Jakarta –
It’s not believed to be one precious metal the rarest and most expensive. In fact, while they rank quite high comparatively, there is one precious metal that trumps both value and rarity.
Due to the versatility of gold, its conductivity and durability, it is in the top five most expensive metals. The price of gold which reached more than USD 1,850 per ounce at the time of publication is indeed impressive. However, it was nothing in comparison rhodium.
Quoted from IFL Scienceprice per ounce rhodium valued at USD 10,300 at the time of publication, making it the most expensive precious metal and one of the rarest. So, what makes it so expensive?
Rhodium not easy to react to oxygen, so it is a perfect catalyst, resistant to corrosion and oxidation. Its overall hardiness and high melting point of 1964 degrees Celsius place it among the platinum group metals along with platinum, palladium, osmium, iridium and ruthenium.
Rhodium it is also able to withstand water and air temperatures up to 600 degrees Celsius, and remains insoluble in most acids, making it very versatile for use as components for automobiles, aircraft, electrical contacts, and high temperature thermocouples and resistance wires.
The rarest of the platinum group metals, rhodium is present at about 0.000037 parts per million in the Earth’s crust, while gold is found at an abundance of about 0.0013 parts per million, according to the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Rhodium is especially abundant in South Africa and Russia. This precious metal can be a by-product of refining copper and nickel ores, which contain up to 0.1% precious metal. About 16 tons of rhodium are produced annually, with an estimated reserve of 3,000 tons.
Rhodium was discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston, a British chemist who extracted the element from a piece of platinum ore from South America. The discovery came shortly after Wollaston discovered another platinum group metal, palladium.
Generally, rhodium is found together with platinum precipitates. The rhodium was obtained from the Wollaston sample by removing the platinum and palladium, leaving behind a dark red powder which was treated with hydrogen gas to reveal the precious metal rhodium.
The name rhodium comes from the Greek word ‘rhodon’ which means rose. This name refers to the red color of the salt content that appears on this type of precious metal.
Despite its rarity and beauty, statistics from 2019 show almost 90% of the demand for rhodium comes from the auto-catalyst sector in the production of catalytic converters.
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