PGM (PGM) consists of platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd), rhodium (Rh), iridium (Ir), ruthenium (Ru) and osmium (Os). These metals are very popular in the market because they have value for industry, electronics, medical, and especially now the automotive market. Platinum group metals have recently appeared in the news because one of the main uses of these elements in the country is for catalytic converters (reducing harmful emissions from cars), and theft rates of these components have soared.
Over the past few years, we have written several times about the catalytic converters being stolen and sold to scrap metal recycling companies for hundreds of dollars in cash. Auto parts are coated with a combination of chemicals and platinum group metals (PGM). Recyclers extract precious metal and resell it. Unfortunately, in early 2021, these thefts increased dramatically. Several U.S. cities have reported 50, 100, or even 300 catalytic converter thefts in just a few months.
Although theft is a problem for products already produced, obtaining new PGM is also a problem. There are difficulties in mining these valuable minerals. The mineable platinum group metal deposits are very rare and yield much lower than those containing many common metals.
2017 USGS publication explains why PGE is one of the rarest metals…
The earth's crust contains only about 0.0005 parts per million (ppm) of platinum. Today, the average grade of PGE in ores mined primarily due to their PGE concentrations ranges from 5 to 15 ppm, although the concentration of PGE in hand-picked ore specimens may range from tens to hundreds of parts per million.
More than 100 different minerals take one of the PGE as the basic ingredient. PGE minerals exist in the form of natural metals. They are also used with other transition metals (copper, iron, mercury, nickel and silver), post-transition metals (bismuth, lead and tin), metals (antimony, arsenic and tellurium) and non-metals (selenium and sulfur).
The latest report from the US Geological Survey points out that the estimated total global platinum group metal resources exceeds 100 million kilograms. The largest reserves are located in the Bushville complex in South Africa. The annual platinum group production in the United States increased from 13,000 kg in 2016 to 14,000 kg in 2020; platinum increased from $3,890 to $4,000 during the same period, a small increase. According to reports, “South Africa, a world-leading supplier of mineral materials, has seen a 11% decline in PGM production compared to 2019 due to temporary lockdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic and increased labor costs and increased electricity costs, the world’s leading supplier of mineral materials has seen an unreliable electricity supply, and challenges related to deep mining.” The
handheld XRF analyzer can help with the challenges of platinum group metals. These instruments can identify alloys, detect impurity elements, and analyze precious metals, so they are valuable for metal recycling waste fields. But these instruments also help with mining challenges as they also provide geochemical data. In some cases – such as concentrate grade control and mineral-rich exploration – precious metals can be detected directly using a handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer, including some PGM. In other cases – the concentration of these metals is very low – under exploration – the Pathfinder element can be successfully used as exploration tools for locate potential areas. Pathfinder elements and precious metals are enriched in the anomaly region and are easily detected compared to the target element. Analyzing PGE pathfinding elements using handheld XRF analyzers is becoming a valuable tool in precious metal exploration operations.
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