When rare metals are considered, they mean those that are extremely scarce in their pure form in nature. The rarest metal got its name in honor of the largest river in Germany Rhine - rhenium.
The rarest metal
The rarest metal in the world is one that is extremely rare in nature. Inconsistency may arise due to the fact that in the periodic table (compiled by Mendeleev) there is a group of elements called "rare earth". In fact, this does not mean that there are few of them on the planet. Their number is often no less than other common metals (such as copper, zinc, chromium, and so on).
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the rarest metal on planet Earth is rhenium, which is in the periodic system under the 75th serial number. In fact, Mendeleev himself can be called his discoverer, since when compiling his table, he predicted the existence of an element with a relative atomic mass of 180 (this was in 1870). But proving the existence of this element and finding it in practice turned out to be not such an easy task.
Many scientists talked about their find after Mendeleev's time, but in fact it was not true. It was only in 1925 that the German scientific Noddack family discovered this rarest metal.
Applications of rhenium
For most people, the name of this metal won't tell you anything. After all, it is rare, and therefore has a rather narrow distribution. In industrial circles and among scientists, rhenium is valued even more than another expensive metal - platinum. In particular, the blades of modern aircraft engines are made from rhenium. In addition, this metal is used to create high-precision technology such as a gyroscope. Gasoline with a high octane content is also synthesized using this element. One of the modern developments is rhenium filters, which are installed on the exhaust pipes of a car.
Rhenium mining
Only now to widely use rhenium is an almost impossible task, since there is an acute deficit in nature (which is why it is rare). Until recently, it was believed that there were no deposits of this metal on our planet. And only in 1992, on the South Kuril Islands, on the Kudryavy volcano, the only rhenium deposits in the world were discovered.
Rhenium is mined from molybdenum and copper ores. For this, the concentrate is fired. The procedure is very complicated, and to obtain one kilogram of rhenium, it is required to process 1-2 thousand tons of ore. Around the world, only about 40 tons of this rare metal are produced annually.
