O/T, recent Pt commentary and industry development.
The South African newspaper Business Day reports that the apparent
near-depletion of Russian stockpiles of platinum and the economic implosion there could create an additional 300,000-ounce a year platinum supply deficit. Rene Hochreiter, considered by some to be one of the world's best platinum analysts, said Russian stockpiles were almost exhausted. Norilsk Nickel, Russia's primary producer, is capable of producing about 600,000 ounces a year - about 300,000 ounces less than current estimates for exports. Economic deterioration in Russia is likely to discourage further investment to improve these figures.
In a recent article in Solid State Technology, the next generation of memory chips - FeRAMS and DRAMS - will be using noble metals, including platinum, iridium, and ruthenium as electrodes in the capacitor structure. Apparently the use of the platinum group metals increases the lifetime and maintains the integrity of the films used on these chips. Previous chip designs relied upon silicon, silicon compounds, and aluminum alloys.
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