Rhodium is the most valuable metal and exists within the platinum group of metals. It is used in jewelry for a final finish on white gold jewelry. Here is a list of the 10 most expensive precious metals in the world. 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, as well as reviews of Gold IRA investment options. 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.
Scandium was first discovered in Scandinavia in 1879 through spectral analysis of the minerals euxenite and gadolinite. The credit was given to the Swedish scientist Lars Nilsson, who aptly named it Scandinavia. Rhenium was discovered in 1908 and was named after the Rhine River in Europe. It was also the penultimate stable element found, just before hafnium.
Iridium was discovered in 1803 by Smithson Tennant, who named the precious metal after the Greek goddess Iris because its striking salts resembled all the colors of the rainbow. 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. Discovered in 1803 by English chemist William Hyde Wollaston, palladium was named after the asteroid Pallas. It is part of the platinum group along with platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium, which have similar chemical properties; however, palladium has the lowest melting point and is the least dense of all.
The title of the most expensive precious metal in the world goes to Rhodium. Rhodium is a member of the platinum group and a noble metal. It was first discovered by William Hyde Wollaston in 1803 and received the appropriate name because of the pink color of one of its chlorine compounds. Like the world's second most expensive precious metal, palladium, about 80% of the world's rhodium is used as one of the catalysts for a three-way catalyst in cars.
We hope you enjoyed our list of the 10 most expensive precious metals in the world.
