“Isn’t the pandemic creating a lot of demand for precious metals,” a caller asked us recently. “Gold, silver and platinum and even cadmium are used in medical devices and medications, and isn’t the demand for those things increasing because of the pandemic?”

“The World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) said on Wednesday the global platinum market would see a much larger surplus this year than it previously forecast and another big oversupply in 2022.”

“Platinum Market Heading for Biggest Surplus in Years: WPIC,” The Business News, November 24, 2021

Yes, it will. Why? Some of the reasons will surprise you.

Inflation, which everyone is worried about, can actually make it more profitable to invest in precious metals. There are several reasons. One is simply that the prices of precious metals will rise, along with the prices of everything else, due to inflation. Another reason is that manufacturers of electronic devices, jewelry, thermocouples – and everything else that contains precious metals – will be paying more for the precious metals they need to make their products. So your gold scrap, platinum scrap, and silver scrap will be more in demand and will therefore rise in value.

Road & Track magazine reports that in 2024, a company called Forze Hydrogen Racing will enter the historic 24-hour race that is held every year at Le Mans. Forze’s racecar is being built by a group of engineering students, who are developing the car with the help of Hyundai. It will compete at Le Mans in a new class that will be created that year for fuel cell cars.

“. . . the future might be closer than it appears,” Road & Track asks, and that could be true.

“The EPA estimates that, in 2009, US consumers and businesses discarded televisions, computers, cell phones and hard copy peripherals (including printers, scanners, faxes) totaling 2.37 million tons. Approximately 25 percent of these electronics were collected for recycling, with the remainder disposed of primarily in landfills, where the precious metals cannot be recovered.”

- Source: “Cleaning Up Electronic Waste,” The United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Okay, You think you know all there is to know about precious metal scrap, here’s a question for you . . .

What precious metals are found in a regular old gas-powered automobile?

Chances are you can answer that question without thinking too hard about it. A gas or diesel-powered car contains gold (in the printed circuit boards that are onboard), some silver in them too, and a small quantity of platinum in its catalytic converter.

If you dream about making a fortune trading in precious metals, you have probably been wondering whether a new golden age in precious metal investing could soon begin if the Infrastructure and Jobs Act (also known as H.R. 3684) becomes law. You, like us, are envisioning huge quantities of gold scrap, silver scrap, and even platinum scrap piling up in scrapyards. Pull up your pick up, load up, and be ready to become a billionaire.

Today, we would like to point out some steps that the smartest investors take to safeguard their investments – and to simply make more money.

Ready? Let’s get going.

If you’ve been following the news this week, you know that President Biden signed an executive order stating that by year 2030, between 40% and 50% of all new cars sold in the U.S. must be electric.

When we dug in and took a closer look at what that order requires, we discovered some aspects of it that are nothing short of amazing.

Platinum is a bright, shiny precious metal that has unique properties when it is used as a catalyst in a number of different applications.

When a variety of different gases are passed through platinum-containing powders and wafers, the platinum causes unique things to happen, as we’ll explore in a minute. And the good news for recyclers is that even after those platinum is no longer functioning efficiently, enough platinum is left behind to be worth recycling.

We have been writing lately about cars that are powered not by gasoline or electricity, but by hydrogen fuel cells. They will soon allow you to fill your car with hydrogen that will be available at “gas stations” that offer hydrogen alongside gasoline.

Here at Specialty Metals, we have a long track record of recycling gold scrap, silver scrap, and platinum scrap for our clients. We have helped countless customers make a lot of money in those metals, and we know we will continue to do so in the future.

If you try to buy used hydrogen fuel cells today, you are apt to be disappointed.

“If fuel cells are the hottest new technology on the landscape,” you start to ask, “why can’t I find any to buy . . . and why can’t I get my hands on all the platinum they are supposed to contain?”

Lots of people today are asking questions just like those. But the fact is that smart, forward-thinking precious metal investors are starting to realize that in the future, hydrogen fuel cells will become probably the hottest trend in precious metals.

“Platinum, platinum alloys with transition metals, platinum-ruthenium alloy, palladium and other similar catalytic materials have been the most commonly utilized catalyst materials for various electrochemical devices such as fuel cell, electrolyzers, electrochemical pumps (also known as electrochemical compressors), electrochemical inerters, electrochemical dehumidification, etc.” - Source: FuelCellStore.com

If you do a search online for “fuel cell cars” or “hydrogen-powered cars,” you will be surprised to learn that strictly speaking, fuel cell cars are not a brand new idea. They have been around for longer than you might expect and have been manufactured for about 20 years. Incidentally, fuel cells that generate electrical current have been around for nearly 200 years. It’s not exactly a new technology.

You probably think that you know everything there is to know about recycling valuable scrap and getting a nice big payout. You probably already know that . . .

• You can recycle gold scrap, silver scrap, platinum scrap and even platinum family metals and rhodium. Call Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners at 800-426-2344 and we will tell you how.

• You can recycle used batteries that contain lithium, nickel, and cadmium.

• You can even reclaim rare earth metals from touch screens in tablets, laptops, and phones.

But There Is a New Recyclable in Town

With platinum trading at nearly $1,200, it stands to reason that you can make money by buying platinum items and platinum scrap and sending it to us to be recycled.

You can also profit handsomely by buying up and recycling platinum jewelry. But what kinds of platinum jewelry should you be on the lookout for, and how much platinum do they contain? Let’s explore further.

In answer to the question above, “do all thermocouples contain platinum?” we will offer you a quick response . . .

No, not all thermocouples contain platinum

But we would like to offer an additional comment . . .

We have written many posts about recycling and getting paid for platinum. Today, we would like to explore a related topic - platinum group metals. What are they? And what do you need to know to make money by collecting and recycling them?

Platinum, platinum family metals and even ultra-precious rhodium are now used in a growing number of medical devices. Plus, gold and silver are finding their way into medicines that are used to treat a growing number of diseases – though not yet Covid-19, apparently. (Do note, however, that some claims have been made that colloidal silver medicines can be useful against Covid-19; we are not qualified to judge those claims, but literature we have found online indicates be that such medicines are probably not effective.)