Seasonal supply fluctuations in metals just seems to be one of those things that sum up to give us the summer doldrums. Many folks on many of these threads have pointed out that we get a traditional slump in resource stock prices,...in summer and fall, and then we thunder in the speculative atmosphere of late fall to early spring. A few stocks can break that cycle, but I wonder if all don't suffer somewhat by the general malaise.
I believe,...this play has just started, and it will go on for quite some time in the current environment. I hope and believe that anyone who buys a few shares every month over the next few months when things look bad, will make money here.
Some people have said there are replacement catalysts for PGM's. As a person with some chemical training, I know there is some credence in saying this. But I also know that few catalysts work as well. Most plug up, or get slowly used up. A true catalyst combines with the reactant molecules in a way that lowers the energy required to make those chemicals react together to produce the product. The catalyst is neither degraded or changed in the process. Few molecules can stay inert under such conditions. PGM's can, which is what makes them unique. Every catalytic substitute I know of fails to do things as well as PGM's. Usually the substitutes get slowly consumed in the reactions.
Each PGM metal catalyzes the pollutants from autos in different ways on an atomic level. I forget exactly which,...but each of Platinum, Palladium, and Rhodium work best catalyzing one of the polluters oxidation reactions, COx's, NOx's, or SO'x,.or Carbon oxides, Nitrogen oxides, and Sulphur oxides,...so if you want a catalytic convertor to fully oxidize each of these pollutants (and hence change each polluting chemical to its least environmentally degrading state), you want a little of each PGM in the convertor. |
