When we say “precious metals,” what comes to mind? It’s gold, right? Or perhaps silver? Don’t worry, we aren’t mind-readers, it’s just that gold and silver tend to hog the spotlight in media outlets and financial commentary.
As investors it’s important to diversify, we all know that. It’s also important to have diversification within each asset class. Some gold, some silver, and a truly diversified metals portfolio will include some PGMs as well. Platinum bullion and palladium bullion are in demand from a wide range of industrial sources, which adds to their investment value. PGMs are most often used as catalysts because of their chemical stability, but they are not limited to this role.
There are six transitional metal elements that are classified as Platinum Group Metals. And according to the International Platinum Group Metals Association (IPA), one quarter of all goods manufactured either contain PGMs or PGMs played a key role in their production.
Learn more about investing in platinum and palladium by checking out this infographic from our friends over at MetalsWired.com.
I’m confused about a part of this article, why would they say that palladium has the same density as silver, but is lighter ? Silver and Palladium have two different densities altogether, 10.5 g/cm3 and 11.9 g/cm3 respectively. So by this alone wouldn’t palladium be heavier than silver ?
The article is wrong on both counts. Palladium is quite a bit denser than silver and, therefore, also heavier. Not sure how they could’ve come up with such erroneous information.
Our guess is, MetalsWired.com was talking about jewelry specifically, and depending on the “mix” of metals, palladium could be lighter….maybe? Thanks for pointing that out!