Platinum (Pt, element 78, CAS 7440-06-4) is mined as a primary or co-product metal alongside palladium, rhodium and nickel-copper ore, with world mine production estimated at 170,000 kg (about 5.47 million troy ounces) in 2025 (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026). Almost no platinum comes from a stand-alone orebody: it is bundled with the other platinum group metals (PGMs) in five named reefs, worked by four mining methods, mostly in one country. This page covers how platinum is mined, where production sits by country, what a "PGM ounce" contains, and what it costs.
What Is Platinum Mining?#
Platinum mining is the extraction of platinum-bearing ore from layered igneous intrusions and nickel-copper sulfide deposits, almost never from a stand-alone platinum-only orebody. Platinum occurs alongside the other platinum group metals, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium and osmium, so a mine that produces platinum produces some mix of all six. This process sits inside the wider platinum group metals market, which tracks supply, demand and price across all six metals from mine to refined bar. The specific rock types that host platinum, rather than the metal itself, are covered in full under what rocks platinum is found in.
Why Platinum Occurs With Palladium, Rhodium and Nickel-Copper Ore#
Platinum occurs with the other PGMs because all six form as sulfide and alloy minerals in the same magmatic process, so one tonne of ore yields platinum, palladium, rhodium and smaller amounts of iridium, ruthenium and osmium together. No mine separates a platinum-only stream at the rock face; that split happens later, at the refinery. At South Africa's Merensky Reef, gold rides along too, present at about 7% of the 4E prill (platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold combined), one reason producers count gold inside the platinum basket rather than reporting it alone.
The Orebodies: Merensky, UG2, Platreef, J-M Reef and Norilsk-Talnakh#
The world's platinum comes from five named orebodies: the Bushveld Complex's Merensky and UG2 reefs, the Platreef, Montana's J-M Reef and the Norilsk-Talnakh sulfides. Three of the five have their own dedicated pages: the Bushveld Complex, the J-M Reef, Stillwater Complex and Norilsk-Talnakh. A reef, in PGM mining, is the mineralized horizon a mine follows, not a random ore pocket; the term is defined under reef (mining), definition.
The Bushveld Complex, in South Africa, is about 2,060 million years old and covers some 67,000 km² across four provinces (Sibanye-Stillwater Rustenburg Technical Report Summary, filed 24 April 2026). Merensky Reef, a narrow tabular pyroxenite layer, was traced from 1924 by Hans Merensky after prospector Andries Lombaard brought him an outcrop find, so the reef is not accurately described as Merensky's own discovery. UG2, the Upper Group 2 chromitite, is the preferred horizon at most western-limb operations because it earns higher in-situ revenue per square meter than Merensky despite a lower platinum tenor, thanks to a much higher rhodium fraction plus saleable chromite. The Platreef, in the northern limb, is thick, disseminated and palladium-dominant, and that thickness is what makes open-pit and bulk underground mining possible there. Montana's J-M Reef is palladium-dominant too: its 2025 output split 78% palladium to 22% platinum (Sibanye-Stillwater FY2025 Form 20-F). Norilsk-Talnakh, in Russia, is a nickel-copper-PGM sulfide system where Nornickel reports a rising share of lower-grade disseminated ore (Johnson Matthey PGM Market Report, May 2026).
| Orebody | Country | Reef type | Dominant metal | Mining method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merensky Reef | South Africa | Narrow tabular pyroxenite | Platinum | Conventional breast stoping, mechanized bord-and-pillar |
| UG2 chromitite | South Africa | Narrow tabular chromitite | Platinum, rhodium-rich | Conventional breast stoping, mechanized bord-and-pillar |
| Platreef | South Africa | Thick, disseminated | Palladium | Open pit (Mogalakwena), bulk underground (Platreef project) |
| J-M Reef | United States | Narrow tabular | Palladium (78% of 2025 output) | Mechanized cut-and-fill, sub-level extraction |
| Norilsk-Talnakh | Russia | Massive and disseminated Ni-Cu-PGM sulfide | Palladium | Underground (specific method not published in cited sources) |
How Is Platinum Mined?#
Platinum is mined by four methods: conventional breast stoping, mechanized bord-and-pillar, open pit, and cut-and-fill or sub-level extraction. Which method applies depends entirely on how thick the reef is, how steeply it dips and how deep it lies, not on which company owns the mine.
