Palladium is one of the most precious metals, along with Rhodium, Platinum, and Gold.
It is silvery-white, sometimes grayish-white, malleable, and soft, quite similar to platinum, and lighter than rhodium and gold.
Palladium was discovered, along with rhodium, from crude native platinum in 1803 by the English physician and chemist William Hyde Wollaston.
Its name derives from the asteroid Pallas, which refers to the Greek goddess of wisdom Pallas, a nickname for Athena, the protector.
Wollaston discovered palladium in crude platinum from South America by dissolving the ore in aqua regia.
In jewelry, palladium accounts for 5% of global consumption.
It is used for plating in sheets or for the manufacture of white gold, which in jewelry is an alloy of gold and palladium (4 to 5%).
Global production is divided between Russia, South Africa, and North America.