A natural white metal, platinum is known as a "noble" metal due to it's 95% purity, and is widely used in jewelry due to it's hypoallergenic properties. The term platinum comes from the Spanish word platina, which translates to mean "little silver". Platinum is a very rare metal; the largest deposits known and actively mined today are in the Ural Mountains of Russia, Colombia, South Africa and Canada. Platinum's hardness means that it is ideal for jewelry use; platinum does not lose any metal volume to scratches or polishing over time, so jewelry items will not thin out over the years as with gold. Platinum can be alloyed with either iridium, palladium or cobalt, although alloys with iridium tend to be the "whitest" mix and is easier for jewelers to work with.
See Also: Gold, Silver, Palladium, Iridium, Alloy