 were South Africa (49%), Belgium (10%), Germany (10%) and Italy (8%). Unwrought and semi-manufactured PGMs enter the United States duty free under normal trade relations.⁵ The EU also depends on imports: with little primary production, its import requirement has been around 35 t a year.²

The US National Defense Stockpile listed 261 kg of platinum as a potential disposal for fiscal year 2025.⁵

This section is factual background, not legal or trade-compliance advice.

Recycling and substitution

Platinum is highly recyclable. About 140,000 kg of palladium and platinum was recovered from new and old scrap worldwide in 2025, including about 8,600 kg of platinum from catalytic converters in the United States.⁵ Closed-loop recycling, in which industrial users keep ownership of their metal, accounts for nearly 90% of platinum recycling.²

Palladium can replace platinum in many gasoline catalysts, and about 25% of the platinum in diesel catalysts can routinely be replaced by palladium, up to 50% in some applications.⁵ In other uses substitution is harder: platinum has minimal scope for replacement in hard disk coatings, and many chemical plants are optimized around platinum catalysts. Battery electric vehicles, which need no autocatalyst, are the main long-term threat to demand.²

Sources

1. Platinum: element information, properties and uses. Royal Society of Chemistry, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

2. PGM Fact Sheet: Platinum (May 2026). International Platinum Group Metals Association, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

3. Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals (90 FR, 7 November 2025). Federal Register, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

4. EU critical raw materials. European Commission Joint Research Centre (RMIS), accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

5. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Platinum-Group Metals. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

6. PGM Market Report May 2026. Johnson Matthey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

7. Good Delivery Rules. London Platinum and Palladium Market, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

8. LPPM Good Delivery Platinum and Palladium Update. London Platinum and Palladium Market, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