How confident are you - check out the charts for 2008 on silver and platinum I find this funny - i dont understand why some one who doesnt care about platinum so much, opened a thread specifically about platinum - and not only that - but posted on it and felt the need to poo poo platinum when people more experienced and savy than him in PM space (ie mickey fulp) said its great value long term. What if dave morgan came out and sang 'oh platinum how I love thee' Happy silvering
The only problem with Rhodium is the absurd bid-ask spread and liquidity. It might be scarce but the demand is a bit low as well. Platinum on the other hand, is a well known precious metal that is rare as well. So I'd stack Platinum over Rhodium any day I've got a little bit of platinum, I don't expect it to go to the moon but having a few oz won't put me back too far and if it does go to the moon it'll be win
Because I can, why is that funny exactly? I like to share my opinion which I feel is logical, not telling you to agree with it. Silver may be the only industrial metal I buy but I find Gold far more attractive. I think there are allot of people who would prefer to buy Gold right now, not just me.
Why would anybody own platinum? They only use it for useless things like clean energy and fighting cancer. The problem with the stupid stuff is that they have to use too much of it still! Problematic forgeries? What! Are they making fake bars with iridium or osmium alloys? They are the only two elements with higher densities so I guess so. And why do they call this stuff rich man's gold? I only lose money buying the stuff! Platinum is making me insane.
I here ya. My Dad says people are down on what they're not up on. The more you know about Pt, the more there is to like. As far as Pt out performing silver, who knows? But the reason I hold some Pt is the same reason some people hold 10-15% of their investments in PMs in general...diversification! Just as one's general portfolio should be diversified, one's PM holdings should be as well. IMO of course. Hell, I'll even get into Pd if it goes to mid-low 500s
100% agree there are some things people still need even when the s does hit the fan Gold, Silver or Platinum (to purchase) Food Water Energy Transport
for every 10 gold mines there is only one platinum mine, and have to shift 2 or 3 times as much ore to make 1 Oz This seems a reasonable thread on Platinum to keep alive and I thought this info was worth passing on. I was googling PT900 after I noticed popcorn's sale of a platinum ring: http://forums.silverstackers.com/topic-17169-eoi-platinum-ruby-and-diamond-ring.html Came across this jewellery site exposition on platinum, so not sure how authorative it would be. However its interesting that it roughly agrees with the statement in a previous post that there is much less platinum mined annually than gold. Previous post said platinum's annual production volume, at about 6.0m ounces, is only about 8% that of gold's. The jeweller's article says there is only one Pt mine for every ten gold mines and that it takes ten tons of Pt ore to make an oz of metal compared to 3-4 tons of gold ore for the same yield. So since the price of platinum is now below that of gold where's the incentive of miners to spend the capital exploring defining and developing Platinum prospects when they can look for higher grade and more lucrative gold? Add to that almost all the supply of Pt comes out of undesirable locations: South Africa and Russia? http://www.e-weddingbands.com/store/platinum_wedding_bands.html
Did you know China only produces about 70,000oz of platinum per annum but consumes 2,400,000oz per annum? Oh yeah!
Yes, more fun platinum facts! Mine supply in 2011 will be about 6,500,000oz. So for every person on the planet there will be a grand total of 0.00095oz produced this year.
I must admit - this is not looking too crash hot! The 60 has crossed the 200 dma, with the gap widening; and with the price now well beneath the last medium term low, there is a technical downtrend. The current price has not printed yet, but the closing bid last night was US$1419, and is currently $1402 Source:http://www.kitco.com/charts/techcharts_platinum.html
I would not be buying an industrial metal right before another huge market crisis like we are gauranteed to face very soon coming out of Europe, just wait for the crash and buy after..
I read a fascinating book about "Precious Gemstones" some years ago, and the author who was an expert in this field, made the interesting point that it is not necessarily either the rarity or beauty of a gemstone that is the major determinant of the price. These are important, as is the hardness of a gemstone [refer Note 1], but what was also a critical factor, according to the author, was the HISTORY of a particular type of gemstone, or of a individual speciman in the class (eg. the history of the Hope Diamond, or whether a stone previously had royal ownership, etc). He gave various examples to illustrate the point, and one particularly memorable example he related was the gemstone "Tanzanite". Tanzanite is incredibly rare and a beautiful rich blue-violet colour. Tanzanite is found in only one place in the world, Tanzania, in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and the area in which it is found covers only 4 square kilometers. Due to its beauty, its durability and its rarity, it should be fantastically expensive - for eg, compared to sapphire. However it is not, and the author said this is because - as Tanzanite was only discovered in 1967, it has NO HISTORY. If it had history... if it was the magical stone of the Pharoahs, etc, today it would be priceless. IMO this rule can also be applied to Platinum. It does not possess the history of gold & silver. Its price IMO is too tied to its industrial usage. Mike Maloney is also of this view, that the long history of gold & silver counts for a lot. Note 1: Gemstones generally should be more than 7 on the mohs scale, due to the presence of microscropic silica [mohs = 7] particles in the air, which will gradually wear away at the surface of any gemstone which has a hardness of less than 7. Opal is a notable exception to the rule, having a hardness of 5.5 - 6.0. Tanzanite = 6.5.
I can't see people flocking to platinum like they would be to silver and gold in the long term/end game, but it may be a good short to medium term play.
I thought this article was interesting - not sure whether I agree with it, but interesting none-the-less. http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/t...-metals-since-silver-went-parabolic-in-march/
