J5EPAKTMENT OF THE I-NTEJiiOB

BULLETIN

OK THK

UNITED STATES

No. 193

SERIES A, ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 11

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFLOE 

1902

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

CHARLES D. WALCOTT, DIRECTOR

THE GEOLOGICAL RELATIONS AND DISTRIBUTION

OF

'LATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS

BY

JAMES FTJKMA]Sr KEMP

WASHINGTON

G O V E R N M E N T PRINTING OFFICE 

1902

CONTENTS.

Page.

Letter of transmittal, by S. F. Emmons. ................... ............ 0

Chemical relations..-.-..-............-.-.--.....:..-......._.--.-......_. 1.1

Minerals -.........--..,.---............--........-- ....--..-......-.-....- 12

Platinum....................... ............,.^.................... 12

Platiniridiuni ...._.......-...-.....-. ...- ...-..._......_....-...--. 15

Palladium............-...--...-.-.----.... ..-........--.....--.. 15

. Allopalladiurn..............-...-...--...--..-..-........--.--...--- 15

Iridosmine -..-.._......----...-.---.-..--.--.....-...---.....-.-. 15

Sperrylite-...--..-.-----.----..--- ............. .-...-...--...... 16

Laurite................... .......... ...... .. ..................... 16

Chemical composition of native platinum and iridosniine.................. 16

Minerals associated with the nuggets..-...---. . .-._..--.--.__._-..._..__-. 25

Chromite ...... ....... ......j..:.^-....................... ...... ......... 25

Olivine....... ...................... .............................. 25

Pyroxene .......................-.........^.... ... ----......-.... 26

Mica ........................................:..................... 26

Gold .................J_........ - ......... ,.... ............... 26

Associated minerals in the gravels ................................. 26

Platinum in country rock .......... ........................................ 29

Urals ................. .,--.-.-,-- -..........-.-.-.-.... ........ 29

Colombia................ ...--....-. .................................... 30

Mexico...... ........................ ----.----..--._-..-. ..... 30

Brazil......... ...._.._...- ........................ ........... 30

Spain , _.. ...... ..... ...... .-.._-...-----.-....-.----.....---.--. 32

France..... ...... ................. ................................... 32

German}^......................................... ................... 32

Pennsylvania....... .. ........-.--.---...... ...... ..........'...... 33

 Arizona . ........... ............................................. 33

Ontario....... ........................... ..................... .... 33

Wyoming..............-.-.-..--. ................................ 34

New South Wales ............ .................................. 34

North Carolina ..... .. .......................................... 34

 British Columbia... ........ ............................... ...... 34

Platinum in Australian coal ............ ................... ,.. .......... 35

Platinum in meteorites .................................................... 35

Platinum in the sun ...... . ............................ ................ 36

General papers on platinum ......................................... ..... 36

Beview of localities where metals of platinum group have been discovered. 36

North America.... ..-...-.--.----.-..........-.......--.............. 36

Canada.... ... _..........-.......................-.............. 36

Quebec................... ................................... 36

Ontario ...._...___.._..._._...._..._.._,..__._.._..__.._.......... 36
6 CONTENTS.

Review of localities, etc. Continued. Page. 

North America Continued. 

Canada Continued.

British Columbia ................................^..^......... 38

Mineralogy of the nuggets . ..-.-........---.-.-..-..--... 43

Mother rock of the platinum .............3.-..-...-...-..- 47

Alberta.......... ....L....... ........................ .... .... 51

Northwest Territory.... ......................... f............. 51

United States ...-......--...-.--.---.-..--._.......-.-....--...- 51

Arizona...... ....... ........;.............;... ..........:.... 51

California and Oregon .. ...................................... 51

Colorado---..-----.-----------. .-....-..--.---.---.---.-...- 57

Georgia ........................... ....,-..-,..-......--...-.... 57

Idaho .................. ..I....-.----.-.---.-..------------- 57

Montana .............. ......-.-.-...-..........-.....---.-..... 57

New York.... ....:..... ..... ........ ........................ 57

North Carolina. .----.----------.. .......................... 58

Pennsylvania .......--...---.-.......-.-.---.....-.--._.-.... 59

Mexico.----...-._..-.--..------------------------....-------------. 59

Central America....._.........--....-.--.-..-...-.--.-.......---.-...- 60

Honduras ... .--.-.-.----........-.... ..................^............. 60

West Indies .. ....................................................... 60

Santo Domingo............ .--.-.-.-.----...--.---..--..---.--...-.- 60

South America ........-....-.-.-...-...-.---.-.........-.-.--..-....--. 60

Brazil............................................................ 60

French Guiana...---.-. -.......... ....--....-....-.-.--.-..--.. ...- 62

Colombia.... ............:....._.-...--- ....................:... 62

Europe....... ........ ..................... ............................... 65

Austria-Hungary_......-....---..--..---.---...- .... ........--...-. 65

France -...-.........'...-..-.-..-.----.-...-..-...-.... .......... 65

Germany.....,-......--:----....-..--.. ......-.-.--.--....... .... 66

Great Britain.......................................... ........... 67

Russia -.-.... -.._._-.--.-. .. ........ ....-.....-....--...-... 67

General literature on platinum in Russia -------- ............. 68

Goroblagodat and Bisersk districts.. ........................... 69

NijniTagilsk district............... .. ..................... 74

Primary deposits of platinum in the Urals, by A. Inostranzeff (translation) ................................. ..... 76

Platinum elsewhere in Russia...... .___.....'_..___..______..__ 81

Spain.........---...--..-.-..--..-..-.-.....-..-......-............ 81

Africa .......'...........................................-............. 82

Algiers .......................................................... 82

Asia and the East Indies .......... .--...--:.-..................-...--. 82

Borneo --.--._.-.-...... ............... ............................. 82

Burma-..-.....-.......--..--...................................... 83

Japan........_.........-._-.....--...........-.......--..-....... 83

Australia and Oceania .. . . - -.......-..-..-...-...-.--.-.---.....-.. 83

*" New Caledonia--.--.---.....-.---.-...----..-...-.,--...-...-.-.--. 83

New South Wales ................................... ............. 83

New Zealand ....................................... ................ 86

Tasmania ........................................................... 87

Conclusion . ............................................................... 87

Index ...............-.-..:._....-..---.-...-.,....-........--............. 93
ILLUSTRATIONS.

.Page.

PLATE I. A, Platinum from the Tnlameen River, British Columbia; B, 

Platinum from the Colorado River, Colombia; C, Sperrylite 

crystals from Vermillion mine, Ontario .................. ...... 14

II. A, Nugget of platinum, gold, and chromite from Colombia; J5, 

Nugget of platinum, gold, and dolomite or magnesite. from 

Colombia; C, Platinum nugget containing olivine and chromite. 

in part in octaheclra, from Tulameen district, British Columbia . 24

III. A, Polished nugget of platinum and chromite from the Tulameen 

River, British Columbia; B, Thin section of a nugget of platinum, chromite. and olivine from the Tulameen River, British 

Columbia; C, Thin section of a nugget of platinum and pyroxene from the Tulameen River, British Columbia .............. 28

IV. Geological map of the Tulameen platinum region, British Columbia ....... . . .......... .................. ................. 38

V. A, Iridosmine from Slatousk, Ural Mountains; B, Peridotite from 

junction of Eagle Creek and the Tulameen River, British Columbia; C, Serpentinized peridotite, with the separation of chromite (?) or magnetite (?), from the Tulameen River, British 

Columbia............ ............................... . ....... 42

VI. A, Pyroxenite from a dike in peridotite on the Tulameen River, 

British Columbia: B, Augite-syenite, showing augite and orthoclase, from the Tulameen River, British Columbia; C, Photo- micrograph of the peridotite of Mount Soloviev, Russia, which 

contains platinum ....................... ..................... 46

FIG. 1. Diagram illustrating the chemical composition of native platinum.. 17

2. Sketch map of Colombia, showing location of platinum placers...... 63

3. Geological cross section of the caliche beds, from the Iro to the

Opogodo, Colombia (after Charles Bullnaan). ...............T ... 64

4. Map of Perm, Russia, showing the general geography of the platinum region.... ................................ ... ........... 67

5. Sketch map of the platinum-bearing streams in the Goroblagodat

and Bisersk districts, Russia (after C. W. Purington)............ 70

6. Geological map of the headwaters of the Iss and Veeya rivers,

Russia (after a colored map by A. M. Saytzeff) .................. 71

7. Geological map of the Nijni-Tagilsk platinum district, Russia (after 

a map by A. M. Say tzeff)......( ..... ... ,........_....,.....___ 74

8. Sketch map of New South Wales, showing distribution of platinum. 84

9. Geological section of the platinum deposit near Broken Hill, New

South Wales (after J. M. Jaquet) ... ............................. 85

7
- il
LETTER OF TRAIN SMITTAL.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,

Washington, D. C., June 8, 1901.

SIR: I return herewith a report on platinum, by Prof. J. F. Kernp, 

which I have read and recommend for publication as a bulletin. 

Very respectfully,

S. F. EMMONS,

Geologist in Charge of Section of Metalliferous Ores. 

Hon. CHARLES D. WALCOTT,

'Director of United States Geological Survey.

9

THE GEOLOGICAL RELATIONS AND DISTRIBUTION 

OF PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS.

By J. F. KEMP.

