Palladium is one of the six metals included in what’s known as the Platinum Group Metals (PGMs), along with platinum itself, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium. Metals in this group are unique for many reasons, perhaps most notably for their relative rarity, particularly compared to other investment materials such as gold and silver. Palladium holds the top spot for the rarest of all the PGMs, ringing in at about 15 times more rare than platinum and 30 times more rare than gold. All PGMs enjoy very low or essentially non-existent rates of tarnishing, are highly resistant to heat, and have high electrical conductivity.
Palladium boasts similar physical and chemical properties to its often more sought after cousin, platinum, including silvery-white coloring and hypoallergenic characteristics, among other features. Palladium does, however, differ from platinum in more ways than one. Palladium is nearly 15% harder, and thus more durable than platinum, in addition to having a lower melting point. Out of all the precious metals that trade on the futures exchange, palladium is the least liquid, another characteristic that sets it apart from its PGM and other investment counterparts.
Palladium is sourced from just four countries around the globe, yet touts a vast repertoire of utilities and applications. Russia leads the charge in palladium supply outputs, with South Africa following closely behind. Canada and the United States also produce supplies of the precious metal, although to much lesser extents than the two aforementioned leaders. While free metal versions of palladium, alloyed with gold and other PGMs, can be found in placer deposits elsewhere around the globe, these sources do not play a major role in standard palladium production. Palladium can also be extracted from spent nuclear fuel, although this method is not used since no existing nuclear reprocessing facility has the means to do so.