Osmium: Densest Precious Metal Osmium is an extremely hard, brittle, bluish white or gray transition metal in the platinum group metals. It is the densest natural element, being about 0.03 g/cm3 denser than iridium (the second densest natural element) and about twice as dense as lead. Among the platinum family members, osmium has the highest melting point and the lowest vapor pressure. When a small amount of ruthenium is added to titanium, the latter's corrosion resistance is improved significantly. As to its other applications, ruthenium is used in: 1. film chip resistors; 2. jewelry (when alloyed with gold); 3. high-temperature superalloys (used in making the turbine blades in jet engines); 4. This is lower by about 77 million troy ounces when compared with the annual mine production of gold, and even much lower - by about 547 million troy ounces - when compared with the yearly silver mine production. Platinum is traded on the London Stock Exchange (as ETF, under the ticker symbol LSE: PHPT) and on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Placer Mining: Three Methods Used To Mine Placer Gold The word placer, as will be found throughout here, is derived from the same Spanish word which means "sandbank". It specifically refers to an alluvial deposit of detrital material, such as gravel, which contains particles of precious chemical elements. On the reverse of the coin is an image of the springbok, an antelope specie which is a South African national symbol. Atop the image is an inscription of the name of the coin, in capital letters, while below it is the coin's gold content, inscribed in Afrikaans and English. Special samples of the coin (proof Krugerrand) are minted and offered as collector's items. The ranking appears different when the estimated world market prices, per troy ounce, of these nine precious metals are considered (estimates as of January 2010): 1st: Rhodium - USD2,750 2nd: Platinum - USD1,555 3rd: Gold - USD1,131 4th: Palladium - USD424 5th: Iridium - USD408 6th: Osmium - USD380 7th: Rhenium - USD194 8th: Ruthenium - USD173 9th: Silver - USD18 Of the nine precious metals, gold and silver are the best known.