CHEMICAL RELATIONS.

Platinum is one of seven metals which are customarily described 

as the '' gold group." They are separable into three subgroups, based 

upon their affinities for oxygen/

(1) "Platinum and gold do not combine directly with oxygen under 

any circumstances.

 (2-) "Palladium, rhodium, and indium oxidize when they are heated 

in. the air or oxygen, but their oxides decompose on strong ignition 

into metal and oxygen.

(3) "Ruthenium and osmium unite with oxygen to form volatile 

oxides, which do not undergo decomposition even at the highest 

temperatures." 11

With the omission of gold it is likewise customary to speak of the 

remaining six as the "platinum group."

If we fix attention upon the six it is evident that they are separable 

into two contrasted divisions according to their atomic weights. 

Thus, ruthenium (101.7), rhodium (103), and palladium (107) are near 

together, and then after a large interval platinum (194.9), iridium 

(193.1), and osmium-(191) are likewise closely related. With the last 

named gold (197.2) is to be placed.

When grouped according to the periodic law they fall into the same 

two divisions of three each, and as they are placed in the same vertical columns with iron, cobalt, and nickel, it is natural to draw parallels between the latter and the former. Iron, ruthenium, and osmium 

have similar properties; so also have cobalt, rhodium, and iridium, 

and, finally, nickel, palladium, and platinum. Palladium and platinum exhibit analogies with silver and gold, while ruthenium and 

osmium are similarly related to molybdenum and tungsten.

"Roscoe and Schorlemmer, Treatise on Chemistry, II, Part II, p. 359.

11
12 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULK. 198.

Aii appreciation of these relations is important in enabling the 

reader to gain a correct conception of the several metals, and it may 

be added that to a certain degree the same association appears in the 

geological occurrence; but, as will shortly be pointed out, there are 

other geological facts on which the chemical relations, so far as present knowledge goes, throw no light. Thus, for example, platinum 

is almost always derived from rocks rich in magnesium and is commonly associated with chromic oxide, yet neither magnesium nor 

chromium has been mentioned above.

In specific gravity the purified metals range as follows: Osmium, 

22.477; indium, 22.38; platinum, 21.48; ruthenium, 12.261; rhodium, 

12.1; palladium, 11.4.

In fusibility the order is as follows: Osmium is the most refractory 

and has not been melted; ruthenium, indium, and rhodium follow in 

order; platinum is next, and its melting point is fixed at 1,779° C.; 

palladium is the most fusible of all, and melts at about the same 

temperature as wrought iron.

MINERALS.

The minerals containing the metals of the platinum group are the 

following. With each a brief outline of its physical and chemical 

properties is given, for convenient reference and as a guide in identification. The chief source of this information has been the sixth 

edition of Dana's Treatise on Mineralogy, and Kokscharow's paper on 

/"Gediegenes Platin," in his Materialen zur Mineralogie Russlands, 

Vol. V, p. 177. Both these have been supplemented by the writer's 

experience in the field.

Platinum. The mineral called by this name is an alloy of platinum, 

iridium, rhodium, palladium, and ofien osmium, with vaiying amounts 

of iron, copper, and gold. Iridosmme is also usually present, but 

seems to be mechanically involved in the others. The complex 

nature suggested to Hausmann the name polyxene, meaning many 

strangers or guests. Full details are given subsequently regarding 

the chemical composition of the crude platinum of commerce. The 

crystals are isometric, but extremely rare. The cube is the commonest form. Nuggets, scales, and irregular grains are the usual shapes, 

and where taken near the mother rock they may be angular. Somewhat uncommonly chromite constitutes a part of the nuggets, and 

even other minerals, such as serpentine, olivine, pyroxene, and biotite, have been discovered, as noted later.

Cleavage, none; fracture, hackly. Hardness, 4 to 6. Malleable, 

ductile, sectile. Sp. gr., 14 to 19. Melted platinum is 19.7 and hammered is 21.23. The admixture of iron especially reduces the specific 

gravity, as iron itself is 7.3 to 7.8. Low specific gravities therefore 

indicate much iron. The variety rich in iron is called iron-platinum 

and its specific gravity ranges below 16. Luster, metallic. Color
PLATE I.
PLATE I.

(^1) Rough, unworn platinum nuggets, Tulameen River, British Columbia. 

X 35 diam.

(B) Thin, worn platinum nuggets, Colorado River, Colombia. X 35 diam.

(C) Cubes of sperrylite, prisms of cassiterite, Vermillion mine, Ontario. X 35 

diam.

14 . '
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 193 PL. I

THE MERIDEN GRAVURE CO.
MINERALS OF THE PLATINUM GROUP. 15

varies from silvery white to dark gray or almost black. Strong 

contrasts appear even in the platinum of a single district. The nuggets may be coated with a black, soluble crust, and when dealing 

with fine dust the observer may experience the greatest difficulty in 

recognizing the platinum with a lens or a microscope as against chromite or magnetite. The native platinum may be strongly magnetic, 

even forming natural lodestone, or it may be comparatively inert. 

It can, however, be readily separated from less magnetic materials in 

modern magnetic concentrators, such as the Wetherell. When the 

nuggets and dust are obtained near the mother rock they are angular 

and rough (PI. I, ^4), but when they have been transported far they 

appear as thin scales,(PL I, jB).

Platinum is not essentially affected by the ordinary acids, but 

yields to boiling aqua regia. As a test of pannings, treatment with 

ordinary acids is not of much value, because chromite; the commonest 

associate of platinum, is insoluble. Platinum, if not too small, will 

be found to be malleable, whereas chromite is bi;ittle. From colors 

of gold it may be separated by quicksilver, becau.se the gold amalgamates and the platinum does not. Among the placer miners platinum is of ted called "white gold."

.PZaZmw%f%MM%. With a great increase in iridium, which in normal 

platinum does not exceed 5 per cent, this mineral is developed. The 

iridium may be over 75 per cent. Crystal system, isometric, the 

cube being the chief form, but as the mineral itself is excessively 

rare, and when found is usually in scales and grains, crystals are very 

uncommon. Hardness, 6.7, surpassing platinum. Sp. gr.,22.Gto23, 

being thus the heaviest of known minerals. Color, white. Luster, 

metallic.

jPaMo&m/m, is alloyed in practically all cases with a little platinum 

and iridium. It is isometric and when crystallized is practically 

always in octahedrons, but it also occurs in grains and fibrous masses. 

In any form it is excessively rare. Hardness, 4.5 to 5. Sp. gr., 11.3 

to 11.8. Luster, metallic. Color, whitish, steel-gray.. Malleable, 

ductile, sectile.

^.Z^opoMot^m. An aliotropic form of palladium, hexagonal in crystallisation, forming small G-sided tables. Color, silver-white to pale 

steel-gray. Excessively rare.

.ZHcZoarmme (often called osmiridium). This is an alloy of iridium 

and osmium. The other metals of the platinum group are very subordinate, platinum itself being at most under 3 per cent. Ruthenium, 

however, which fails in platinum, may reach 8 per cent, and is usually 

present. Hexagonal, but almost always in flattened grains (see PI. V, 

vl). Hardness, G.7. Sp. gr., 18.8 to 21.12, being thus heavier than 

])latinum, but less heavy than platiniridium. Luster, metallic. Color, 

tin-white to steel-gray. Iridosmine is a minor associate of platinum, 

but is harder. Two varieties have been made, based on Siberian
16 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193."

occurrences, viz, newjanskite, with over 40 per cent iridium, and sisserskil/e, under 30 per cent iridium. No provision seems to have been 

made for percentages between 30 and 40, but none appear in analyses 

yet recorded. Sisserskite has a slightly higher specific gravity than 

newjanskite.

All the above minerals are alloys. There are but two definite natural 

compounds known of any metals of the platinum group with nonmetallic elements sperrylite and laurite.

/8pg?'M/Z^e. Arsenide of .platinum (PtAsg) with a little antimony 

and rhodium. Isometric, the octahedron and cube being commonest; 

the pentagonal dodecahedron, the rhombic dodecahedron, and the 

diploid are known (see PI. I, C). Hardness, 6, to 7. Sp. gr., 10.6. 

Luster, metallic. Color, tin-white, streak black. If slowly roasted 

in the open tube sperrylite gives a sublimate of arsenic trioxide and 

melts easily. Sperrylite is a very rare mineral and until recently has 

been known from only two localities western Ontario and North 

Carolina. Within the last year, however, investigations of the copper 

ores of the Rambler mine, Wyoming, by Professors Wells and Penfield, have shown minute crystals of sperrylite in the covellite which 

forms a considerable part of the oxidized zone of the mine. The 

platinum which has occasionally been found by assay in other ores 

may have been present as sperrylite.

JC/m.6MZe is an extremely rare sulphide of ruthenium with a minor 

amount of osmium. Isometric, in small cubo-octahedrous. Hardness, above 7. Sp. gr., 6.99., Luster, metallic. Color, dark ironblack; powder, dark gray. Brittle*. Known only from the platinum 

washings of Borneo.

CIIEMICAIL COMPOSITION OF NATIVE PLATINUM AND

IBIDO8MINE.

