Platinum: Extraction

Deep mines chasing grams of metal in tons of rock

Platinum comes from layered igneous intrusions, above all South Africa's Bushveld Complex, which USGS says holds the largest PGM resources and reserves, and Zimbabwe's Great Dyke. Ore is mined from narrow reefs, often deep underground. Pitron describes an Anglo Platinum mine hoisting 200,000 tons of rock a month at four to seven grams of platinum per ton (pdf p. 78). Ore is floated, smelted to a nickel-copper matte and refined into the separate PGMs. In the South African and Zimbabwean mines studied by Nassar and colleagues, platinum is the host metal whose revenue covers costs (pdf p. 5).

Platinum comes from very few deposits. The Bushveld Complex in South Africa holds most reserves in two thin layers, the Merensky and UG2 reefs, mined deep underground by labour-intensive methods. A smaller share comes from mechanised shallow or open-pit mining of the Platreef in South Africa and the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe. Russia's Norilsk and Canada's Sudbury produce PGMs as companions of nickel and copper, with more palladium than platinum. All routes concentrate the ore, smelt it to matte and refine it in multi-step chemical plants. Recycling of autocatalysts and industrial catalysts is the other main source.

Methods compared

How each method works

Crews drill and blast thin, tabular reefs about a metre thick deep underground, using hand-held drills and scrapers. Ore is floated, smelted to matte and refined. Many older shafts are high-cost and need rand prices to stay high.

Huge resource; high labour and power intensity, safety risks, rising depth.

Thicker or shallower orebodies allow trackless underground mining or open pits with large trucks, as at Mogalakwena on the Platreef and at Zimbabwe's Great Dyke mines (Zimplats, Mimosa, Unki). Concentrate goes to smelters in Zimbabwe or South Africa.

Lower cost and safer; lower grades and large capital needs.

Massive nickel-copper sulphide ores carry PGMs, mostly palladium. The PGMs follow nickel and copper through smelting and are recovered from refinery residues.

Output set by nickel economics and sanctions risk on Russia.

Scrapped catalytic converters are de-canned; ceramic cores are crushed and smelted with collector metals, then refined. Industrial catalysts and glass equipment are often refined in closed loops on toll.

Price-responsive and local; depends on vehicle scrapping rates.

By-product supply

Platinum is a main product in South Africa and Zimbabwe, where it pays for the mines along with palladium and rhodium. In Russia and Canada it is a minor by-product of nickel and copper; Russia mined 84 t of palladium but only 20 t of platinum in 2025e (USGS). Because PGMs are mined together, a price spike in one metal does not raise output of another. South Africa's output fell about 9% in 2025 because of weak palladium prices, deep-mine costs and electricity disruptions, even as platinum prices rose (USGS).

Share produced as a by-product

Who does it: global

Who does it: India

India has no platinum mine. It imports refined metal and alloys: 185 t worth $1.69 billion in 2024 (UN Comtrade), more than world mine output of 179 t. Imports larger than world mine output suggest much of this was alloy (including gold-bearing alloy) or metal in transit rather than platinum for domestic use. Users include petroleum refiners (reforming catalysts), catalyst makers for vehicles and a small jewellery trade. PGMs are on India's 2023 critical minerals list.