Tantalum, on the other hand, is used to make capacitors in electronic equipment such as mobile phones, DVD players, video game systems and computers. The reigning metal; this one needs no introduction. Collected and marketed as a commodity, used in jewelry, industrial applications and dental applications. Its conductivity component is key to the electronics industry.
The title of the most expensive precious metal in the world goes to Rhodium. The annual production of rhodium is around 30 tons; to put that in context, gold miners extract between 2500 and 3000 tons of the precious metal annually. Ruthenium is most commonly found in minerals with other metals from the platinum group in the mountains of North and South America. Belonging to the platinum group, ruthenium is a rare transition metal that was discovered by the Russian-born scientist Karl Ernst Claus in 1844 at Kazan State University.
Mining news and detailed articles on the latest operations and projects of mining companies that cover mining exploration trends with up-to-date data on the most extracted metals and minerals. Tellurium is associated with gold such as the minerals calaverite and krennerite, but it can also be found as a native metal. In addition to alkali, indium is the softest metal on the planet and is a post-transition metal that represents approximately 0.21 parts per million of the Earth's crust. This precious metal is often used for nickel-based superalloys in combustion chambers, turbine blades and jet engine exhaust nozzles.
Silver exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and reflectivity of any metal known to man. Osmium, iridium, palladium, ruthenium and rhodium are commonly grouped with platinum and are known as metals or elements of the platinum group (PGM or PGE). It can be found in the Earth's crust in its purest elemental form as an alloy with gold and other precious metals, and in minerals such as chlorargyrite and argentita. Iridium is one of the rarest metals in the Earth's crust, with an annual production of just three tons.
This identifiable metal occupied the throne in commodity prices for decades until it was overtaken by gold. Another member of the platinum family and the most extreme, this metal has a very high melting point and is the metal most resistant to corrosion. The list of expensive precious metals and the figures mentioned below have been compiled from several sources on the web, such as 911Metallurgist & Gold Investments. Blue-gray metal is highly reflective and is used in space mirrors and other industrial mirror applications.