Underground Methods: Conventional Breast Stoping and Mechanised Bord-and-Pillar#
Conventional breast stoping develops a grid of tunnels, then mines the reef in a "breast" while leaving permanent dip pillars unmined, at widths as narrow as 105 cm at Rustenburg (Sibanye-Stillwater Rustenburg Technical Report Summary, 31 December 2025). The method runs through four steps at Sibanye-Stillwater's Rustenburg and Marikana operations:
- Develop a grid of access tunnels ahead of mining.
- Mine the reef outward in a "breast," advancing along strike.
- Leave regional dip pillars permanently unmined for ground support.
- Clean broken rock with winch-driven scrapers to the raise line.
Mechanized bord-and-pillar mining instead leaves regularly spaced pillars designed not to yield or fail, at operations such as Rustenburg's Bathopele shaft, where mechanized sections run between 40 m and 750 m below surface. Minimum mining widths vary sharply by shaft and method.
| Operation | Method | Minimum stoping width | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rustenburg | Conventional breast stoping | 105 cm | Sibanye Rustenburg TRS, 31 Dec 2025 |
| Bathopele (Rustenburg) | Mechanized bord-and-pillar | 186 cm | Sibanye Rustenburg TRS |
| Marikana | Conventional breast stoping | 110 cm minimum, about 1.4 m average | Sibanye Marikana TRS, 31 Dec 2025 |
| Zimplats (Great Dyke) | Mechanized bord-and-pillar | 2.5 m nominal | Zimplats/Implats description (indicative figure) |
Open-Pit Mining: Mogalakwena#
Open-pit platinum mining removes the Platreef's thick, disseminated ore in benches with drill-blast and truck-and-shovel equipment, the method used at the world's largest platinum operation by resource tonnage. The Mogalakwena mine, run by Valterra, works five open pits, Sandsloot, Zwartfontein, Mogalakwena South, Central and North, at pit depths from 128 m to 283 m, and produced 947,800 oz of PGM (mined and concentrate) in 2025 (Valterra Platinum Integrated Report 2025). Its combined resource, including reserves, totals more than 2,796.6 Mt in the open pit plus 348.0 Mt underground at over 49.1 million ounces of 4E, the largest tonnage base of any platinum operation.
Cut-and-Fill and Sub-Level Extraction: The US and Canadian Method#
Stillwater, East Boulder and Lac des Iles use mechanized cut-and-fill and sub-level extraction instead of hand-held drilling, because their orebodies and labor markets support full mechanization. At the Stillwater Complex in Montana, mechanized cut-and-fill accounts for 80-90% of production and sub-level extraction for the rest (Sibanye-Stillwater Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves statement, 2025); Stillwater West runs on a 580 m shaft plus five surface portals, on care and maintenance, while East Boulder uses twin 5,800 m tunnel-bored portal drives. Lac des Iles in Ontario follows the same model, and it defines PGM mining in North America, where narrow-reef, labor-intensive mining is the exception.
Depth, Heat and Why South African PGM Mining Stays Labour-Intensive#
South African PGM mining stays labor-intensive because a 1.0-1.4 m stoping width cannot fit a mechanized drill rig or loader, so roughly half of national output is still cut by hand-held pneumatic drills. Rustenburg's narrowest conventional stopes run at 105 cm, shown in the table above, a geometry that rules out mechanized equipment. Below about 1,300 to 1,400 m, Bushveld mines must add refrigeration and chilled-water cooling as virgin rock temperatures rise with depth; Northam states that below 1,400 m at Booysendal and 1,300 m at Eland, "a Zondereinde mining approach will be adopted, including refrigeration" (Northam Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves statement, 30 June 2024). Zondereinde already mines to 2,400 m by decline, with a planned extension to 3,000 m.
From Ore to Refined Metal#
Mined ore becomes refined platinum through crushing and flotation into concentrate, smelting into matte, and base-then-precious-metal refining. Concentrate from a mine such as Mogalakwena or Marikana moves to a smelter, then a base metals refinery, then a precious metals refinery, before it becomes bar or sponge metal. Mining is not the only source: secondary platinum supply, recycling recovers metal from spent autocatalysts and old jewelry alongside newly mined supply.
