• Appearance : silver-white metallic, very shiny and reflects up to 80 percent of light

  
  

• Symbol : Rh

• Atomic number : 45

• Atomic Weight : 102.9055

• Found in : There is no such thing as a primary rhodium mine, and the major producers are all located in South Africa

• Uses : Rhodium is highly resistant to corrosion, and is extremely reflective. It is used as a finish for jewellery, mirrors, and search lights. It is also used in electric connections and is alloyed with platinum for aircraft turbine engines. Another use is manufacturing of nitric acid and used in hydrogenation of organic compounds. Rhodium usage is dominated by automotive catalyst applications where it is used together with platinum and palladium to control exhaust emissions.

Rhodium is a silver-white metallic element that is highly reflective and resistant to corrosion. It is considered the rarest and most valuable precious metal in the world — well above gold or silver. The name rhodium comes from the Greek word “rhodon,” meaning rose, named for the rose-red color of its salts.

Rhodium is very rare as it is never found as a single mineral. Rather, it is cultivated in very small quantities within nickel and platinum ores. The production rate of the metal globally is roughly 30 tons yearly, which is actually very small compared to other metals. Copper, for example, is produced at a rate of 20 million metric tons per year. Aluminum comes in at 63 million metric tons. Combine this scarcity with the huge demand for rhodium and its high-shine appearance, and you can see why rhodium is the world’s most expensive precious metal. In fact, it beats out both gold and silver by a huge margin.

Rhodium recently hit a new high, trading comfortably above $13,000 per troy ounce. Rhodium is quietly one of the hottest trades right now, after a price surge of more than 30% this year.

Mined supply of rhodium in 2019 was over 750,000oz and recycled supply was 315,000oz, resulting in a deficit of approximately 50,000oz. Rhodium supply is inelastic to demand, which means that if demand increases, there is no fast way to ramp-up production or supply. There are many reasons for this: the primary reason being rhodium content in the earth’s crust is extremely rare, and the metal is mined as a by-product of platinum and palladium mining or nickel mining. There is no such thing as a primary rhodium mine, and the major producers are all located in South Africa. South Africa produces over 85% of the global rhodium supply annually.