鉑金的獨特屬性

一些金屬，如黃金，其價值源自於其作為貨幣的歷史角色。有些是純工業金屬，具有獨特的物理特性，例如鎢和鈦

Platinum is a unique and valuable metal with a wide range of industrial and investment applications. Here's a closer look at its properties, uses, and how it can be a crucial metal in high-tech and green energy applications.

鉑是一種獨特且有價值的金屬，具有廣泛的工業和投資應用。以下詳細介紹了它的特性、用途，以及它如何成為高科技和綠色能源應用中的關鍵金屬。

Platinum's Unique Properties

鉑金的獨特屬性

Some metals, like gold, derive their value from their historical role as currencies. Others are purely industrial metals with unique physical properties, like tungsten and titanium, which we covered in “Tungsten—The Secret High-Tech Metal” and “Investing In Titanium: Stronger than Steel and Denser than Aluminum.”

一些金屬（例如黃金）的價值源自於其作為貨幣的歷史角色。其他則是具有獨特物理特性的純工業金屬，例如鎢和鈦，我們在《鎢－秘密高科技金屬》和《投資鈦：比鋼更強、比鋁更密》中對此進行了介紹。

However, another category of metal derives its value from its chemical properties. The platinum metal group, which includes platinum as well as palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, osmium, and iridium, is unique for its ability to catalyze chemical reactions.

然而，另一類金屬的價值源自於其化學性質。鉑金屬族包括鉑以及鈀、銠、釕、鋨和銥，其催化化學反應的能力是獨一無二的。

Catalysis is the ability of a compound to speed up or make possible chemical reactions that would otherwise be slow or impossible.

催化作用是化合物加速化學反應或使化學反應成為可能的能力，否則化學反應會很慢或不可能發生。

It is for this application that platinum and the other metals in the same group are mostly used. The large majority of consumption is driven by the automotive industry, which uses platinum, and sometimes palladium and rhodium, in catalytic converters in ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicles to reduce pollution.

正是針對此應用，主要使用鉑和同一族中的其他金屬。大部分消費是由汽車行業推動的，汽車行業在 ICE（內燃機）車輛的催化轉換器中使用鉑，有時還使用鈀和銠，以減少污染。

A small portion of these metals are also used for jewelry and investment purposes, but far less than gold and silver. And as we will see, it could be a crucial metal in high-tech and green energy applications, beyond the current ICE catalytic converters and chemistry uses.

這些金屬中的一小部分也用於珠寶和投資目的，但遠遠少於黃金和白銀。正如我們將看到的，它可能成為高科技和綠色能源應用中的關鍵金屬，超越目前的 ICE 催化轉換器和化學用途。

Platinum is a very rare resource overall, with an abundance in the Earth's crust of about a millionth of 1%. This makes the discovery of platinum ore very difficult, at least concentrated enough to be economically viable to mine.

整體而言，鉑是一種非常稀有的資源，地殼中的儲量約為百萬分之一1%。這使得鉑礦石的發現非常困難，至少其濃度足以在經濟上可行的開採。

Most of the production of platinum is done in South Africa, followed by Russia and Zimbabwe. Even then, this is a relatively small production, with South Africa producing only 140,000 kg in 2022 and Russia only 20,000 kg.

大部分鉑金生產在南非進行，其次是俄羅斯和辛巴威。即便如此，這也是一個相對較小的產量，南非到 2022 年的產量僅為 14 萬公斤，俄羅斯僅 2 萬公斤。

To compound this rarity, only a few deposits are actually known, with South Africa's resources being essentially concentrated on the Bushveld Complex. This leads to outstanding efforts being made to find platinum, with for example the Zondereinde Mine at 1,100-2,300 meters (0.6-1.4 miles) below the surface, operated by Northam (NPH.JO).

