The soaring prices of rhodium and palladium have put new focus on the upper group two (UG2) reef, for long the poor cousin of Merensky reef in the hierarchy of platinum group metals (PGMs) mining. Merensky’s predominant platinum content has made it the preferred reef for decades but UG2 is currently the new optimal because of its greater palladium and rhodium content, with chrome thrown in as a valuable co-product.
