When people are asked which metal tops the price charts, many immediately think of gold. Its value is strikingly high—today around 1,800 euros per ounce (31.1 grams). Yet gold does not hold the crown as the most expensive metal in the world. It sits among the top contenders, while a much less familiar element claims the number one spot: rhodium.
At present, rhodium stands as the priciest precious metal and one of the rarest on Earth. As this is written, one ounce of rhodium trades around $4,200, though the market has seen much higher peaks in the past. In December 2022, it briefly jumped to approximately $14,000 per ounce. Even with fluctuations, rhodium’s price has outpaced gold by a wide margin for substantial periods in recent history.
Why such a premium? Rhodium resists oxidation and corrosion nearly as a noble metal does, which makes it an exceptional catalyst in various chemical processes. Its strength and soaring melting point of 1,964 degrees Celsius place rhodium alongside the platinum group—closely related to platinum, palladium, osmium, iridium, and ruthenium. This combination of chemical inertness and high-temperature stability underpins its value across multiple high-tech and industrial domains.
The most notable property of rhodium is its resilience. It can withstand exposure to water and air up to about 600 degrees Celsius and remains largely insoluble in most acids. This durability supports its use in diverse applications, including automotive catalysts, aerospace components, electrical contacts, thermocouples, and high-temperature cables. Industry observers highlight rhodium’s role in enabling cleaner emissions and reliable high-performance devices, which helps explain demand beyond its visual appeal.
Despite its rarity and aesthetic allure, data from 2019 show that nearly 90 percent of rhodium demand came from the jewelry sector, while a significant portion of its use also stems from automotive catalytic converters—a practical, if less glamorous, application in modern manufacturing.
A Very Rare Metal in the World
Rhodium stands out for its extreme scarcity. It is present in approximately 0.000037 parts per million in the Earth’s crust, a figure far below gold, which sits at about 0.0013 parts per million according to measurements compiled by the Royal Society of Chemistry. The distribution of rhodium deposits is highly uneven, with substantial mining activities centered in South Africa and Russia. The metal also appears as a byproduct of refining copper and nickel ores, sometimes containing up to 0.1 percent rhodium in the ore. Global annual production hovers around 16 tons, and current reserves are estimated at roughly 3,000 tonnes, underscoring its limited availability and persistent market intrigue.
The metal typically occurs in conjunction with platinum-bearing ore. Historical accounts describe how rhodium was separated from platinum and palladium to arrive at a distinct, brilliant metallic product. The discovery credit belongs to an English chemist named William Hyde Wollaston, who, in the early 1800s, extracted rhodium from a platinum-containing sample found in South America. This followed his earlier work identifying palladium, helping to chart the landscape of platinum-group metals that continue to shape industrial chemistry today.
Rhodium is often encountered as a trace component within platinum deposits. Its extraction involved removing platinum and palladium from the original sample, yielding a dark red powder that could then be refined using hydrogen gas to release the pure rhodium metal. The metal itself gleams with a bright, reflective silvery-white surface, though its salts take on a rose-hued tint, which inspired the name rhodium from the Greek word rhodon, meaning rose. This etymology echoes the distinctive color qualities that conferred both beauty and utility to the element.
In contemporary discussions of metals, rhodium’s combination of scarcity, resistance to corrosion, and catalytic versatility keeps it firmly in the spotlight. Its price movements—dramatic surges and occasional plateaus—reflect broader trends in precious metals markets, as well as the ongoing demand across high-technology and environmental technologies. These dynamics continue to captivate investors, manufacturers, and researchers looking for materials that deliver reliability under demanding conditions.
Note: The information presented here is grounded in current market and scientific understanding as of today, with ongoing attention to data from industry sources and chemical literature.