I indicated some time ago that this was in the works and apparently it's here. More stress for the Ag supply side.
TOKYO |Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:47am EDT
TOKYO April 23 (Reuters) - Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co Ltd(5706.T)said on Wednesday it has developed a new catalyst fordiesel engine carsthat replaces the use of platinum with silver,a less conventional butmuch cheaper metal.
"Silver will totally replace platinum in this newautocatalyst that we've developed," a company spokesman said.
By substituting platinum with silver, the cost of preciousmetals in theproduction of autocatalysts, which clean carexhaust fumes, would be cutby more than 90 percent, the companysaid.
Spot silver XAG= is currently trading at around $17.70 anounce, compared with platinum XPT= at around $2,030.
The spokesman said Japan,Europe and the United States areall planning to impose tighter rules onexhaust emissions forheavy-duty vehicles, such as those used inconstruction andfarming, from 2012.
"We hope that this catalyst will be used in diesel enginesfor those vehicles, and this is the market we are targeting," hesaid.
Platinum specialist Johnson Matthey Plc said last Novemberthat platinumdemand from automakers for catalytic converterswould climb 2.3 percentto 4.24 million ounces in 2007 on theback of robust sales of light-dutydiesel vehicles in Europe.
Platinum and its sister metal palladium are employed invarying amountsin autocatalysts to filter out carbon monoxideand particulateemissions.(Reporting by Miho Yoshikawa)