In the accompanying table have been collected analyses of 42 samples of platinum and 2 of platiniridium. They are arranged in order 

from, those highest in platinum to those lowest. "I-O" stands for 

iridosmine. In the diagram, fig. 1, a series of curves has been 

plotted, the percentages of platinum in the above analyses being used 

as abscissas. The percentages of the other metals are used as ordinates. Inasmuch as no definite chemical relation exists among the 

members of the alloys, the percentages rather than the molecular proportions have been employed. More or less of iridium and of osmium 

in some of the analyses is involved in the contained iridosmine. In a 

few cases, however, the two metals have been .determined and the presumption is that they were not combined in this individual mineral. 

Iridosmine is a very insoluble substance and is sometimes left as a 

residue during the solution of a nugget. Nearly all the percentages 

of osmium which are recorded indicate loss rather than actual determinations of the pure metal, although this has formed much the greater
CHEMICAL COMPOS

ON OF NATIVE PLAT

the 

ies:

t may besaid thathe following loca

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R

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R= Russia 

C' Colombi

C = Californ

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86 85 84 83 82 81 80 79 78 77 76 75 74 73 72 71 70 69 68 67 66 65 6

PIG. 1. Diagram illustrating the chemical composition of 
18 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. 

Table of analyses of platinum nuggets.

[BULL. 193.

/

Pt. .-.._ - .

Ir_. ...--'...

Rh ........

pa ..'..'A..

Os. -- ::.'. ~

Bu ........

1-0 ........

Au ........

Fe. ........

Cu ........

Mil.. ------

Total.

Pt. ........

Ir_. .. ------

Rh. .......

Pd.. .......

Os

Ru ........

1-0. .......

Au ........

Fe---.-....

Cu ........

Mn.. ......

Total.

Russia. 1. 

86.50

; 1.15

1.10

1.08

1.40

8.32

.45

100.00

Russia. 12. 

82.16

1.00

2.19

.25

Tr.

1.89

11.50

21

.80

100.00

Colombia. 2. 

86.20

.85

1.40

.50

.95

1.00

7.80

.60

.95

100.25

Russia. 13. 

81. 72

' 1.81

2.44

.30

Tr.

1.04

10.94

.95

.80

100.00

Colombia. 3. 

80. 16

1.09

2 16

.35

.97

1.19

8.03

.40

.10

101.17

Russia. 14. 

81. 34

2.42

2.14

.30

Tr.

.57

11.48

1.13

.62

100.00

4. Russia.

85.97

08

.96

.75

.54

2.10

6.54

.86

98.70

15. Russia.

80.87

.06

4.44

1.30

.11

10.92

2.30

100.00

California. 5. 

85.50

1.05

1.00

.60

1.10

.80

6.75

1.40

2.95

101.15

Colombia. 16. 

80.00

1.55

2.50

1.00

1.40

1.50

7.20

.05

4.35

100.15

6. Colombia.

84.34

2.52

3.13

1,66

.19

1.50

7.52

Tr.

.31

101.23

California. 17. 

79.85

4.20

.65

1.95

.05

4.95

.55

4.45

.75

2.60

100.00

7. Russia.

83.49

Tr.

3. 17

1.94

.93

8.98

1.49

100.00

a ffi

00

78.94

4.97

.86

.28

1.25

1.96

11.04

.70

100.00

8. Russia.

83.07

1.91

.59

.26

1.80

10. 79

1.30

99.72

19. Russia.

78.92

3.97

2.87

.24

Tr.

1.09

11.52

1.44

100.00

i><

is

<D

fc

OJ

82.81

.02

28

3.10

11.04

.39

20.. Russia.

78.38

5.32

2.79

.17

Tr.

.32

U 7"

.28

1.02

100.00

10. Borneo.

82.60

.66

3.80

.20

10.67

.13

98.36

d

3 

PS

5J

77.50

1.45

2.80

.85

2.30

2 35

9 CO

2.15

1.00

100.00

11. Russia.

82.46

1.21

2. 35

.23

Tr.

1.38

11.23

.64

.50

100.00

22. Russia.

77.14

5-10

2 74

22

Tr.

.98

12. 13

.34

1.35

100.00
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M C3 OS JO 

I-1 0 * OT

J^ tO * 'GC

' 8 fe S S

 M £

0 S 0 g

^ H- M 2

g g 5 S

CT 

t (-* 15 0

g S § 8 g

H o £s g 

' S g 3 fc

 w

| 5 § o &

! i cs o

34. Russia.

35. Russia.

36. Russia.

37. Russia.

38. Russia,

40. Australia.

42. Brazil.

44. Russia.

gSg£g

C.TSSS8'

55

-F00S8SS88

g 888s

wT

r^ a

,_, ^

to

Jgbii

t«s

i 1

CO

(f- ;:!
20 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

11. Russia. Nijni Tagilsk. Minchiu. As under 7.

12. Russia. Idem.

13. Russia. Idem. 

14 Russia. Idem.

15. Russia. G. Osanu. As under 8.

16. Colombia, El Choco. Deville and Debray. As under 2.

17. California. Deville and Debray. As under 2.

18. Russia, Nijni Tagilsk. Berzelius. As under 1.

19. Russia. Nijni Tagilsk. Minchin. As under 7.

20. Russia. Idem.

21. Russia. Deville and Debray. As ixnder 2.

22. Russia, Nijni Tagilsk. Minchin. As under 7.

23. Colombia, El Choco. Deville and Debray. As under 2.

24. California, Deville and Debray. As under 2.

25. Russia. Idem.

20. Russia. Goroblagodat. Minchin. As under 7.

27. New South Wales, Fifield. J. C. H. Mingaye. Records Geol. Survey, New South Wales, 

Vol. V, 1890-1898, p. 35.

28. Russia, Nijni Tagilsk. Minchiu. As under 7. 

29 Russia. Idem.

30. Russia, Nijni Tagilsk. Berzelius. As under 1.

31. Russia, Nijni Tagilsk. Minchin. As under 7.

32. Russia. Idem.

33. British Columbia, Tulameen River, G. C. Hoffman. Geol. Survey of Canada, II, 1886, Rep. I.

34. Russia. Nijni Tagilsk. Minchin. As under 7.

35. Russia. Idem.

36. Russia. Idem.

37. Russia. Idem.

38. Russia. Idem.

39. California. Kromayer. Archiv. Pharmacie, II, Vol. CX, p. 14 Jahresber. Cheiii. 1802, p. 707.

40. Australia (New South Wales?). Doville and Debray. As under 2.

41. Australia. Idem.

42. Brazil. L. F. Svanberg. As under 3.

43. Oregon. Deville and Debray. As under 2.

44. Russia. Nijni Tagilsk, Platiniridiuin. L. F. Svauberg. As under 3.

PERCENTAGE OF VARIOUS METALS CONTAINED IN SAMPLES ANALYZED.

When the analyses are studied it is evident that the platinum from 

certain localities has a characteristic chemical composition.

Platinum. The platinum varies from 86.50 to 51.45 per cent for 

platinum proper. One sample of platiiriridium has 19.64 and another 

has 55.44 per cent. Sixteen of the analyses contain 80 per cent platinum and above, twenty are between 70 and 80 per cent, and six are 

below 70 per cent, exclusive of the platiniridiuin. In the analyses 

of samples whose platinum falls below 63 per cent iridosmine is present in such amounts as to be the chief cause of the low percentage.

Iridium. Iridium varies from a trace to a maximum of 5.32 per 

cent (No. 20), but of course it rises much higher in platiniridium. __ In 

No. 44, which is based on the latter mineral, it reads 76.80 per cent. 

In those analyses which have recorded percentages of iridosmine the 

total indium would be higher if the specimens had been considered 

commercial samples, but, as has been stated, the iridosmine is probably a mechanical inclusion. The amount of the combined iridium 

seems to have no definite relation with the platinum.

Rhodium. Rhodium is not recorded in the sample from Borneo 

(No. 10), but it does appear in all the others. Its minimum percentage is 0.28 in No. 9, the sample coming from New York. Its maximum is 4.44 in No. 15, a Russian specimen. In the sample of platin-
KT3MP.J METALS CONTAINED IN SAMPLES ANALYZED.

iriclin.ni (No. 42) it reads 6.86. When the curve of the rhodium is 

plotted it exhibits some points of similarity with that of indium, but 

there are so many other marked contrasts that one can not trace a 

definite relation between them.

Palladium. Palladium is not recorded from Borneo, but it is invariably mentioned in all the other analyses. It ranges from a trace as 

a minimum to 1.95 per cent in No. 17, a California specimen, as a 

maximum.

Osmium. Osmium is not often specifically determined. As already 

stated, most of the figures cited as osmium mean simply loss. We can 

only say that it is usually present, but that, aside from inclusions of 

iridosmine, it is in small quantity.

Ruthenium. Ruthenium is not recorded in any analysis of platinum or platiniridium, but it does appear in iridosmine, as is shown by 

the second table of analyses.

Iridosmine. Iridosmine mechanically involved may be present in 

large amounts. Almost all the analyses show some, and the amount 

ranges from 0.11 as a minimum to 37.30 as a maximum. In platinum 

from North America and Australia it is mo re abundant than in the 

samples from Russia. The maximum of 37.30 was found in a sample 

from Oregon. It will be of interest to insert at this point a series of 

analyses of iridosmine itself, because they throw light upon the composition of this mineral as included in native platinum.

Analyses of iridosmine.

Ir ............

Os............

Pt. ...........

Rh ........... 

Pd ...........

Ru ...........

An......'.....

Pe.... .........