更糟的是，實際上已知的礦藏很少，南非的資源主要集中在布希維爾德雜岩區。這導致人們為尋找鉑金付出了巨大的努力，例如由 Northam (NPH.JO) 運營的位於地表以下 1,100-2,300 公尺（0.6-1.4 英里）的 Zondereinde 礦場。

Platinum Price

鉑金價格

Platinum, a mostly industrial metal, has historically been very sensitive to boom and bust periods. For example, it exploded in price from 2006-2008, before crashing, before rebounding. It also hit a multi-decade low in the bottom of the Covid-19 panic in 2020 at $740/kg.

鉑金主要是一種工業金屬，歷來對繁榮和蕭條時期非常敏感。例如，2006年至2008年期間，其價格暴漲，然後暴跌，然後反彈。在 2020 年 Covid-19 恐慌的底部，它還創下了數十年的低點，為 740 美元/公斤。

It has since rebounded to $1,000/kg, but it still lingers far from the previous higher prices of 2008 or 2010-2014, even without taking into account global inflation.

此後，該價格已反彈至 1,000 美元/公斤，但即使不考慮全球通膨，仍與 2008 年或 2010-2014 年的較高價格相距甚遠。

This gives platinum a lot of space to go up and little to go down, in the sense that any durably lower price would lead to mine closure.

這為鉑金提供了很大的上漲空間，而幾乎沒有下跌空間，因為任何持續較低的價格都會導致礦場關閉。

As South Africa is by far the world's largest platinum producer, specific circumstances in the country can affect the global platinum market.

由於南非是迄今為止世界上最大的鉑金生產國，該國的具體情況可能會影響全球鉑金市場。

For example, the country has suffered from chronic political and social instability, as well as decaying infrastructure (like an increasingly unstable electric grid) regularly threatening industrial and mining production.

例如，該國長期遭受政治和社會不穩定的困擾，基礎設施老化（如日益不穩定的電網）經常威脅工業和採礦生產。

Another potential factor is the fluctuation of the value of South Africa's currency the Rand. A stronger Rand can weaken the miner competitivity (by increasing local costs measured in USD) and alternatively, a weaker Rand can boost the productivity of South African miners as they sell their products in USD.

另一個潛在因素是南非貨幣蘭特的幣值波動。蘭特走強可能會削弱礦商的競爭力（透過增加以美元衡量的當地成本），而蘭特走弱可以提高南非礦商的生產力，因為他們以美元出售產品。

In the same way, a weaker dollar usually removes some incentive from platinum mining. This can decrease supply, and in the process, lead to higher prices.

同樣，美元疲軟通常會消除鉑金開採的一些動力。這可能會減少供應，並在此過程中導致價格上漲。

How Does Platinum Work

白金如何運作

As catalytic converters are the main application of platinum, it is important to understand what they do.

由於催化轉換器是鉑的主要應用，因此了解它們的作用非常重要。

How platinum atoms work in a catalytic converter is by absorbing oxygen (O2) molecules and breaking apart the oxygen-oxygen bound. It can then give this single oxygen atom to toxic carbon monoxide (CO), turning it into non-toxic CO2.

鉑原子在催化轉換器中的工作原理是吸收氧 (O2) 分子並打破氧-氧結合。然後它可以將這個單一氧原子提供給有毒的一氧化碳（CO），轉化為無毒的二氧化碳。

The same type of process is at play in turning nitrogen oxides and ethylene into harmless CO2, N2, and water.

同樣類型的過程也可以將氮氧化物和乙烯轉化為無害的二氧化碳、氮氣和水。

It is the universality of platinum catalytic activity that makes it unique. Most other forms of catalysts, like enzymes and organic catalysts (which won the 2021 Nobel Prize In Chemistry), tend to be very specialized.

鉑催化活性的普遍性使其獨一無二。大多數其他形式的催化劑，例如酵素和有機催化劑（榮獲 2021 年諾貝爾化學獎），往往非常專業。

Platinum instead, with the help of heat (provided by the ICE engine in the case of catalytic converters) breaks down many harmful molecules all at once.

相反，鉑在熱量（在催化轉換器的情況下由內燃機提供）的幫助下一次性分解了許多有害分子。

The robustness of the reaction and the resistance of the metal to damage is also positive, as it allows the

反應的穩健性和金屬的抗損壞性也是正面的，因為它允許