The prices of metals reflect a contrast between rarity, utility, and value.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, breaks down how much of each metal you could purchase with $10,000, showing their respective weights in kilograms.

At one end of the scale, $10,000 barely buys a handful of gold dust. On the other, it secures literal tons of industrial metals like aluminum and zinc.

The data for this visualization comes from Daily Metal Prices.

Precious Metals: Small in Size, Big in Value

Gold tops the chart in value, costing over $108 million per metric ton. That means $10,000 only gets you 92 grams, barely more than a chocolate bar.

Platinum and palladium are slightly less expensive but still highly valuable, offering just a few hundred grams per $10,000. These metals are prized for their rarity, beauty, and industrial applications, especially in electronics and catalytic converters.

Industrial Metals: Value in Volume

On the opposite end are base metals like aluminum, zinc, and copper. These materials are far more abundant and are critical to infrastructure and manufacturing. For example, with $10,000, you could buy 3,815 kilograms of aluminum, enough to construct dozens of bicycles. Even copper, a more valuable industrial metal, yields over a metric ton for the same amount of money.

Strategic and Emerging Materials

In between are metals like lithium and nickel, which are crucial to green technologies, batteries, and energy systems. Lithium, priced at nearly $12,000 per ton, yields 838 kg for $10,000, while nickel provides 667 kg.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Charted: Where the U.S. Gets Its Rare Earths From on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.