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Summary to the lecture of Mr. Albert Klotz during the annual meeting of the German electroplating society 2007 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Precious Metals and their Availiability

Precious metals have been fascinating mankind for thousands of years. In ancient Egypt, gold served as a means of payment and as object of prestige of pharaohs and kings. Even at that time, however, gold was an important base material for the craftsman's art. Until the beginning of the modern era, the term "precious metal" meant only gold and silver. From the 16th century onwards, it also comprised platinum, and the other metals of the platinum group, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium, were added in the 19th century. Even today, most precious metals world-wide – gold and platinum in particular – are made into jewellery, but the use of these and other precious metals for industrial purposes is steadily increasing. Fine gold and fine silver, for instance, are more and more used in electronics and electrical engineering. The platinum group metals mainly find application in the chemical and automotive industries (catalytic converters). Due to this growing demand and partly also for speculative reasons, precious metal quotations have considerably risen during the last few years, but in this case as well the resources will only be available for a limited period. In addition to the production in mines, recycled precious metals (recovery) come back into the cycle to an increasing extent. The lecture gave a detailed overview over primary production, processing and use of the most common precious metals. For further information please contact Mr. Albert Klotz.

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