Cu ...........

Total.....

Russia. 1. 

77.20 

21

1.10

.50

.20

100

Colombia. 2. 

70. 40 

17.20

.10

12. 30

.......

100

Russia. 3. 

70. 30 

23.01

.41

4.72

.......

1.29

.21

100

Russia. 4. 

04. 50 

29.90

2.80

7. 50

.......

1.40

.90

100

Borneo. 5. 

58. 27 

38.94

. 15

2. 04

.......

100

.a"3

4J

to

(6

58. 13 

33.40

3.04

5.22

.15

100

Colombia. 7. 

57. 80 

35.10

. 03

0.37

.10-

.00

100. 00

 3 

COO 

co

55. 24 

27.32

10. OS

1.50 

Tr.

Tr.

Tr.

100

California. 9. 

53. 50 

43.40

2.00

.50

100

10. Russia.

40. 77 

4.9.34

3. 15

.......

.74

100

11. Russia.

43. 94

48. 85

.14

1 . 05

4. 08

.03

.11

100

Russia. 12. 

43.28 

40. 11

.02

5.73

8.49

.99

.78

100

NOTES TO TAIHjK.

1. Russia. Deville and Debray. Ammles Chem.et Phys., Ill, Vol. LVI, p. 449.

2. Colombia, El Choco. Idem.

3. Russia. Idem. Sp. gr. 20.5.

4. Russia. Idem. Sp. gr. 18.8.

5. Borneo. Idem.

0. Australia, undoubtedly New South Wales and from the Richmond or Clarence rivers. Idem.

7. Colombia, El Choco. Idem.

8. Russia. Nijui Tagilsk. Clans. Beitriige zur Chemie der Platiumetalle. Dorpat, 1854. Jahi*- 

esber. Chemie, 1855, pp. 423,444,814,905.

9. California. Deville and Debray. As under 1.

10. Russia. Berzelius, Poggendorff's Annalen, Vol. XXXII, 1833, p. 232. Sp. gr. 19.380-19.471, Ir.Os.

11. Russia. Deville and Debray. As under 1. Sp. gr. 20.4.

12. Russia. Idem. Sp. gr. 18.9.
22 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

The table of analyses brings out very clearly the fact that platinum 

is extremely subordinate in iridosinine, and may entirely fail. It varies 

from nothing through a general amount of less than 1 to 10.08 in No. 

8, a Russian sample, as a maximum. The iridium varies from 43.28 

as a minimum to 77.20 as a maximum. The osmium ranges from 

49.34 as a maximum to 17.20 as a minimum. These extreme values 

do not correspond exactly to the minimum and maximum values of 

iridium, but it may be stated that in general the low values of osmium 

accompany high values of iridium, and vice versa. Rhodium is present without exception, and reaches in No. 2, from Colombia, 12.30, as 

a maximum. These values are pretty well distributed between this 

amount and 0.50 as a minimum. Palladium, which is universally 

present in platinum, practically fails in iridosinine, while ruthenium, 

which fails in platinum, may be present in considerable amounts in 

iridosinine. No. 12, from Russia, contains 8.49 per cent. Gold fails 

entirely, and iron and copper are either entirely lacking or insignificant.

Gold. Gold is frequent in samples from California and Colombia, 

but in almost all cases it seems to fail in Russian material. When 

present, it varies from a minimum of 0.20, in No. 10, from Borneo, to 

1.50, in No. 16, from Colombia. Presumably, the gold cited in the 

analyses appears as an alloy, but gold is also known mechanically 

included with, or plated or welded upon the platinum, as will be more 

fully described under the minerals which are associated with the 

nuggets.

Iron. Iron is mentioned in all the analyses except No. 44, of a 

Russian sample of platiniridium. In platinum proper its minimum is 

4.30, in No. 43, from Oregon. This low percentage is accompanied by 

a high percentage of iridosmine 37.30. Another sample, No. 41,

from Australia, likewise contains but 4.30 of iron; and it has 25 per

cent iridosmine. The maximum values in iron are present in the 

samples with moderate percentages of platinum 69 to 76. The highest figure recorded is 18.93, No. 37, from Russia. As the amount 

of platinum increases, the iron tends to decrease, but the statements 

are based chiefly upon Russian material. The curve of iron in the 

diagram (fig. 1) is very significant. We need, however, for its true 

estimation, to bear in mind the geographical localities. If one fixes 

attention upon the Russian samples, whose points are marked with 

an R, it is evident that the iron increases quite regularly and uniformly from the richest nugget, with 86.50 platinum, to the one with 

68.95. Nearly all the points which have been plotted below this curve 

are based upon analyses from other localities. The iron in the specimens from Colombia is quite uniform, standing in nearly all cases 

between 7 and 8 per cent. The California samples likewise have 

comparatively small amounts.

Copper. Copper was absent or undetermined in No. 7, from Russia,
PLATE II

23
PLATE IT.

(A) Nugget of platinum, gold, and chromite, Colombia. X 20 diam.

(B) Nugget of platinum, gold, and dolomite or iuagnesite, Colombia. X 20 

diam.

(C) Platinum nugget with olivine and octahedral chromite, Tuiameen district, 

British Columbia. X 9 diam.

24
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN No.193 PL. I!
KBMP.] MINERALS ASSOCIATED WITH THE WUGGETS. 25

but it is otherwise invariably present. It ranges from a trace in No. 

6, from Colombia, to a maximum of 5.20 in No. 30, from Russia. It 

is usually less than 1 per cent, although, in looking through the table, 

a considerable number of analyses will be found above this figure.

Other metals. Manganese has been recorded in two cases, Nos. 3 

and 6, both from Colombia. The amounts, however, are small 0.10 

and 0.31, respectively. It probably appears in much the same relation 

as iron.' Lead has been recorded in one from Fifield, New South Wales, 

but only traces are mentioned. This is No. 27, although the lead is 

not given in the table. In No. 24, from California, 0.55 per cent lead 

is mentioned in the original citation with a query. Quicksilver has 

been recorded in one from California. It is No. 39, and 0.60 per cent 

is giA^en in the 'original. Nickel has been reported in platinum from 

Nijni Tagil.sk, by Ten-ell. In a sample containing 8.18 Fe, 0.75 Ni 

was detenuiried,"

MOTEBAiLS ASSOCIATED WITH THE NUGGETS.

It is necessary to discriminate between the minerals which actually 

form a part of the nuggets and those which are merely associated 

with them as components of the gravels. Under the former head 

chromite, divine, serpentine, pyroxene, mica, and gold have now been 

discovered.

Chromite. Chromite is much the commonest of all the foreign 

'minerals which are found attached to the nuggets. Its general relations with the platinum are illustrated by PI. II, A, B, and C, and 

PI. Ill, A and B. The nuggets from which the drawings of PI. Ill 

were made came from British Columbia. Those from which PI. II 

was prepared are from Russia, Colombia, and British Columbia. The 

platinum is intermingled with the chromite in such a way that sometimes one mineral and sometimes the other is the host, and there seems 

to be no question that the two minerals have crystallized together. 

Sometimes the chromite appears as little octahedrons perched upon the 

platinum. These are illustrated in PI. II, (7, a specimen from British 

Columbia. The British Columbia nuggets which contain platinum 

sometimes have a crumbly aspect, suggesting that Hie grains of chromite are held together by the platinum and have not traveled far. 

Nuggets with chromite have been observed in Colombia, Russia, 

British Columbia, and at Plattsburg, N. Y. Nevertheless, nuggets 

with attached chromite are not particularly common and appear as a 

small minority in the commercial samples. The chromite is always 

suggestive of a basic igneous rock as the source from which the nuggets have been derived.

Olivine. Olivine has been discovered upon a few nuggets from 

British Columbia. The illustration, PI. Ill, B, has been drawn from one 

of a number of thin sections which have been prepared by the writer.

. "Comptes reudus, Vol. LXXXII, 1870, p. 11.10.
2 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193

The olivine seems quite abundant upon the fresh nuggets, but when '< 

the thin sections are cut it is discovered that the core is platinum and ' 

that merely an outside shell of olivine grains adheres to it. The latter 

grind off with Jie greatest facility, so that it is very difficult to preserve 

them for microscopic examination. These attached olivi ties suggest in 

the strongest manner a peridotite as the source of the nuggets. Serpentine, quite certainly derived from olivine, has been observed upon 

a number of Russian specimens and is likewise suggestive of basic 

igneous rocks as the source of the metal.

Pyroxene. Upon one thin section of a nugget from British Columbia adhering crystals of pyroxene have been discovered by the writer. 

They are illustrated'by PI. Ill, C. The pyroxene appears to be 

common augite. It possesses the usual high extinction angle and the 

other normal optical properties. Pyroxenltes occur near the place of 

discovery of the nugget, and have probably been the mother rock.

Mica. Kokscharow has recorded one instance in the Urals in which 

a platinum scale was found embedded in a mica crystal. 11

Gold. ;Gold has been mentioned in connection with the analysis of 

platinum, and the remark was there made that the j^ellow metal was 

probably alloyed with the platinum in the cases cited. It does, however, occur either mechanically involved with the platinum or plated 

or welded to it, and in searching over a number of nuggets several 

have been found in which the gold formed an auxiliary mineral. They 

have been obtained chiefly from Colombian samples, and two small 

ones have been selected for illustration, as shown by PL II, A and B. 

