The major primary deposits of platinum are in the United states, South America, South Africa, Commonwealth of Independent States (especially in Russia) and Canada. South Africa and Russia are two major producers. South Africa's Merensky Reef currently supplies about 60% of the world's platinum. About 8.3 million ounces of the platinum group metals were mined in 1992. Only about 3.8 million ounces of that was platinum itself. On the other hand, some 50 million ounces of gold are mined each year and almost 400 million ounces of silver. As you can see that's more than ten times as much gold in a given year as platinum and 100 times more silver. Relative scarcity is one reason the platinum group metals are so valuable.

All the precious metals are rare. Platinum is actually more plentiful in the earth's crust than gold and like the other noble metals. It some times occurs in its native form, as very small particles, widely dispersed and hard to recover. Platinum and the platinum group of metals are found as complex ores, mixed with each other, other metals, and impurities. The Merensky Reef is about a mile deep, and the platinum is spread throughout the rock in tiny grains. Some are barely visible to the unaided eye. Mining anything at these depths takes a lot of money and is very difficult. Once the ore reaches the surface, extracting the platinum from the other components is very complex again.

Because platinum deposits generally consist of more than one member of the platinum metals group, each one must be separated from its chemical siblings. Refining platinum characteristically takes about five times as long as refining gold. Simply put, extracting platinum from the earth and refining very expensive.