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Discover the World’s Most Valuable Metal: It’s Not Gold!

Despite its striking appearance, jewelry is not the most common use for rhodium. Gold’s versatility, conductivity, durability, and good looks make it a top contender among the most expensive metals. As of this writing, gold’s price per ounce is around $1,850, but that’s nothing compared to rhodium. Currently the most expensive precious metal and one of the rarest, rhodium’s price per ounce (as of this writing) is $10,300. So what makes it so expensive?



What Makes Rhodium So Valuable?

Rhodium is a noble metal, meaning it doesn’t react easily with oxygen, making it a perfect catalyst for corrosion and oxidation resistance.

Rhodium’s overall durability and high melting point of 1,964 degrees Celsius (3,567 degrees Fahrenheit) place it among the platinum group metals, along with platinum, palladium, osmium, iridium, and ruthenium.



Rhodium is used in a variety of ways because of its ability to withstand water and air temperatures of up to 600 degrees Celsius (1,112 degrees Fahrenheit) and its insolubility in most acids. It is used in automobiles, aircraft, electrical contacts, and high-temperature thermocouples and resistance wires.



Rhodium’s Rareness

Rhodium is the rarest of the platinum group metals, with an abundance of about 0.000037 parts per million in the Earth’s crust, while gold is found in abundance of 0.0013 parts per million.



Rhodium is mostly produced in South Africa and Russia and can be obtained as a byproduct when processing copper and nickel ores, which can contain up to 0.1% rhodium. About 16 tons of rhodium are produced annually, and there are an estimated 3,000 tons of reserves.


Rhodium’s Discovery

Rhodium was discovered in 1803 by English chemist William Hyde Wollaston by isolating the element from a piece of platinum ore from South America. This discovery came shortly after Wollaston’s discovery of another platinum group metal, palladium.



Rhodium, which is often found in association with platinum deposits, was obtained from Wollaston’s specimen by removing platinum and palladium, and the resulting dark red powder was processed with hydrogen gas to reveal the precious metal rhodium.

Rhodium’s Uses

The solid metal has a bright, reflective silver-white color, while rhodium takes its name from the Greek word “rhodon” meaning rose. The name refers to the reddish color of the metal’s salts.

Despite its rarity and beauty, about 90% of rhodium demand, according to 2019 statistics, comes from the automotive catalyst sector, which is a rather mundane use for one of the world’s rarest precious metals, in the production of catalytic converters.



Rhodium is a valuable and versatile metal with a wide range of uses. Its rarity and high cost make it a desirable commodity for a variety of industries.

Here are some additional facts about rhodium:

  • Rhodium is a relatively new element, having been discovered less than 200 years ago.
  • Rhodium is a very hard metal, with a Mohs hardness of 9.
  • Rhodium is a very dense metal, with a density of 12.41 grams per cubic centimeter.
  • Rhodium is a very stable metal, with a high melting point and a low reactivity.

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