Where Is Platinum Mined? Production by Country#
The United States, Canada, Russia, South Africa and Zimbabwe are the only countries USGS lists as PGM mine producers, with South Africa alone mining 120,000 of the world's 170,000 kg of platinum in 2025 (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026). India, a major buyer and fabricator of platinum jewelry, does not appear on that producer list at all; it mines no platinum. The full platinum producing countries breakdown, in kilograms of contained metal, is shown below.
| Country | Palladium 2024 (kg) | Palladium 2025e (kg) | Platinum 2024 (kg) | Platinum 2025e (kg) | PGM reserves (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 10,200 | 6,200 | 3,010 | 1,800 | 590,000 |
| Canada | 17,000 | 16,000 | 5,700 | 5,000 | 310,000 |
| Russia | 89,000 | 84,000 | 22,000 | 20,000 | 11,000,000 |
| South Africa | 82,600 | 70,000 | 126,000 | 120,000 | 63,000,000 |
| Zimbabwe | 15,200 | 15,000 | 18,400 | 18,000 | 1,300,000 |
| Other countries | 2,870 | 2,900 | 3,860 | 3,900 | not available |
| World total | 217,000 | 190,000 | 179,000 | 170,000 | more than 76,000,000 |
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026. One kilogram equals 32.1507 troy ounces.
South Africa and the Bushveld Complex#
South Africa's platinum comes almost entirely from one geological structure, a 2,060-million-year-old intrusion covering about 67,000 km² across four provinces (Sibanye Rustenburg Technical Report Summary, filed 24 April 2026). The Bushveld Complex and the wider story of platinum mining in South Africa together account for an estimated 120,000 kg of platinum and 70,000 kg of palladium in 2025, against USGS-reported reserves of 63,000,000 kg, 83% of the world PGM reserve total.
Zimbabwe, Russia, the United States and Canada#
Zimbabwe's Great Dyke, Russia's Norilsk-Talnakh, Montana's Stillwater Complex and Ontario's Sudbury Basin together supplied the remaining 50,000 kg of 2025 world platinum production (USGS MCS 2026). Platinum mining in Zimbabwe works the Great Dyke's Main Sulfide Zone, estimated at 18,000 kg of platinum and 15,000 kg of palladium in 2025, shallower and lower-cost than the Bushveld's conventional shafts. Russian palladium and Nornickel come from the Norilsk-Talnakh sulfides in Siberia, where Nornickel reported 667,000 oz of platinum and 2.73 million oz of palladium for 2025, keeping Russia a major palladium source even though its roughly 20,000 kg of estimated platinum trails South Africa by a wide margin. In North America, PGM mining splits between Sibanye-Stillwater's Montana mines, the United States' only PGM source, and Canada's Sudbury Basin nickel-copper mines plus Lac des Iles in Ontario, together behind Canada's 310,000 kg of PGM reserves against the United States' 590,000 kg.
The Basket Problem: Why "PGM Ounces" Differ by Company#
Mining companies do not report platinum alone: they report a "basket" of platinum, palladium, rhodium and sometimes gold, iridium and ruthenium together, and the basket definition changes what a "PGM ounce" contains. Sibanye-Stillwater's US mines count a 2E basket of platinum and palladium only; most South African technical reports use a 4E basket that adds rhodium and gold, since gold rides along in the Merensky prill; and Implats and Valterra report a 6E basket, "5PGM+Au," that also adds iridium and ruthenium but still excludes osmium. Comparing a 3E ounce against a 4E or 6E ounce, or converting between baskets by a fixed ratio, produces a wrong number, because each company discloses its own basket and its own denominator. The PGM basket price page explains how a 4E or 6E basket price is actually built from the individual metal prices.
Platinum Mining Companies, Costs and Investment#
The companies that mine PGMs, what it costs them, and the resulting investment products sit downstream of the mining process described above.
