Platinum or platinum coins as an investment

Why platinum?

Many investors see platinum as an ideal precious metal to add to their investment portfolio given its rarity and variety of uses. For example around 5 million troy ounces are mined every year compared with 82 million troy ounces of gold and 547 million troy ounces of silver. It tends to do better during times of economic prosperity, given that investors invariably look to buy gold and silver during economic depressions. However in the last year the price of platinum has actually sky rocketed and almost doubled. Due to it's rarity ( you have to mine 14 tonnes of stone to get one ounce) it is a lot more expensive to buy platinum coins than buying silver and gold coins. There is also a great demand nowadays for platinum jewellery, especially in China, which has further increased the price. Since platinum, as said before, can be used for such a variety of products it seems that the demand for platinum will always outweigh supply and therefore offers a great investment opportunity.
 

Ways to invest in platinum

One way of investing in platinum is by buying strong platinum coins such as the American Platinum Eagle which similar to other gold bullion coins like Krugerrands comes in 1/10, 1/4,1/2 ounce weights as well as the one ounce weight. It is also worth noting that American Platinum Eagles are unique in that on the reverse side of the coins they have a different design that changes every year. It is also possible to invest in platinum mining companies rather than the metal itself which has proved profitable in recent years.