A metal is generally considered precious if it is rare.
precious metals have to
be extracted from the earth's crust before they can be used. That's different from paper money, which governments can print. The abundance of elements found in the Earth's crust is measured in parts per million (ppm).The four main precious metals are gold, silver, platinum and palladium. Depending on the application, there are common alloying elements that can be mixed with major precious metals to improve the properties of the final product. There are other items of interest that are also used in jewelry or accessories made of non-precious metals. The most precious metals are rhodium, platinum, gold, ruthenium, iridium, osmium, palladium, rhenium, silver and indium.
Although they can carry a certain degree of security, there is always a certain risk when investing in precious metals. So, considering all the qualities shared among precious metals, would aluminum have been considered part of the list? Even though it was abundant in the Earth's crust during the 19th century, it was still remarkably rare before the discovery of the extraction process that made it a viable material. In addition, it is important to note that precious metals have applications that go beyond their physical worship. For commercial buyers, precious metals can also be an essential component for products such as jewelry or electronics.
There are two metrics used to determine which is the most precious metal, which are price and rarity. They are also the minerals of most metals used by industry, such as antimony, bismuth, copper, lead, nickel and zinc. Precious metals are metals that are rare and have a high economic value due to several factors, including their scarcity, their use in industrial processes, the hedge against currency inflation and their role throughout history as a store of value. Precious metals are commonly used in jewelry, industrial processes or, very often, as investment vehicles.
While their value varies over time, it is indisputable that these metals maintain a level of greed above other metallic elements. The large expense of refining the metal made the small amount of pure aluminum available more valuable than gold. While aluminum is the third most abundant element and the most abundant metal in the Earth's crust, it was initially discovered that it was extremely difficult to extract metal from its various non-metallic minerals. Clearly, each of these is rare, and some of them may not even recognize them, so let's look at gold, the de facto mascot of all precious metals.
Ultimately, there are many qualities found in precious metals, but they are likely to only be common among precious metals simply because the materials have already been considered precious. Other popular methods include buying futures contracts for a particular metal or buying shares in publicly traded companies engaged in the exploration or production of precious metals. Along with platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium, the metal is part of a group known as platinum group metals.
