A precious metal

Osmium

... is the eighth and last precious metal. The crystalline, non-hazardous form of osmium, also referred to as “osmium” on this website, is available for purchase only since 2014. Due to its extraordinary rarity and high value density, crystalline osmium is used exclusively in the manufacture of premium jewellery and timepieces, and as a store of value.

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Possibilities with osmium

Osmium is seen in the market both as an investment and jewelry metal. Many other potential applications exist due to the special properties of osmium; however, osmium is too rare and too expensive for any of these applications..

Investors with a long-term perspective are therefore predominantly betting that, due to its rarity, osmium will become increasingly difficult to acquire for jewellers. In the future, private and institutional investors will supply the jewelry market with crystalline osmium in bars or disk form or in the form of osmium diamonds and osmium stars.

Purchase Osmium

Osmium

one of the rarest precious metals

only 120 kg

of crystallized osmium is currently produced in the world per year

10,000 tons of platinum

are needed for only 30 grams of osmium

Osmium is also one of the rarest chemical elements on our planet. Osmium is extracted together with platinum. Even 10,000 tons of platinum are needed for 30 grams of osmium.

Osmium jewellery

The use of osmium in the manufacture of exclusive jewellery, timepieces and other luxury goods is constantly rising.

To date, two-dimensional osmium pieces, i.e. osmium bars cut into specific shapes, have been predominantly combined with other (precious) metals such as gold, silver, platinum and titanium. It has now more recently become possible to crystallise osmium onto three-dimensional substrates of almost any shape, opening up a virtually unlimited spectrum of options for jewellery designers, manufacturers and retailers!

However osmium is used in the manufacture of jewellery and other luxury goods, its rarity, unique surface crystal structure and distinct bluish-silvery to bluish-whitish lustre impart a sense of exclusiveness, timelessness and sophisticated understatement to the final product.

Opportunities with Osmium

Osmium is mined together with platinum. In the process, 10,000 tons of platinum ore contain only 30 grams of osmium. Separating the metals is complex and expensive.

If platinum mining declines, osmium will no longer be mined. This will further increase its rarity. According to current data from the Osmium World Council, the mined quantities of osmium, which refer to platinum mining with osmium as a by-metal, are approximately one ton per year. Unfortunately, the information on production volumes is only of limited value at present, as the reserves that can currently still be mined and the underlying resources can only be estimated to a limited extent due to the loss of Russian suppliers. However, it can be assumed that global reserves are already below 20 tons. Raw osmium from nickel mining is generally not used, as ethical mining guidelines generally do not permit this. Of the one ton of raw osmium produced, approximately 400 kg per year is sent to crystallization for refining. The remaining quantities are kept on stock or are used in research, medicine and technology on a tiny scale. In the future, osmium organochemistry with hundreds of compounds could also become exciting. (Explanation: Reserves are raw materials that can be extracted, and resources are raw materials that are available in principle but can only be extracted at great expense or in a way that is not economically viable or ecologically justifiable).

Gallery

The rarity of Osmium, the unique crystal structure and the special blue-silver to blue-white shine give it a special impression of exclusivity and timeless sophistication.