JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Platinum has been added to BullionVault’s online trading marketplace, marking a first for the metal on the world’s largest online precious metals marketplace for buying, selling and storing physical gold and silver bullion.

The improvement in liquidity, accessibility and pricing is expected to address demand for platinum investment, the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) said on Tuesday.

Physical platinum has to date been difficult for private investors to trade efficiently and this initiative gives private individuals access to vaulted platinum at the same low cost currently enjoyed by institutional investors. 

The metal can now be bought and sold on a precious metals market that stays open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

BullionVault’s 65 000-plus private investors currently hold 37 t of gold and 650 t of silver stored and insured in specialist facilities. 

The physical platinum will now be bought, held and sold in the form of vaulted London Platinum and Palladium Market Good Delivery bars.

WPIC market development director Marcus Grubb said the initiative would improve liquidity, accessibility and pricing in the global platinum market, and address pent-up demand for platinum investment at a time of ongoing deficits in the physical platinum market and the price beginning to show modest signs of recovery.

BullionVault’s successful track record with gold and silver gives the council confidence that the partnership will help to grow investment demand for platinum, which is being offered in multiple currencies and languages through local websites, the council said in a release to Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly Online.