Here's a most interesting piece of news from Bloomberg on a new technology that could use silver instead of Platinum in catalytic converters:

Keep in mind that silver is $17 per ounce and Platinum is $1000.00... perhaps it won't be long before those numbers are a little closer?

Platinum has risen from $400.00 in the last 10 years mostly because of it's use in catalytic converters while a major use of silver, in film, has all but dried up. Silver has now found new industrial usages in flat screen tv's which have helped offset but it hasn't created any kind of massive shortfall. In fact, demand has increased but so has production. Currently they're on par.

However, if you add catalytic converters to the uses and we might find ourselves in short supply as the supply/demand equation becomes out of balance on the demand side. I'll show those figures in the next posting. For now, check this article from Bloomberg:

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Platinum Drops on Mitsui Mining Plan for Silver Auto Catalyst

By Dave McCombs

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Platinum futures in Tokyo fell for the third time in four days after Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. said it would sell a diesel exhaust catalyst that uses silver instead of more expensive platinum.

The company, a partner in Japan's biggest copper smelter, yesterday said it will start selling the devices in Japan, the U.S. and Europe in 2012. Platinum has jumped 52 percent in the past year, partly on expectations demand for auto catalysts will increase as governments impose stricter emissions rules.

``It's difficult for the platinum market to turn up after the Mitsui Mining announcement yesterday about the silver catalyst,'' Kazuhiko Saito, a commodity strategist at Interes Capital Management, said today in Tokyo by telephone.