Until recently, I was unaware that it called. "Spice metals" are. This refers to some very rarely occurring metallic elements that are not irreplaceable especially for modern technologies, including key enabling technologies and because of their special properties (still) indispensable. There are over 50 of these rare metal elements.
Each computer chip is now "seasoned" with up to 40 of these elements, a radio telephone with up to 25 of these fine metals, eg. B. Coltran. Light-emitting diodes (LED lights) come without gallium or indium, depending on the color, nothing. Also flat panel displays, LEDs (displays), but also CIS solar cells require indium.
As commodities experts, z. B. Armin Reller from the University of Augsburg stress, threatening some of these spice metals to become scarce or their extraction extremely expensive. Nevertheless, they are still subjected in part to strong price fluctuations. So increased in 2007, prices for platinum and palladium at record levels, with palladium, however, formed a production overhang - the prices went promptly back down.
Platinum is known to be used for autocatalysts, but - if one wanted to equip all cars of this world so that there would be problems, since the metal has to be won more complex. So ten tons of ore must be processed in order to extract one ounce of platinum. A portion of the platinum from the catalyst is blown into the air and finally stored in our lungs, another part never gets into recycling, but remains somewhere in old cars, only 30-40 percent of the catalysts are given to recycling companies. (More ...)