Abstract

Platinum group metals (PGM) are essential for clean-energy technologies, including proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers for hydrogen production and PEM fuel cells for hydrogen use, as well as catalytic, electronic, and advanced industrial applications. However, their supply is exposed to geological concentration, co-product dependence, and market volatility. This study evaluates the medium-term cost-based accessibility of known primary PGM resources using a cumulative availability curve. The analysis combines resource estimates and allocated production-cost data for 61 known PGM-bearing deposits and projects, with costs expressed in 2022 USD per metric ton of combined PGM output. Because PGM deposits differ in ore type, processing route, and co-product setting, the results are interpreted by deposit cluster rather than only by country or aggregate cost threshold. The low-cost portion of the curve is dominated by Ni–Cu sulphide by-product systems, but this cluster represents only 1.87% of the compiled resource base. In contrast, UG2/Merensky/Great Dyke reef-type systems account for 72.95%, and Platreef/Northern Limb and Platreef-type systems account for 19.82%. Thus, most known primary PGM resources occur outside the low-cost by-product segment. Cluster-weighted PGM basket-price benchmarks are used instead of individual metal-price comparisons. Several cluster-level cost ranges fall below or near indicative April 2025 basket-price benchmarks, but these comparisons are not project-level profitability tests. Overall, the cumulative availability curve provides a deposit-cluster-based framework for evaluating known primary PGM availability and informing critical-material policy, recycling strategy, supply-chain planning, hydrogen-technology deployment, and responsible resource development.

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