Gold Loses, This Is The Most Expensive Precious Metal In The World

Illustration of rhodium (Freepict)

YOGYAKARTA So far, many people think that gold is the most expensive precious metal in the world. This assumption makes gold a form of investment that is quite popular. But did you know that there are still precious metals whose prices exceed gold?

The most expensive precious metal in the world today is the rhodium, a rare transition metal that is not widely known by the public. He is white and inclined to maturity, hard, and stainless. Rhidium is also one of the precious metals and is a member of the plateau group.

Its rare existence is one of the contributors to why the price of rhodium is so expensive, which is approximately Rp. 157.8 million per ounce. Meanwhile, the price of gold is at Rp. 28.3 million per ounce (estimated exchange rate of Rp. 15,322 per US dollar).

Quoted from the Periodic Table site, rhodium was discovered by William Hyde Wollaston in 1803. At that time he extracted this element from the platinum ore he got from South Africa. The name rhodium itself is a Greek meaning rose. Named mawar'' because of the presence of compounds that appeared when rhodium and chloride compounds were dissolved into aqua regia.

The rhidium metal is difficult to react to oxygen, making the metal a catalyst that is resistant to corrosion and oxidation. It also has a very high melting point, namely 1964 degrees Celsius.

Rohodium is able to survive temperatures of up to 600 degrees Celsius and is not soluble with acid. This trait allows rhodium to be used as material for cars, planes, electric contact, and resistance cables.

The existence of rare rhodim makes the price soar. The Royal Society of Chemistry reports the existence of rhodium only in 0.000037 parts per million across the earth. In contrast to the gold in 0.0013 parts per million.

On the newagemetals website, it is stated that in 2019, the mined supply of rhodium reached more than 750,000oz, while only 315,000oz were recycled. This condition causes a deficit of approximately 50,000oz.

In demand, the supply of rhodium is inelastic. This means that when demand increases, there is no quick way to increase production or supply in the market. Apart from the presence of rhodium in rare earth crusts, the metal is only mined as a by-product mined from a platin mine, palladium, or nickel.

The rhodium metal also doesn't have a primary mine, unlike gold, which certainly has a primary mine. In addition, the main mining site is in South Africa. The country generates about 85 percent of the rhodium from global supply per year.

Its stainless nature makes rhodium widely used for various purposes. One of the benefits of rhodium is as a coating of jewelry. Rhidium sheaves of jewelry from scratches, stains, and snacks.

In addition, this precious metal is used as a car catalytic converter that is useful for reducing the amount of nitrogen oxide (NOx) exhaust gas that rises into the atmosphere.

In 2019, nearly 90 percent of the demand for sodium came from the automotive catalyst sector. The metal is capable of turning NOx into a more friendly gas so that it will continue to be involved as a controller of Nox.

That's information related to precious metals that are the most expensive. Visit VOI.ID to get other interesting information.