铂金的独特属性

一些金属，如黄金，其价值源自其作为货币的历史作用。有些是纯工业金属，具有独特的物理特性，例如钨和钛

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.

铂是一种独特且有价值的金属，具有广泛的工业和投资应用。下面详细介绍了它的特性、用途，以及它如何成为高科技和绿色能源应用中的关键金属。

Platinum's Unique Properties

铂金的独特属性

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.”

一些金属（例如黄金）的价值源自其作为货币的历史作用。其他则是具有独特物理特性的纯工业金属，例如钨和钛，我们在《钨——秘密高科技金属》和《投资钛：比钢更强、比铝更密》中对此进行了介绍。

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，另一类金属的价值源自其化学性质。铂金属族包括铂以及钯、铑、钌、锇和铱，其催化化学反应的能力是独一无二的。

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学反应或使化学反应成为可能的能力，否则化学反应会很慢或不可能发生。

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.

正是针对此应用，主要使用铂和同一族中的其他金属。大部分消费是由汽车行业推动的，汽车行业在 ICE（内燃机）车辆的催化转化器中使用铂，有时还使用钯和铑，以减少污染。

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.

这些金属中的一小部分也用于珠宝和投资目的，但远远少于黄金和白银。正如我们将看到的，它可能成为高科技和绿色能源应用中的关键金属，超越当前的 ICE 催化转化器和化学用途。

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.

总体而言，铂是一种非常稀有的资源，地壳中的储量约为百万分之一1%。这使得铂矿石的发现变得非常困难，至少其浓度足以在经济上可行的开采。

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.

大部分铂金生产在南非进行，其次是俄罗斯和津巴布韦。即便如此，这也是一个相对较小的产量，南非到 2022 年的产量仅为 140,000 公斤，俄罗斯仅为 20,000 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).

更糟糕的是，实际上已知的矿藏很少，南非的资源主要集中在布什维尔德杂岩区。这导致人们为寻找铂金付出了巨大的努力，例如由 Northam (NPH.JO) 运营的位于地表以下 1,100-2,300 米（0.6-1.4 英里）的 Zondereinde 矿。

Platinum Price

铂金价格

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.

铂金主要是一种工业金属，历来对繁荣和萧条时期非常敏感。例如，2006年至2008年期间，其价格暴涨，然后暴跌，然后反弹。在 2020 年 Covid-19 恐慌的底部，它还创下了数十年的低点，为 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.

此后，该价格已反弹至 1,000 美元/公斤，但即使不考虑全球通胀，仍与 2008 年或 2010-2014 年的较高价格相距甚远。

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.

这为铂金提供了很大的上涨空间，而几乎没有下跌空间，因为任何持续较低的价格都会导致矿山关闭。

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

由于南非是迄今为止世界上最大的铂金生产国，该国的具体情况可能会影响全球铂金市场。

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，该国长期遭受政治和社会不稳定的困扰，基础设施老化（如日益不稳定的电网）经常威胁工业和采矿生产。

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.

另一个潜在因素是南非货币兰特的币值波动。兰特走强可能会削弱矿商的竞争力（通过增加以美元衡量的当地成本），而兰特走弱可以提高南非矿商的生产力，因为他们以美元出售产品。

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.

同样，美元疲软通常会消除铂金开采的一些动力。这可能会减少供应，并在此过程中导致价格上涨。

How Does Platinum Work

白金如何运作

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

由于催化转化器是铂的主要应用，因此了解它们的作用非常重要。

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.

铂原子在催化转化器中的工作原理是吸收氧 (O2) 分子并打破氧-氧结合。然后它可以将这个单个氧原子提供给有毒的一氧化碳（CO），将其转化为无毒的二氧化碳。

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

同样类型的过程也可以将氮氧化物和乙烯转化为无害的二氧化碳、氮气和水。

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.

铂催化活性的普遍性使其独一无二。大多数其他形式的催化剂，例如酶和有机催化剂（荣获 2021 年诺贝尔化学奖），往往非常专业。

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，铂在热量（在催化转换器的情况下由内燃机提供）的帮助下一次性分解了许多有害分子。

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

反应的稳健性和金属的抗损坏性也是积极的，因为它允许