Where Is Platinum Found?

Platinum represents one of the world’s most precious and rare metals - at about 30 times more rare than gold, it is extremely hard to find. Combine that with its usefulness as a heavy, durable, and malleable metal, as well as its chemical functions as a catalyst in a number of metal reactions, and you’ve got an extremely rare commodity on your hands.

But even if platinum is so rare, it has to be found somewhere, right? After all, no one would have discovered platinum if it was so rare that it was nearly impossible to find. Indeed, platinum is one of the rare metals on Earth - so rare that even bolide craters have a higher percentage of platinum than most soil on Earth.

Well, the answer is that platinum is indeed found in some places, but the limited amount of places it’s found (and in the limited quantities it’s found) make it a truly unique metal. Here are some of the places platinum is found in the world.

South Africa

South Africa is famous for its mines and for some of the precious metals and stones that it exports, and platinum is not an exception to that trend in this case. In fact, platinum is actually found in higher quantities in South Africa than just about any other place on Earth, which just adds that much more to the mystique of what lies beneath the soil in South Africa.

Platinum occurs in a very rare formation in South Africa, in what’s known as a sulfide mineral cooperite. Platinum occurs there with palladium and nickel, and these platinum extractions make up the largest primary reserves of platinum in the world. No where else on earth is platinum known to exist in such quantities.

In 2005, South Africa held about an 80% share of the production of platinum, with Russia and Canada both trailing by a distant margin.

Russia

After South Africa, one of the largest sources of platinum is Russia, at copper-nickel deposits near Norilsk. Although in Russia, these quantities don’t occur in the same frequency as the source in South Africa, this is still considered one of the largest deposits in the world, as platinum often is found with these other metals.

Canada

Like Russia, Canada has a natural platinum source that comes with another large ore, in this case the nickel ore found in the Sudbury Basin. Even with this large ore of nickel, platinum only makes up a small part of the metal present, further helping illustrate the real rarity of platinum.

Craters

Although other trace amounts of platinum are found in places like Montana, it is interesting to note that platinum is found in more abundance in bolides (meteors) and the Moon. For this reason, platinum is sometimes found at impact craters where bolides collided with the earth. These places aren’t treasure troves for platinum, but platinum is found to exist in higher percentages in these craters.

A quick look at where platinum exists gives a hint into its nature as one of our rarest metals. Looking at a map of all of the places platinum occurs in significant amounts, one can’t help but notice all of the places where platinum is actually not occurring, which is the vast majority of the map.

Like other precious metals, platinum is often found with other metals like nickel and copper, so platinum is actually usually not found in exclusively platinum mines, but instead large nickel ores. This, however, doesn’t mean that platinum will always be abundant in these types of ores, as there are other variables involved.

If you have platinum in your possession, you now have an understanding of the rarity at which it occurs, as well as the difficulty in finding platinum and putting it to commercial use. For this reason, you can give your platinum to an online metal broker for a very fair price, as they are looking for precious metals that can be recycled, melted down, and put to industrial use. Don’t treat platinum as a common commodity, because it is actually very hard to find - instead, recycle your old or broken platinum jewelry.

If you’re interested in recycling your old or broken jewelry - including precious metals like silver and gold - then check out PlatinumPaq. PlatinumPaq will be able to provide you with insured mailing for the safe packaging of your platinum, gold, or silver in your possession. They will then be able to look at the precious metals you have and make an honest appraisal of them. Be sure to check out this option if you have any jewelry that’s not being put to use - you can even use the money to donate to charity. Remember to keep an open mind about precious metals and you will be able to put even your broken jewelry to use.

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