Platinum bullion
Platinum's relative scarcity in the face of ever-increasing demand gives platinum bullion incredible investment potential. At one time, platinum sold at a steep discount to gold, but today platinum bullion sells at a significant premium to gold. This renders platinum bullion a provocative and attractive investment vehicle.
PLATINUM BULLION BARS - comex/nymex/lbma certified
International Metals offers platinum bullion bars in the form of pure 99.95 fine 50-ounce bars. Each bar is produced by a leading COMEX, NYMEX or LBMA approved refiner such as Johnson Matthey or Credit Suisse and individually hallmarked to certify weight and purity.
ABOUT PLATINUM
Platinum has a much shorter history in the financial sector than either gold or silver, which were known to ancient civilizations.
Today, platinum is a widely-used although extremely rare metal, critically important to the auto industry, the jewelry trade, and the chemical, electrical and glass manufacturing industries. Far rarer than gold, it is estimated that all of the platinum ever mined throughout history would fit into a cube less than 25 feet on each side.
Platinum is relatively scarce even among the precious metals. New mine production totals approximately only 5 million troy ounces (150 mg) a year. In contrast, gold mine production runs approximately 82 million ounces a year and silver production is approximately 547 million ounces. Therefore, platinum tends to trade at higher per-unit prices.
More than 50% of annual platinum production is used in the automotive industry. Platinum is a primary element in autocatalysts that control vehicle exhaust emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and particulates. Autocatalysts convert most of these emissions into less-harmful carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water vapor. As developing countries such as China and India introduce new environmental legislation to combat air pollution, the demand for autocatalysts-and extremely limited supplies of platinum-is sure to increase.