Precious metals are rare, exceptionally valuable metals that our planet naturally provides. Precious metals include gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. While gold has a reputation for being the quintessential symbol of wealth, status, and exclusivity, platinum and palladium are actually fifteen times more rare than gold. All of these precious metals offer crucial applications beyond jewelry and décor; they are used in nearly every industry, including medicine, dentistry, aerospace, automotive, and manufacturing. In fact, 11% of all gold produced is used in industry. We rely extensively on heavy metals and the countries that produce them. This infographic explores the top-producing countries for gold, silver, platinum, and palladium based on metric tons produced in 2021. China is the biggest producer of gold, Mexico is the biggest producer of silver, and South Africa is the biggest producer of platinum and palladium. It is impressive to imagine all of these metric tons of heavy materials being extracted from the Earth!
Infographic by: madisontrust
