The Australian Platinum Conference has been told that platinum is indispensable to the economies of developed countries.

Geoff Blackburn, a consulting geologist to the Association of mining and Exploration Companies, told the conference in Perth that:

'I believe it is not an unreasonable statement that industrial society would now collapse without an ensured supply of platinum and palladium.'

He added that the vast majority of platinum group metals (pgms) were found in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Russia, and that the smallest political disruption could reduce supply.

This, he said, made it important to mount more exploration projects in Western Australia, a view supported by Keith Goode of Eagle Research Advisory Pty Ltd.

'There are plenty of occurrences [of platinum], they just haven't been plotted up', he told The West Australian.

But Mr Blackburn was confident that investor interest would pick up once Platinum Australia Ltd's Panton pgm mine begins operating in WA.