Photograph: Mark S Johnson
Platinum jewellery
Platinum is a great material for jewellery, as it is malleable enough to bend and shape into intricate designs, whilst still being hard-wearing and durable. It also polishes to a high shine and its rarity means it is both expensive and precious, adding to its allure. As of 2016, 31% of the platinum mined every year was used in jewellery production.
As platinum is a dense and, therefore, heavy metal, it is less well suited for some items of jewellery, such as earrings, where weight is not necessarily an advantage.
Traditionally, platinum has been more expensive than gold, sometimes more than twice as much, meaning the choice to wear platinum jewellery as opposed to gold has been one of cost. However, in recent years the price of platinum has come down and is more or less the same as gold.
In comparison to gold, platinum has the advantage of being more hard-wearing as well as not having to be replated.
Platinum Prices vs Gold Prices - Macrotrends
Is Platinum Sustainable?
The question of whether platinum is a sustainable material is tricky because the majority of commercially obtained platinum is a byproduct from nickel and copper mining and, in many cases, mining for platinum would not be viable on its own.
As with most materials, the issues around sustainability start at where the material was produced: the mine. Extracting platinum from deep underground takes a lot of energy and water, so has a significant carbon footprint, as today most of that energy comes from fossil fuels.
Whilst mining always has an impact on the immediate environment, measures can be taken to ensure that when production has finished, the environment can bounce back and is not affected by pollutants left over from the mining processes.
So, does this mean that we’re making good use of a waste product or are we supporting the mining of otherwise unviable deposits?
The answer to this question depends on the price of nickel and copper, as well as considering the resources it takes to refine the platinum from the ore.
When the ore containing these metals is refined, you could extract copper and nickel without separating the platinum, meaning the further energy required to extract the platinum has a footprint all of its own.
But, if we didn't use the platinum for something, wouldn’t it be wasted?
Well, yes and no. Platinum has many other uses apart from jewellery and if we stopped making jewellery out of it, its price would go down, making it more available for other applications possibly bringing the price down of products like catalytic converters, heart pumps and defibrillators.
Does demand for platinum support the mining of nickel and copper?
Yes, PGM (platinum group metals) ore is graded by the amount of all the metals contained within, and a decision based on the viability of mining that ore is made. As the price of all of the metals in the ore will change according to demand, there will be times when the price of some of the metals will support the mining of others and vice versa.
Platinum as a sustainable material for jewellery
If you are buying some jewellery, an engagement ring for example, and wanted to choose the material that had the least environmental impact whilst also having positives in terms of economics and development, then platinum is not the best metal to choose. Gold, certified by the Fairtrade Foundation, has a lower carbon footprint and helps small scale miners in South America and Africa instead of large mining companies.
Like gold, platinum has many uses other than to make jewellery. It’s used as an investment, in industry, and in science and changes in all of these industries can have an effect on the price of platinum.
Again, like gold, a very high percentage of the platinum ever mined is either still being used in its original application or has been reused in some way.
Is recycled platinum a good option?
Yes, but don’t be under the impression that you are somehow preventing platinum from being mined by using recycled platinum to make jewellery. The only thing that keeps platinum mining going (like all materials) is the demand for it, which supports its price and by consuming platinum you are adding to that demand.
The only way to reverse that is to add that platinum back into the marketplace, ie selling it.
Is jewellery made from recycled platinum more sustainable?
No. As the consumption of jewellery adds to the demand for platinum, then buying platinum jewellery, even if it’s recycled, adds to the demand that fuels mining.
Is jewellery made from platinum ethical or sustainable?
As there is a finite amount of platinum on the planet and it does not re-generate, then no platinum jewellery can be considered sustainable, especially as there are other uses for platinum.
Ethical? Hard to say, As platinum mining and refining is a large scale activity, it is only done by large companies who are regulated and provide jobs however they
Where does platinum come from?
South Africa and Russia are the worlds two biggest platinum producers. South Africa is home to the majority of the world’s platinum deposits and the world’s largest platinum producing mines. The mines located on the ‘Bushveald Complex’, a geological feature identified in 1924, have accounted for 75% of the worlds platinum output. And while global platinum production dropped 9% in 2020, Douth Africa still made up over 75% of the world’s supply.
As well as these two, Canada, The US, and Zimbabwe, as well as some countries in South America, account for some of the world’s supply of platinum.
Is there potential for ‘ethical’ or ‘sustainable platinum’?
At present, there is no system for traceable platinum, so when you buy an item of platinum jewellery you have no way of knowing where the metal in that item has come from. A certain percentage of it will be re-used and some will be from mines. There are some offerings of ‘recycled’ platinum, however, as previously stated, using recycled metal does nothing to decrease the mining of platinum and has no sustainability benefits.
With platinum, you have the option to support either a large, listed mining company from south Africa run for the benefit of its shareholders or a large mining company in Russia. The progress in the gold market has been with ASM, where consumers pay a small premium for gold that can be traced back to small-scale artisanal miners in developing countries.
I think it would be hard to convince anyone to pay any kind of premium to a large mining company to ensure traceability.
