How Palladium Became a Really, Really Precious Metal

Palladium is the most valuable of the four major precious metals, with an acute shortage driving prices to records in recent years. A key component in pollution-control devices for cars and trucks, the metal’s price has been on a tear, rising more than sixfold since early 2016, an increase that’s lifted it above the price of gold.

It’s a lustrous white material, one of the six platinum-group metals (along with ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, iridium and platinum itself). About 85% of palladium ends up in catalytic converters in car exhausts, where it helps turn toxic pollutants into less-harmful carbon dioxide and water vapor. It is also used in electronics, dentistry and jewelry. The metal is mined primarily in Russia and South Africa, and mostly extracted as a secondary product from operations that are focused on other metals, such as platinum or nickel.