After decades in the shadow of gold and years of stagnation, platinum is enjoying a dramatic resurgence. Once a poor cousin in the precious metals family, platinum has surged by more than 64% year-to-date in 2025, reaching 13-year highs near $1,620 per ounce. Though still trading at a steep discount to gold, which recently crossed the $4,000 mark, platinum is drawing both industrial users and savvy investors amid tightening supply and growing demand across a spectrum of applications.
The revival is driven by a potent mix of fragile supply chains and durable demand, supported by renewed investor enthusiasm. The last significant demand boom for platinum came from the auto industry pre-2008, which collapsed during the global financial crisis. Since then, platinum languished, often trailing behind gold and palladium. But now, the tides have shifted once more.
Platinum is once again on investor radars, thanks largely to industrial users operating “hand-to-mouth” as inventories are depleted and global fundamentals shift. Automakers are reassessing their materials strategies, and demand is further amplified by new trends in sectors such as hydrogen energy and data-driven technologies. René Hochreiter of Noah Capital Markets predicts platinum could reach $2,000/oz amid a broad rally in precious metals. “Gold is on a tearaway trajectory, pulling platinum along with it; deficits are out of control in most PGMs,” Hochreiter stated, underscoring that supply tightness is not limited to platinum but also affects palladium, rhodium, and other metals in the platinum group.
The supply side of the equation is especially compelling. South Africa, which produces around 70% of the world’s platinum, has seen output fall dramatically. Structural issues, deep, labor-intensive, aging shafts; costly electricity; and persistent underinvestment continue to hobble operations.
According to Metals Focus, global refined production of PGMs fell 8% in the first half of 2025. Platinum supply is forecast to slide by 6% this year to 5.4 million ounces. Hochreiter predicts South Africa’s platinum production will end the year down 10% from 2024 levels, at just 3.65 million ounces. With only 53 operational shafts compared to 81 in 2008, the output per shaft has increased, but total production is declining. Other production challenges further exacerbate the deficit. Flooding, processing bottlenecks, energy disruptions, and inventory drawdowns have constricted supply pipelines further. Even new entrants face headwinds: African Rainbow Minerals’ Bokoni Platinum Mine, purchased for R3.5 billion in 2022, required a massive R15 billion capex plan with a seven-year development lead time, forcing a R2.2 billion write-down. These issues aren’t isolated. With development times extending 7-10 years on average and geopolitical risks looming large, market participants see a prolonged structural deficit as a key pillar supporting platinum’s renewed uptrend.
While platinum's historical bellwether catalytic converters for diesel engines face long-term decline due to EV adoption, current dynamics are more favorable. Demand from hybrid vehicles, which often require more platinum group metals than traditional vehicles, remains robust. Furthermore, platinum's role in hydrogen fuel cells and proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers positions the metal as central to the clean energy transition.
Additionally, in regions like China, platinum is increasingly viewed as a jewelry material of value, especially as gold flirts with unaffordable highs. The World Platinum Investment Council forecasts a 42% spike in platinum jewelry manufacturing demand in China alone, contributing to an 11% global increase to 2.23 million ounces in 2025.
Perhaps more surprisingly, platinum is also entering the high-tech sphere. Northam Platinum, one of the sector’s standout performers, has significant exposure to ruthenium – a minor PGM used in electronics for AI and data center infrastructure. These emerging demand themes offer a long runway for platinum beyond its traditional uses.
Institutional investors and central banks are driving renewed interest in tangible assets, including gold, silver, and platinum. With macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties deepening from trade tariffs under U.S. President Donald Trump to monetary policy concerns and waning faith in the U.S. dollar, there’s a notable structural shift toward commodities with “no counterparty risk.”
“The result is a market no longer dominated by short-term speculative money reacting to real-rate moves, but by a persistent structural bid for security,” said Ole Hansen of Saxo Bank. This shift, he argues, is leading to a long-term repricing of tangible assets, placing platinum front and center with gold and silver. Consequently, equity investors are returning to platinum mining shares. In 2024, 60% of the PGM mining industry was loss-making. Today, that number has been cut in half, and most listed PGM companies are drawing positive attention. Citi analysts, for instance, have upgraded the entire basket of PGM equities, citing resilient pricing and strategic value amid potential tariff revisions under U.S. foreign policy.
Northam Platinum and Valterra Platinum have emerged as two of the most compelling names in this rebounding sector. Northam has tripled production organically over the past decade and maintains high exposure to platinum-rich ounces. Its strong free cash flow margins are bolstered by chrome by-products, offering a buffer in down cycles.
Valterra Platinum, meanwhile, has benefited from operational autonomy after being spun out of Anglo American. Up 72% since its IPO, the company is now capitalizing on improved processing capabilities, up from R500 million in capex in 2016 to R6 billion in 2024, as well as increased concentrate throughput from the Mogalakwena mine, one of South Africa’s few scalable PGM operations.
Arnold van Graan at Nedbank Securities views these upgrades as critical. “These assets are a key strategic advantage which should support its premium valuation multiples,” he noted.
In a market dominated by deficits of 500,000+ ounces annually, the ability to act swiftly on structural shifts is key. Firms like Olive Resource Capital have strategically built positions across the development spectrum, from seniors like Sibanye-Stillwater and Impala Platinum to developers like Chalice Mining and ValOre Metals. Their focus: long-life assets in secure jurisdictions, sound management, and access to capital without heavy dilution.
The best opportunities, according to their leadership, lie in mid-tier developers with production growth capabilities, capital discipline, and jurisdictional resilience. They emphasize the advantage of entering ahead of the curve before the next wave of tangible asset demand tightens supplies even further.
With platinum's above-ground inventory thinning, supply challenges mounting, and global demand expanding across both legacy and next-generation sectors, the outlook remains bullish. Analysts foresee a near-term trading range of $1,650–$1,750 per ounce, with the potential for spikes toward $2,000 should supply constraints worsen or hydrogen adoption accelerate. While short-term corrections may occur due to profit-taking, the long-term fundamentals suggest platinum’s renaissance is here to stay. As geopolitical uncertainty festers and faith in fiat currencies erodes, a broader precious metals rally is underway, and platinum, long the underdog, may finally be claiming its moment in the sun.