2019-09-02 Bloomberg Businessweek

42

Mo

Molybdenum

43

Tc

Technetium

44

Ru

Ruthenium

45

Rh

Rhodium

46

Pd

Palladium

50

◼ Molybdenum $24.89 / kg London Metal

Exchangecash spot

◼ Technetium Not available

Bloomberg

Businessweek

/

SEPTEMBER

2,

2019

THE

ELEMENTS

47

Ag

Silver WHAT IF YOU EAT IT?

○Whoeatssilver?

Colloidalsilver—smallparticles

suspendedinliquid—wassometimes

promotedasa cure-allforhundreds

ofailments.ButtheFDAwarnedin 1999

thatit isn’tsafeoreffective.

○Whatdoesit tastelike?

Peopledescribeit asbeinglike“waterwith

a faintmetallictaste.”

○Whatdoesit do?

Overexposurecausesa conditioncalledargyria,

whichturnstheskina bluishpurple.

Theseperiodictableneighbors

are also kin. Molybdenum-99,

an unstable isotopewithone

neutronmorethanMo-98

(theelement’smostcommon

naturallyoccurringform),

producestheevenmoreunsta-

bletechnetium-99m. Tc-99m,

as it decays, helps doctors see

into the human body, emitting

gammaraysthatarepicked

upbyspecializedcamerasin

cardiac scans, bone scans, and

other imaging procedures.

Traditionally, this unusual

supplychainhasrequired

irradiatinghighlyenriched

uranium—the stuff of nuclear

weapons—in reactors over-

seas, then shipping back

the fast-decaying Mo-99.

Lastyear,NorthStarMedical

RadioisotopesLLCgot

permissionfromtheFDA

tomakeit a newway.Discs

ofstablemolybdenumare

irradiatedin a nuclearreactor

in Columbia,Mo.,creating

Mo-99that’sthenshippedin

tungsten-shieldedcontainers to

specialized pharmacies. There,

NorthStarmachines—earlier

devicesweredubbed“moly

cows”—harvesttheTc-99m.

Whena hospitalordersa

scan,thepharmacyprepares

a lead-jacketedsyringewith

Tc-99mandacocktailof

molecules that will bond to the

organ of interest. The isotope’s

six-hour half-life ensures that

it’s gone from the body in days.

1/2001 8/2019 7/1992 8/2019 10/1993 8/2019

MOLY COW

By Drake Bennett

ELEMENTS THAT GO

BOOM AND BUST

● RUTHENIUM

Around 2005, Toshiba, Western Digital,

Seagate Technology and other companies

started using more ruthenium to increase

storage capacity on hard disk drives.

The price soared almost 1,500% intwo

years, but “thrifting”—using lessmetalto

achieve the same results—wiped outthe

rise by 2009. In 2016 the cloud-storage

boom pushed prices higher again,butit’s

now hit a plateau as solid-state PChard

drives, which don’t use ruthenium,gain

in popularity.

RUTHENIUM SPOT PRICE, $/OZ RHODIUMSPOTPRICE,$/OZ PALLADIUMSPOTPRICE,$/OZ

By Eddie van der Walt

Commodities used in small quantities by

giant industries have a tendency to

undergo spectacular rallies and crashes,

especially if they’re produced as byprod-

ucts of another material. Their supply

doesn’t correspond directly with changes

in demand and so doesn’t respond directly

to big changes in technology, consumer

appetites, or trade relationships. The result

is periods of over- or underproduction,

with shifting costs to match.

Onesuchsetis theplatinum-group

metals, which include ruthenium, rhodium,

palladium, and iridium. Dug up as byprod-

ucts of platinum in South Africa and nickel

in Russia, they’re coveted for their cata-

lytic properties, notably used in cars to

turn toxic material into less harmful gases.

●RHODIUM

Rhodiumwasoncea favoriteof carmakers,

whoputit in catalyticconverters.But

around 2003 theyfoundthemselvesbidding

againstSonyCorp.andothermanufacturers

of flatscreenTVs.Thepricesoared2,000%

in fiveyears,onlyto crashby90%when

carcompaniesstartedusinglessandthe

globalfinancialcrisisstruck.Therewasa

short-livedrecoveryin 2009-10,drivenby

speculators.Lately,they’rebettingthat

autoexecutives,despitebeingburned

before,willgetbackin thegame.

● PALLADIUM

With palladium significantly cheaper than

platinum in the 1990s, automakers started

shifting to it for gasoline engines. Supply

disruptions in Russia around 2000 led to an

acute shortage and a price spike, followed

by depressed prices as Soviet-era stockpiles

were sold off. Automotive demand grew,

and, starting in 2012, the world produced

less than it consumed for seven straight

years. There was a 60% rise in futures in

the past year, the largest among 35 key

commodities Bloomberg tracks.

$800

400

0

$1,500

750

0

$1,000

500

0

◼ Ruthenium $8,819 / kg Johnson Matthey spot

◼ Rhodium $139,509 / kg Johnson Mattheyspot

◼ Palladium $47,320 / kg Dollar spot

◼ Silver $552 / kg London Metal

Exchange cash spot