Platinum
Pure platinum is a lustrous, ductile, and malleable, silver-white metal. Platinum is more ductile than gold, silver or copper, thus being the most ductile of pure metals, but it is less malleable than gold. The metal has excellent resistance to corrosion, is stable at high temperatures and has stable electrical properties. Platinum does oxidize, forming PtO, at 500 °C; this oxide can be easily removed thermally. It reacts vigorously with fluorine at to form platinum tetrafluoride. It is also attacked by chlorine, bromine, iodine, and sulfur. Platinum is insoluble in hydrochloric and nitric acid, but dissolves in hot "aqua regia" (A mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids), to form chloroplatinic acid, HPtCl.
Lithium as an investment
Lithium metal is an extremely soft, highly reactive, and flammable element. It is most frequently found in deposits such as spodumene and pegmatite minerals, with larger resources in the U.S., Canada, Australia, China, Zimbabwe, and Russia. Lithium possesses a unique chemical profile making it the lightest metal in the periodic table and the least dense solid element. Its atomic number is 3 (right behind helium at 2 and hydrogen at 1), and its density is just 0.53 kg/L. This alkali metal is probably best-known for its wide use in lithium batteries common in all sorts of electronics devices. Other industrial applications include manufacturing heat-resistant glass and ceramics, high-performance alloys used in aircraft, and lubricating greases. Lithium deuteride is used in staged thermonuclear weapons as a fusion fuel. Compounds of lithium are also used as mood stabilizing drugs in psychiatry. The breakdown of the global end-use lithium markets is estimated as follows: ceramics and glass, 31%; batteries, 23%; lubricating greases, 9%; air treatment, 6%; primary aluminum production, 6%; continuous casting, 4%; rubber and thermoplastics, 4%; pharmaceuticals, 2%; and other uses, 15%.