PL II, S, is of special interest, as it shows gold, platinum, and 

dolomite or magnesite oh the same piece. The white mineral effervesces feebty with warm nitric acid. A number of others, which are 

small, have, however, likewise been studied. Some were obtained in 

British Columbia and some in Russia.

So far as known to the writer, no other minerals have been actually' 

found forming a part of the nuggets except iriclosmine. It is possible 

that magnetite may at times have been taken for chromite. The rusty 

crust on some nuggets may be a mineral not mentioned above.

Associated minerals in. the gravels. Minerals associated with the 

platinum nuggets are the familiar ones which have been so frequently 

studied in connection with the much more abundant gold-bearing 

placers. The commonest ones are gold, silver, copper, iridosmine, and 

other members of the platinum group, chromite, magnetite, rnenaccanite, garnet, zircon, rutile, small diamonds, topaz, quartz, cassiterite, 

pyrite, and epidote. Almost any mineral of high specific gravity which 

is commonly met in rocks may be expected to appeal1 in the pannings. 

Purchasers of platinum dust also occasionally meet bits of lead, which 

appear to be shot that have been fired from a gun. It is possible that 

they have gotten into the gravels after having been used by some 

hunter. It is at least charitable to attribute this source to the lead.

" Materialen zur Mineral ogie Busslauds, Vol. V, p. 371.
PLATE III.

27
PLATE III.

(A) Polished nugget of platinum and chromite, Tulameen River, British 

Columbia. X 10 diam.

(B) Thin section of nugget of platinum, chromite, and olivine, Tulameen River. 

X 14 diam.

(C) Thin section of nugget of platinum and pyroxene, Tulameen River. X 15 

diam.

28
U. S . GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN No.193 PL. Ill
PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. 29

PLATINUM IN COUNTRY ROCK.

The greatest interest has been felt by all familiar with the subject 

in the discovery of platinum iu the mother rock, and a number of 

observers have endeavored to trace the nuggets back to their sources. 

In four or five cases this has been accomplished.

Urals. The first person to succeed, or to believe that he succeeded, 

was Dr. Moritz von Engelhardt, who was professor of mineralogy in 

the University of Dorpat. In the early part of the preceding century 

it seems to have been a not infrequent custom among several of the 

European governments to commission a scientific man to travel 

with a view to investigating the mineralogical resources of some 

particular region. Gustav Rose's famous trip through the Urals 

and the Altai Mountains may be cited as an example. In a somewhat similar way Professor1 von Engelhardt was sent in 1826 by

his university to trace, if possible, the gold and platinum of the 

Urals to their sources. His results were published in a small 

pamphlet of 44 pages, in Riga, in 1828. :v Professor von Engelhardt 

studied the gold and platinum at Nijni Tagilsk and at Nijni Turinsk. 

On his return from Nijni Turinsk to Nijni Tagilsk he discovered, near 

the village of Laja and upon the bank of a neighboring brook, weathered porphyritic rocks which furnished superficial deposits A^ery similar to those in the platinum mines at Nijni Turinsk. Although they 

were deeply weathered, he was able finally to secure some specimens 

of fresh material. In his description he states that they exhibited a 

part that resembled greenstone and a part like syenite, consisting of 

hornblende and reddish white feldspar, with some imperfect crystals 

and rounded nests of individual feldspar. The outer surfaces of the 

bowlders and of the cracks were coated with brown ocher and black 

oxide of manganese, but toward the center the feldspar crystals became 

white and kaolinized. The larger nests of feldspar seemed like spheroids of feldspar-porphyry. The remaining finely crystalline base 

was a mixture of hornblende and feldspar and was brown and stained 

with iron. The binding 'material of the bowlders was feeble. It 

resembled brown jasper, or brown clay ironstone, and appeared in 

rounded grains and angular bits.

In places the rock was entirely black and full of fine pores. The 

outer portion could be knocked off in curving shells, so that the 

observer might imagine that he had a slag before him if it were not 

that the core made it possible for him to recognize the porphyry. By 

a careful examination of these specimens Professor von Engelhardt 

was enabled with a lens to discover in the fresh porphyry shining 

metallic points resembling the platinum which was washed from the 

sands at Nijni. Turinsk. These were submitted to a very careful

"This little work is not easily accessible in America, but a copy is now in the possession of 

the writer.
30 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

chemical investigation by his colleague, Professor Osauu, who separated a pair of the little grains and identified them as platinum. The 

grannies obtained from the "syenitic greenstone porphyry" were 

rounded, with little elevations and depressions. The depressions 

were largely stained black, while the elevations were tin white and 

strongly metallic. A few little grains, which were a mixture of gold 

and platinum, possessed a grayish yellow color. Each platinum grain 

was inclosed in limonite or brown ocher, which also coated the small 

pores even of the fresh rock. Dr. Engelhardt states that probably 

the numerous, larger pores of the weathered porphyry had likewise 

contained grains of platinum, which were freed when the rock fell 

to pieces. a This discovery is extremely interesting, because it indicates the presence of platinum in a feldspathic rock and not in a 

peridotite or serpentine, or in an especially basic type. In this connection a comparison with the results obtained by the writer in British 

Columbia will be of interest.

A few years after Professor von Engelhardt made his discovery, 

Gustav Rose visited Dorpat in connection with his famous trip" 

through the Urals. Rose records his great desire to discover platinum 

in the country rock and the interest which he felt in Dr. Engelhardt's 

investigations. He visited the locality and had no difficulty in collecting similar samples of rock, and, on his return through Dorpat 

he procured additional material from the same lot upon which Dr. 

Engelhardt had made his determinations. Rose was, however, unable to verify Engelhardt's discoveries and found no platinum in any 

specimen of the rock, b These results would indicate that the platinum is sparsely and irregularly distributed, an experience which has 

been met by others. Professor von Engelhardt's observations are so 

well fortified by chemical tests on the part of his colleague, Professor

Osann, that one would hesitate to question them.

Interest has been felt by geologists everywhere in the announcement that platinum had been again discovered within the last few 

years in the country rock of the Urals, but as the published descriptions have been in Russian they are not easily accessible to Englishspeaking people. In the sketch of platinum in .Russia which is 

subsequently given, a translation of the most important paper will 

be found. In this place it will be merely remarked that in a paper 

by Prof. A. Inostranzeff, read before the St. Petersburg Society of 

Naturalists in 1892, and entitled Primary Deposits of Platinum in 

the Urals, a description is given of the most recent discovery. Daubree had identified platinum by assay in bowlders of peridotite from 

the vicinity of Nijni Tagilsk in 1876. In the summer of 1892 Professor Inostranzeff visited this district and recognized the fact that

"Die Lagerstiltte des Goldes und Platin im Ural-Gebirge, by Moritz von Engelhardt, Riga, 

1828, pp. 30-31. 

l»Eeise nach derp Ural, etc., by Gustav Rose, Vol. I, p. 340.
KEMP.] PLATINUM IN COUNTRY ROCK. 31

the gravels containing the platinum had been derived from Soloviev 

Mountain, which was known to consist chiefly oil serpentine and 

peridotites. About that time the story spread that a laborer had 

been seen mining by himself. When he was finally located it was 

found that he had blasted into the rock of the mountain and had 

followed up a pocket some 35 cm. in diameter. The rock which had 

been mined appeals to be an altered olivine rock which has passed 

even beyond the stage of serpentine. It consists of chromic iron, 

serpentine, and dolomite, and seems to be somewhat shattered, 

because its pieces are cemented together by opaline silica. When 

this shattered and more or less decomposed rock was crushed and 

panned it yielded colors of platinum of an exceedingly fine character, 

but they were distinctly recognized. On assay of 500 grams of the 

crushed rock, taken in several samples, platinum was found to be 

present to an amount of 0.0107 per cent, or about 3 ounces to the ton. 

This platinum contained no iridium.

There is record of the presence of platinum in the gold-bearing 

quartz veins at Beresovsk, Russia. 11

Colombia. As early as 1826 Boussmgault announced in a letter uo 

Humboldt that he had obtained scales of platinum upon panning the 

ferruginous outcrop of a vein which occurred at Santa Rosa, near 

Medellin, province of Antioquia, Colombia. Further details are 

given in the subsequent description of platinum in Colombia. By 

a misunderstanding of t<he records this locality is sometimes mentioned as being in Brazil, as, for example, in Dana's Mineralogy.

Mexico. In 1875 Sandberger announced that he had detected platinum in some pseudomorphs of limonite after pyrite from an unre- 

'corde'd locality in Mexico. b

Brazil. In various papers on platinum the statement has been 

recorded that the metal has been discovered in place in Brazil. C. F. 

Hartt states, on page 448 of his Geology and Physical Geography of 

Brazil, that platinum is found in quartz veins which cut syenitic 

gneiss. The veins are called the Boa-Esperanga. Hartt also states, 

on page 542, that the gold of Gongo Seco, in the province of Minas 

Geraes, contains palladium, and in a footnote he states further that 

the gold of Brazil is always alloyed Avith silver and occasionally with 

platinum, and that it may contain iron. Iridium and iridosniine are 

found in the gold washings of Minas.

NOTE. Since this bulletin was written, the writer, with the cooperation of 

Dr. David T. Day and Mr. A. W. Johnston, has accumulated proof of the presence 

of platinum in pyrite and in quartz veins from several American localities. The 

notes are in preparation for publication.