The Largest Platinum Mining Companies#
The five largest PGM miners by group production are Valterra Platinum, Implats, Sibanye-Stillwater, Nornickel and Northam Platinum (Johnson Matthey PGM Market Report, May 2026). They are ranked in full on largest platinum producers. Valterra Platinum was named Anglo American Platinum until 2025, when it was renamed and demerged from Anglo American; "Anglo platinum mining" today points to the same company under its new name. Each company's 2026 production guidance, not an actual result, and its main countries are shown below.
| Company | 2026 production guidance | Primary countries |
|---|---|---|
| Valterra Platinum | 3.0-3.4 Moz PGM (mined and concentrate, plus refined) | South Africa, Zimbabwe |
| Implats | 3.4-3.6 Moz 6E refined | South Africa, Zimbabwe, Canada |
| Sibanye-Stillwater SA PGM | 1.65-1.75 Moz 4E | South Africa |
| Sibanye-Stillwater US PGM | 280-300 koz 2E | United States |
| Northam Platinum | No single group figure published; project-level guidance only | South Africa |
| Nornickel | Platinum about 616 koz; palladium about 2.4 Moz | Russia |
What It Costs to Mine Platinum#
Mining costs range from US$835 per 3E ounce sold at Valterra's Mogalakwena to over US$1,350 per 4E ounce at Sibanye's South African operations in 2025, on all-in sustaining cost bases that are not directly comparable because each company's ounce is a different basket. All-in sustaining cost, or AISC, definition, adds sustaining capital, development and other costs to the operating cost of each ounce sold. Mogalakwena's US$835 is the lowest disclosed mine-level AISC among operations that publish one, but Valterra is the only major producer that discloses AISC at mine level, so this is not a verified industry ranking.
| Operation | AISC (US$/oz), 2025 | Basket denominator |
|---|---|---|
| Mogalakwena (Valterra) | 835 | 3E oz sold |
| Valterra group | 987 | 3E oz sold |
| Sibanye-Stillwater SA PGM | 1,353 | 4E oz |
| Sibanye-Stillwater US PGM | 1,203 | 2E oz |
| Implats group | Not published (cash unit cost R22,491/6E oz, stock-adjusted) | 6E oz |
The platinum mining costs, AISC curve page ranks operations on a consistent basis wherever one exists.
Environmental Considerations in PGM Mining#
South African PGM mines carry named power and water risks: Sibanye's Rustenburg technical report states that load-shedding "has started to impact productivity at the operations," and significant groundwater was encountered during development of the Stillwater East project's main access adits and Benbow decline (Sibanye-Stillwater Rustenburg Technical Report Summary and Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves statement, 2025). Electricity and water made up 14% of Sibanye's group cost of sales before depreciation and amortization in 2025, up from 12% in 2024, after Eskom's standard tariff rose 12.74% from 1 April 2025 under a national regulatory determination.
Platinum Mining Stocks and ETFs#
Investors who want exposure without buying physical metal use mining stocks or physically backed platinum ETFs. Each route is compared on its own page: platinum stocks and platinum ETFs. A mining stock carries company-specific risk, from a single flooded mine to a currency move, that a physically backed ETF does not.
Platinum Mining FAQ#
How difficult is it to mine platinum?#
Platinum mining is difficult because its narrow, steeply dipping reefs are often too thin for machinery, forcing hand-held drilling at depths exceeding 2,000 m in South Africa. Mechanized methods work only where a reef is thick enough or shallow enough to support them, as at Mogalakwena's open pits or Montana's cut-and-fill mines.
Is platinum mined in the United States?#
Platinum is mined in the US at Sibanye-Stillwater's Stillwater and East Boulder mines in Montana, the country's only source, which produced 284,069 ounces of platinum and palladium combined in 2025 (Sibanye-Stillwater FY2025 Form 20-F). PGM mining in North America covers both the US and Canadian operations in full.
Which country is richest in platinum?#
South Africa is richest in platinum by production and reserves: 120,000 kg (2025e) of the world's 170,000 kg, and 63,000,000 of the world's more than 76,000,000 kg of PGM reserves (USGS MCS 2026).
How much platinum is left on Earth?#
USGS estimates more than 76,000,000 kg of world PGM reserves, mostly in the Bushveld Complex, representing decades of supply at current mining rates.
Is platinum actually rarer than gold?#
World platinum mine production, 170,000 kg in 2025, is far smaller than gold's, though the two are not mined from the same deposits or reported on the same basis, so no sourced "times rarer" multiple is stated here.
What are platinum's symbol, atomic number and CAS number?#
Platinum has the symbol Pt, atomic number 78 and CAS number 7440-06-4, with an atomic mass of 195.08 (PubChem). Platinum's symbol, atomic number, CAS, element 78, covers its full physical and chemical profile.