If you were to divide the metals from the periodic table into two groups, those that are common and those that are rare, not only would hafnium be in the latter but if you were to divide them again you'd still find it on the rarer side of those two. Compound this natural rarity with low commercial demand and it's not difficult to see why hafnium is so expensive.

In nature hafnium is always found mixed up with zirconium and the two are nearly inseparable. However, their ratios are far from 50-50. In zirconium-rich sands the hafnium yield is on average only 2%. The two elements are so similar chemically that most commercial refineries don't even bother to extract out the hafnium. This means that unlike pretty much every other industrial metal the average zirconium part is a natural alloy containing between 1-3.5% hafnium!

Fortunately, zirconium was found to be a desirable material in the construction of fuel rods for the nuclear industry and that small percentage of hafnium was found to degrade its performance. Given this need several expensive purification processes have been employed to separate the two metals for this application. Today, nearly 100% of the hafnium metal being traded comes therefore thanks to the nuclear power industry's needing their zirconium ridded of the unwanted "contaminant".

These beautiful cubes are made from 99.95% pure pure hafnium. They feature perfectly sharp corners and flat, reflective walls. We are absolutely confident that you will be delighted with this collectible and that all who handle it will be wowed at its heft, its rarity and the precision of its craftsmanship.

Each 10mm cube weighs 13.5±0.1g and the 25.4mm weighs 221±2g