"Phillips's Ore Deposits, 3d-edition, pp. 545-546. 

l>Neues Jahrbuch, 1875, p. C35.
32 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [HULL. 193.

Platinum, was observed and reported to be a constituent of copper 

ores very early in the nineteenth century. In the series of samples 

of tetrahedrite, or some mineral resembling it, which was sent from 

Guadalcanal, Spain, to Paris in 1806, the French chemist Vauquelin 

discovered platinum in amounts varying from a trace to as much as 

10 per cent. The ore came from veins, and the platinum no doubt 

was found in place. Additional details are given regarding the local 

geology in the notes upon platinum in Spain/1

France. Berthier and Becquerel have detected it in liinonite from 

the departments of Charente and Deux Sevres, France. b

A very interesting case of the occurrence of platinum in tetrahedrite and in bournonite in certain limestones of the western Alps has 

been described by E. Gneymard, 0 a French mining engineer, long a 

resident of the region. The platinum varied from nothing to amounts 

that could be weighed. The majority of. the samples, however, failed 

to afford it. (Details are subsequently given under "France,"p. 65.) 

The occurrence is of great interest, and, taken together with the results 

of Vauquelin and the known presence of platinum in the nickel-copper 

ores of Sudbury, makes it desirable to scrutinize this type of ore with 

great care. It is quite possible that in the past small amounts of platinum have been overlooked, which, with modern electrolytic methods 

of separation, could be profitably obtained, and there is reason to 

believe that occurrences of this sort are more promising for economic 

treatment than are those of native platinum sparsely distributed in 

otherwise barren rock. The failure of platinum to amalgamate makes 

its metallurgical recovery much more difficult than that of gold, and 

its extraction through the medium of copper furnishes one of the 

most promising lines of attack. d /

Germany. In this connection it is interesting to note its detection 

by Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg, in 1847, in the black sand 

which remained at the anode when copper sulphate was electroly tically 

treated. 0 Platinum has been discovered in amounts that admitted 

of separation in old silver coins which circulated in Germany and 

which had derived their silver from silver-copper ores. f

H. Kossler has described the methods of separating the platinum 

from the silver which was obtained from the mines at Commern and 

Mechernich. These famous ore bodies consist of beds of Lower 

Triassic sandstone, which are impregnated with nodules of galena or

"Vauqueliu, Annales de Chemie, Vol. LX, 1806, p. 317. Journal fur die Chenaie, Physik und 

Mineralogie, Vol. II, 4,1806, p. 094. Leonhard's Jahrbuch, Vol. II, p. 311.

t-Poggeudorffs Annalen, Vol. XXXI, 1834, p. 590.

cComptes rendus. Vol. XXEX, 1847, p. 814.

d It is interesting to observe that eight months after this paragraph was written platinum, in 

the form of included sperrylite, was announced in the ore of the Rambler Copper Mine, Wyoming (W. C. Knight, Eng. and Min. Jour., Dec.-28,1901, p. 845; Wells and Penfleld, Am. Jour. Sci., 

Feb., 1903, p. 95).

"Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Petersburg, Vol. VI, 1848, p. 129. Dingler's Poly tech. Journal, Vol. XXXV, 

1847, p. 100.

'M. Pettenkoffer, Poggendorff's Annalen, Vol. LXXIV, 1848, p. 316.
SPERRYLITE. 33

cerussite, and more rarely of copper carbonate. While the silver 

was probably derived from the galena, and while the platinum may 

have come from the same source, yet the subordinate presence of 

copper casts a little uncertainty over the original association of the 

platinum as "between it and the lead. a

Platinum in association or combination with galena has been 

reported several times. Details of such'an occurrence in France that 

could not be verified will be found under "France," p. 65. Another 

from Algiers has been reported, but further corroboration is desirable. 11 (Seep. 82.)

Pennsylvania. In 1852 Dr. F. A. Genth announced that he had 

detected platinum in the assay of a clay slate containing pyrite, chalcopyrite, and galena in Lancaster County, Pa. He likewise discovered traces of platinum and silver in ilmenite from a mica-schist in 

the same place. 0 In later years platinum has been detected by A. W.

Johnstoii in variable but sometimes considerable amounts, of which 

the details are given later, not far from Boyertown, along the border 

of Berks and Montgomery counties, Pa. The mother rock is a black 

Triassic shale. A black dioritic gneiss from eastern Pennsylvania 

lias afforded appreciable assays.

Arizona. Shales have been brought from Arizona, from some 

place in the vicinity of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, which 

on assay have yielded weighable amounts of platinum. (See under 

"Arizona," p. 51.)

Ontario. In 1888 F. L. Sperry noted small, shining, metallic crystals in the concentrates obtained from the Vermillion gold mine, a few 

miles west of Sudbury, Ontario, which was based upon a quartz 

vein cutting rusty diorite. When these crystals were investigated by 

Messrs. Wells and Penfield, of New Haven, they were found to be 

arsenide of platinum (PtAs2 ), the first compound of platinum with a 

nonmetallic substance which has been recognized. They named the 

mineral " sperrylite," and it has since been discovered in many of the 

nickel mines of Sudbury. It seems to favor the chalcopyrite rather 

than the pyrrhotite, but Clarke and Catlett have shown that the sulphide of iron and nickel, polydymite, likewise contains considerable 

proportions of platinum. These discoveries, therefore, revealed the 

presence of platinum in place and in association with ores which are 

usually regarded as of igneous origin, and which, are known to occur 

in basic igneous rocks. d Full descriptions, with citations of the 

literature bearing on the subject, will be found subsequently under 

"Canada,"p. 38.

» H. Rossler, Liebig's Annalen, Vol. CLXXX, 1876, p. 240.

» Comptes rendus, Vol. VII, 1838, p. 246.

°F. A. Genth, Pharm. Centralblatt, 1852, p. 72.

d Microscopic investigations now being made by one of the writer's students, Mr. C. W. Dicksou, upon Sudbury ores, cast much doubt upon the igneous origin of the sulphides, and indicate 

a replacement of ferromagnesian silicates.

Bull. 193 02 3
34 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

Wyoming. Platinum has been recently reported by W. C. Knight 

as a constituent of the copper ores, and more particularly of the covellite, of the Rambler copper mines, about 60 miles south of Laramie. 

Wells and Peufield have detected sperrylite in the covellite. a

New South Wales. In 1889 attention was directed to certain ferruginous materials resembling gossan which outcropped in the vicinity 

of Broken Hill, in the extreme western portion of New South Wales, 

Australia. When this ferruginous cap was assayed it was found to 

contain platinum, even up to several ounces per ton. The cappings 

are quite widely distributed in the region, and rest upon more or less 

altered metamorphic rocks, embracing gneisses, quartzites, and schists 

of Lower Silurian age. Shafts have been sunk to shallow depths, 

and have revealed the fact that iron greatly diminishes, and clays 

and kaolin come in, until unaltered rock is encountered. The clays 

also gave assays for platinum. It is thought by J. B. Jaquet that the 

iron caps are due to uprising springs, which have likewise introduced 

the platinum.

North Carolina. In 1898 it was announced that sperrylite had 

been discovered in North Carolina as early as 1894 by W. E. Hidden. 

Later on Messrs. Hidden and Pratt followed up the sperrylite and 

associated minerals, until they definitely located them in a ledge of 

rock upon the top of Mason Mountain, Macon County. The rock 

consists of garnet of the variety rhodolite, and of biotlte, together 

with considerable iron sulphides. Pannings of the surface soil yielded 

sperrylite.

British Columbia. In the summer of 1900 A. W. Johnston and the 

writer succeeded in demonstrating the presence of platinum in the peridotite of the Tulameen River, British Columbia, and in a neighboring granite. In the former the platinum favors asbestiform streaks,

which appear to be present along lines of faulting in the peridotite.

In the granite the platinum was discovered along a crushed belt 

which was richly stained with chlorite. More details are subsequently 

given under "British Columbia" (p. 38).

Resume. From this review of the discoveries which have been 

hitherto made it is evident that platinum is not exclusively limited 

to the olivine rocks, nor indeed to the igneous rocks and the placers, 

but that it does appear sometimes in veins with other metals, especially copper. It Avould follow that the platinum migrates in solution. 

It or its arsenide probably is soluble in some form of solutions which 

involves copper. Commercially speaking, however, the amount which 

has thus far been detected is small.

tt W. C. Knight, Eiig. and Min. Jour., Dec. 28, 1901; Wells and Penfield, Am. Jour. Sci., Feb., 

1902, p. 95.
KEMP.] PLATINUM IN COAL AND IN METEORITES. 35

PLATINUM IN AUSTRALIAN COAL.

A most extraordinary case has been recorded of the presence of the 

metals of the platinum group in the ash of certain Australian coals 

(exact locality not mentioned), along with vanadium. 1 The coal, as 

analyzed by Messrs. Thirkell & Co., of London, yielded the following:

Carbon ..... .............. 65.2

Hydrogen ...... ........... 4.6

Oxygen.................... 21.8

Nitrogen.................... 1.9

Sulphur.................... 3.8

Water at 100° C----------- 0.7

Ash....---..-....-.....--- 1.7

Total ................ 99.7

The ash yielded the results under No. 1. No. 2 is a second sample.

Total........................................................................

No. 1.

25.1

3.6

44.0

27.3

100.0

No. 2.

