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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold & Gold Stock Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: carranza2 who wrote (25704)	8/25/2011 8:36:22 PM
From: Tommaso	Respond to of 29622

As we all know, platinum is an excellent catalyst in very small amounts. The Japanese (I'm told) prize it for jewelry. It does not have gold's monetary cachet, but is usually valued higher per ounce. So I see a major producer (Impala) as a pretty good commodity play--plus the high dividend. I'd short treasuries to buy IMPUY. I guess I have, in a sense, done that. I hold more IMPUY than my TBT position.

To: carranza2 who wrote (25704)	8/26/2011 2:05:23 PM
From: JimisJim	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29622

Platinum is heavily used in autos... probably the primary demand I think... used in catalytic converters... also in the oil industry in catalytic reforming of straight run naphthas into higher-octane gasoline... also used as a hydrogenation catalyst, specifically for vegetable oils... also strongly catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen gas... In the laboratory, platinum wire is used for electrodes; platinum pans and supports are used in thermogravimetric analysis because of the stringent requirements of chemical inertness upon heating to high temperatures (~1000°C). Platinum is used as an alloying agent for various metal products, including fine wires, noncorrosive laboratory containers, medical instruments, dental prostheses, electrical contacts, and thermocouples. Platinum-cobalt, an alloy of roughly three parts platinum and one part cobalt, is used to make relatively strong permanent magnets. Platinum-based anodes are used in ships, pipelines, and steel piers. Seems platinum is quite the industrial/manufacturing metal in specific applications. Jim (OK, so I got that 2nd paragraph directly from wiki, but I knew the general info before checking. <g>)