2.00

.23

5.10

. 91.77

100.00

This means in the original coal a little over 144 troy ounces of 

vanadium and 20f ounces of the platinum metals per long ton of 

coal, and makes the coal the richest crude platinum ore yet assayed. 1* 

No. 2 is an analysis of the ash of the coal in bulk. It implies only 

an eighth as much vanadium and a fifteenth as much of the platinum 

metals per ton of coal, if the ash were the same percentage of the 

coal as before; but its percentage is not given in the citation. The 

amounts of vanadium and platinum which are given in the citation 

are over 146 ounces of vanadium and more than 11 ounces of the platinum metals per ton of coal, which, if correct, would imply a highash coal.

Coals whose ash is rich in vanadium are known in Argentina and 

in Peru, but no mention of platinum has been made in connection 

with them.

PLATINUM IN METEORITES.

In January, 1899, John M. Davidson, of Rochester, N. Y., announced 

that he had identified platinum in two meteorites. Of the Coahuila 

meteorite, 608.6 grams were tested and yielded 0.014 gram of platinum. 

Of this, 0.0015 gram was insoluble and gave indications of iridium. 

Of the Toluca meteorite, 464 grams afforded a little platinum, with 

indications of iridium. 0 Palladium was earlier announced in an 

Italian meteorite/1

a Seventeenth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Part III, p. 282.

>'This would be 124 ounces of vanadium and 17g ounces of the platinum metals per short ton. 

"Platinum and iridium in meteoric iron, by John M. Davidson: Am. Jour. Sci., Jan., 1899, p. 4. 

«G. Troltarelli, Jour. Chemical Society, Vol. LX, 1891, p. 533.
36 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193

PLATINUM IN THE SUN.

Platinum has been detected by the spectroscope in the sun. a

GENERAL PAPERS ON PLATINUM.

BOLLMAN, Charles. The platinum group of metals: The Mineral Industry, Vol. I,

1893, p. 373. 

BREITHAUPT. On the varieties of native platinum: Poggendorff's Annaien, Vol.

VIII, 1826, p. 500. 

DAUBREE, A. Experiences sur 1'imitation artih'cielle du platine natif magnetipolaire: Comptes rendus, Vol. LXXX, 1875, p. 526. 

DEVILLE and DEBRAY. On the chemistry and metallurgy of the platinum group:

Annales China. Phys., 3d series, Vol. LVI, p. 449. 

FREMY, E. Nouvelles recherches sur les metaux qui accompagnent le platine

dans sa mine: Comptes rendus, Vol. XXXVIII, p. 1008. Erdmann's Jour. f.

prakt. Chern., Vol. LXII, p. 340. 

HOWE, James Lewis. Bibliography of the metals of the platinum group: Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, No. 1084. Washington, 1897. This is the

most complete work of reference on the platinum group of metals. 

MILLER, E. H. The assay of platinum: School of Mines Quarterly, Vol. XVII,

1895, p. 26. 

VOGT, J. H. L. On the processes of crystallization in eruptive rocks: Zeitsch. f.

prakt. G-eologie, July, 1893, pp. 267-268; October, 1894, p. 397.

REVIEW OF LOCALITIES WHERE METALS OF THE PLATINUM GROUP HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED.

NORTH AMERICA. 

CANADA.

QUEBEC.

About the middle of the last century there was considerable interest in the gold-bearing placers which had been discovered along the 

south bank of the St. Lawrence River in what is known as the Eastern Townships of Quebec. A few minute scales and grains of platinum and iridosmine were noted by T. S. Hunt in the gold of the 

Riviere du Loup. It is also stated that these minerals are likewise 

found with the gold of the Riviere des Plantes. b

The source of this platinum has not been discovered, but it is well 

known to geologists that serpentine occurs along the border between 

Quebec and Vermont and New Hampshire. It is possible, however, 

that it may lie too far to the west to have furnished the nuggets. The 

glacial drift, moreover, casts some uncertainty over the exact source. 

Here reference may be made to the nugget which was found at Plattsburg, N. Y., regarding which a note is subsequently made under New 

York (p. 57).

»J. N. Lockyer, Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond., Vol. XXVII, 1878, p. 279; Hutchins and Hplden, Proc. 

Am. Acad. Sci., Vol. XXIII, 1887, p. 14; Am. Jour. Sci., Vol. XXXIV, 1887, p. 451. 

b T. S. Hunt, Geol. Survey Canada, 1851-52, p. 120.
ONTARIO. 37

ONTARIO.

In 1889 the announcement was made by Messrs. Wells and Penfield that they had identified the arsenide of platinum. (PtAs2 ) as a 

natural mineral. It had been collected by Mr. F. L. Sperry from the 

heavy concentrates of a gold ore taken from the Vermillion mine, 

which is situated a few miles west of Sudbury, in the western part of 

Ontario. At this mine there is a quartz vein carrying gold, which 

cuts across a belt of dioritic rock containing chalcopyrite and nickelbearing pyrrhotite.

Professor Wells named the new mineral sperrylite, after its discoverer. The greatest interest was felt by all scientific people in this 

discovery, because sperrylite is the first and only natural, compound 

of platinum with a nonmetallic substance which has been found. 

Since the first announcement it has been recognized that sperrylite or

some other form of platinum is generally present in the nickel-copper 

ores of the Sudbury region. Small traces of the platinum metals have 

been detected in the mattes and in the nickel oxide furnished by 

these mines. Clarke and Catlett have likewise shown by assay 

that platinum is present in polydymite, a nickel-iron sulphide 

which occurs in the mines. The observations, however, of T. S. 

Walker have indicated that the home of the sperrylite is in the chalcopyrite rather than in the pyrrhotite, because when the surface 

decomposition products of the Vermillion ore body were panned by 

him he obtained in the heavy residues sperrylite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, and other iron-nickel sulphides. On careful examination 

sperrylite was observed embedded in the chalcopyrite, but not in the 

pyrrhotite. Mr. Walker also states that, while traces of the platinum 

metals occur in all the Sudbury mines, the richest assays are obtained 

from those whose yield is high in copper, and that very little appears 

in those which are poor in this metal. It is a curious fact that the 

analyses of the sperrylite do not indicate the presence of indium, 

although this metal is found in the assays of the ores. It must therefore be present in them in some other form than sperrylite.

In the nickel-copper mattes which are exported there is about 1 troy 

ounce of platinum to each 1,000 pounds avoirdupois of nickel. Palladium is also present to an amount of about 2 ounces palladium to 

each 3 ounces of platinum. a

It is well known to all who are familiar with the literature of ore 

deposits that the nickel-copper ores of Sudbury occur along the 

outer edges of igneous intrusions which seem to have been originally 

norites. Where associated with the ores, however, the rocks are 

now diorites, the pyroxene having been changed to hornblende.

Nearly all observers who have visited the mines have reached the 

conclusion that the ores are of igneous origin and that they were

" The Mineral Industry, Vol. VII, 1898, p. 569.
38 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

brought into their present position with the igneous rock in which 

they occur. As regards the platinum, these views coincide with the 

belief that in its original home this metal most frequently occurs in 

association with olivine as a true igneous mineral in the peridotites, 

even.though no olivine has ever been found in the Sudbury noritediorite. But it is only fair to state that some authorities, notably 

F. Posepny and S. F. Emmons, have felt that there were objections 

to the view that the Sudbury ores were of igneous origin. In the 

citations below a list of papers bearing upon the platinum is given, 

and besides these a few others upon the general geology of the nickelr 

copper ores. a For the general geology of the Sudbury district, see the 

Geological Survey of Canada, New Series, Vol. V, Part I, Report F.

Attention may at this point be directed to the occurrence of sperrylite in North Carolina, which is subsequently described (p. 59).

In connection with a careful chemical and geological investigation 

of certain magnetic iron ores from eastern Ontario, F. J. Pope made 

some careful assays for platinum. As certain of these ores w^ere 

igneous in their origin and were derived from basic rocks, some hope 

was entertained that traces of platinum might be discovered in them. 

None, however, were found. b

BRITISH COLUMBIA.

Platinum has been obtained in commercial quantities in connection 

with the gold washings of southwestern British Columbia, and this' 

source has proved to be the most productive of all thus far developed 

upon the North American Continent. When the California washings began to fall off, the 'gold seekers penetrated the mountains of 

the northwest, and much interest was felt in British Columbia as. 

early as 1861. Some prospecting was done on the Sirnilkarneen River. 

The Similkameen forks into two branches at the town of Princeton, 

which lies about 30 or 40 miles north of the international boundary 

on the east side of the Cascade Mountains. In the early days these 

two branches were called the South and North forks, but later the 

North Fork received the name Tulaineen. The gold washings in 

1861 and subsequent years were not extensively developed, although 

from time to time parties of Chinese worked them. Almost from the 

start it was recognized that platinum occurred with the gold, but not

"Clarke, F. W., and Catlett, Charles. A platiniferous nickel ore from Canada: Bull. U. S. 

Geol.Survey No.(i4,p.21. Am. Jour.Sci., 3d series, Vol.XXXVII, p.372. ,

Emmens, S. H. The Mineral Industry, Vol. 1,1892, p. 377.

Foullon, H. B. von. Ueber einige Nickelerzvorkommen: Jahrbuch d: k. k. geol. Reichsaustalt, 

1892,Vol.XLIIp.301.

Gamier, J. Mines du nickel, cuivre, e't platine du district de Sudbury: Memoires de la 

Soci6te des Ingenieurs Civile, Paris, March, 1891.

Merritt, W. H. Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., Vol. XXIV., p. 755.

Penfield, S. L. Crystalline form of sperrylite: Am. Jour. Sci., 1889, p. 71.

Walker, T. L. Notes on sperrylite: Am. Jour. Sci., Feb., 1896, p. 110.

Wells, H.L. Sperrylite, anew mineral: Am. Joiir.Sci., Jan., 1889, p.67.

t> Investigation of magnetic iron ores from eastern Ontario, by F. J. Pope: Trans. Am. InstMin. Eng., Vol. XXIX, p. 402.
U. S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN No.193 PL.IV

GEOLOGICAL MAP OF THE TULAMKEN PLATINUM REGION,BRITISH COLUMBIA

BY

J.F.KEMP 

Scale

LEGEND

Vblcajiics

a

Lator Miocene 

Rhyotite and basal t.

Green schist

| pe |

Peridotite

Earlier Miocene Fyroxeni le -syenite

1 i /* r 6 i

L 1 Boundaries approximately accurate Glacial striae r'r'anite 

Rhvolite and 

diabase
KEMP.] BRITISH COLUMBIA. 39

until fifteen or sixteen years later was it saved. The accompanying 

map, PI. IV, will serve to give the reader the geographical location of 

the district, and the later geological description will make clear the 

relations of the platinum. a In 1885 gold was observed in the gravels 

of Granite Creek, a tributary of the Tulameen, some 12 miles above 

its junction with the Similkameen.

Prospectors rushed into the district and washed the gravels not 

only of this creek but of the old bars on the Tulameen which had 

received attention as early as 1862. For several years the activity 

was considerable, and as much as $383,000 worth of gold is accredited 

to Granite Creek from 1885 to 1888. It had been recognized in 1862 

that the gravels of the Tulameen yielded pay as far as Eagle Creek, 

which enters the Tulameen from the north, about 12 miles above 

Granite Creek, and during the later gold washing the richest platinum ground was found to begin at Eagle Creek and to extend downstream. Platinum also bore a high proportion to gold in Slate Creek, 

a tributary which enters the Tulameen from the south, about 8 miles 

above Granite Creek. The platinum in instances attained a ratio of 

1:3 as compared with the gold. From these upper waters of the Tulameen, beginning at Eagle Creek and passing downstream, the relative 

amount of platinum gradually decreases, and while it is found in 

Granite Creek and in all the other placers of the drainage system of 

the Tulameen and Similkameen rivers, it nevertheless decreases in 

amount with the distance from Eagle Creek and the headwaters of the 

Slate. Printed descriptions of the geology of this district are few. 

Dr. George M. Dawson visited it in 1887, and as a result of his trip 

gave some valuable notes upon the mineral resources as well as the 

local geology in bhe report of the Canadian Geological Survey for 

1887-88, Part R. Much light is also cast upon the local geology by the 

very valuable work of Dr. George M. Dawson upon the Kamloops map 

sheet, which lies about 50 miles to the north. h Some further notes 

upon the resources of the district will be found in a recent paper by 

W. J. Waterman. 0 A scale map with an outline geological section 

is given. During the summer of 1900 the writer spent nearly three 

months in the district investigating the geology of platinum along 

the Tulameen, and through the courtesy of the S. S. White Dental 

Manufacturing Company is permitted to contribute the following 

results:

As regards platinum, the area of chief interest is in the valley of 

Slate Creek and along the Tulameen River, below Eagle Creek. As

ft Reference to the early discoveries on the Similkameen will be found in the reports of the Canadian Geological Survey, 1862, p. 127; 1877-78, pp. C3B and 156B.

 > Report en the geology of the Kamloops map sheet, by George M. Dawson: Geol. Survey of 

Canada, Vol. VII, Part B. The present writer is much indebted to the late Dr. Dawson for personal advice.'

c Economic geology in the Similkameen district, by W. J..Waterman: British Columbia Mining Record, Vancouver, November, 1900. p. 411. A few notes at aii earlier date are given by J. T 

Donald in Engineering and Mining Journal, March 19,1892, p. 387.
40 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

will be seen by the accompanying map, which is roughly accurate for 

this region, a great dike of peridotite crosses the Tulameen at its junction with Eagle Creek, and extends in a general direction a little west 

of north as a huge mountain ridge. It runs to the south, reaching into 

the headwaters of Slate Creek, and constituting the highest summit of 

this divide. For convenience of reference the writer has called this 

summit Mount Olivine. Although the exposures are nearly all concealed by heavy sands and gravels in the upper waters of Slate Creek, 

the peridotite does not seem to extend farther in this direction, but 

it is cut off by a rock called pyroxenite on the map (PL IV). It is a 

curious fact that the pyroxenite also borders the peridotite on the east 

and likewise on the west, south of the Tulameen. To the southeast, 

however, the pyroxenite shades into syenitic varieties, which contain 

very considerable proportions of unstriated feldspar. Just above 

Eagle Creek, and on the northwest bank of the Tulameen, a small 

area of schists and quartzites more or less penetrated by dikes of 

porphyries is met. The relations of these rocks are obscure. Still 

farther to the west the whole country for a long distance consists of 

granite, and the granite has been again observed at the headwaters of 

Boulder Creek on the north. It presumably swings around from 

Fish Lake to Boulder Creek, and constitutes the intervening country 

at the headwaters of Bear Creek. The same granite appears along 

both shores of Otter Lake, and is therefore a very important member 

of the local geology on the northern and western side of the Tulameen. The pyroxenite is succeeded on the east by enormous masses 

of volcanic rocks of a general andesitic character, which appear to be 

the same as Dawson's Earlier Miocene volcanics, as described in the 

report on the Kamloops sheet. These volcanics are the most extensive formation in this central a,ea, and they serve to conceal the 

older rocks. They have been somewhat compressed and sheared, and 

have evidently passed through fairly severe metamorphism. In the 

upper waters of the north fork of Granite Creek basalts and what 

appeared to be rhyolite were observed, which lack this metamorphism 

and which seem to correspond to Dawson's Later Miocene volcanics. 

At some point on the headwaters of Cedar Creek coals have recently 

been located, which are probably of Miocene age, corresponding to 

the Tranquille beds of Dawson. They have, however, been so altered 

as to possess coking properties. The writer observed Miocene float 

to the south of this region, but did not visit the coal exposures. 

On the southwestern border of the pyroxenite, at the headwaters of 

Slate Creek, a belt of green schists appears, which extends for several 

miles along the headwaters of Champion Creek. The actual contact 

of the pyroxenite and the schist is visible in the mountain region just 

to the west of the source of Slate Creek, but the two are so mashed 

together that it was impossible to determine which is the older. No 

contact metamorphism could be observed in the schist, and the writer
PLATE Y.

41
PLATE V.

(A) Iridosmine, Slatonsk. Urals. X 35 diam.

(B) Peridotite containing olivine and chrornite, Tulameeu River, British 

Columbia. X 70 diam. -

(C) Serpentimzed peridotite, Tulaineen River. X 70 diam.

42
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 193 PL. V

 HE MERIDEM GRAVURE CO.
K«MP.] BEITISH COLUMBIA. 43

was unable to decide whether it is later or earlier than the pyroxenite. 

Several dikes of later eruptive rocks have penetrated all these older 

forms, and, as they show but slight traces of metamorphism, they are 

probably later than the Earlier Miocene volcanics. They are chiefly 

rhyolites or quartz-porphyries, but to the northeast of Lodestone 

Mountain and near the old Brigade trail a large dike of diabase was 

observed. This whole region has been extensively glaciated. Striae 

were noted in two cases, one of which was along the Tulameen just, 

above Eagle Creek, where the direction of the valley is somewhat east 

of north. The striations follow the trend of the valley and may have 

been influenced by it. A number of others were observed upon the 

summit of Lodestone Mountain, where the topography must have 

had less influence. They were closely parallel, however, to the 

previous ones.

An extensive and complex series of terraces may be also observed 

along the streams, and it is evident that the region has undergone a 

number of elevations and depressions in Pleistocene time. Along 

the Tulameen there is an almost continuous bench, of which now 

only stumps remain, and at Granite Creek post-office a number can 

be recognized up to 200 or 300 feet above the river. Opposite the 

mouth of Slate Creek a bench, which is washed in the hydraulic works 

of Alexander Swan, reaches an altitude by aneroid above the Tulameen of 330 feet. It causes Slate Creek to turn to the west and to 

enter the Tulameen in a direction against the current of the latter. 

The terrace evidently buries an old outlet of Slate Creek, which has 

been partially exposed by the hydraulic operations., A similar high 

bench of gravels has turned Champion Creek westward. It is possible that the presence of ice in the valley of the Tulameen is responsible for the deposition of these bars. Similar phenomena are not 

found on the north side. It may be added that the valley of the 

Tulameen and its branch creeks is a very narrow and steep one, and 

the topography gives every evidence of recent development. In its 

general character this entire country, as has been well set forth by 

Dr. George M. Dawson, is a plateau which has been deeply dissected 

by the present streams. The drainage-has not been so long in operation as to smooth off the divides. The banks are yet so steep as to 

make zigzag trails a necessity.

The/rbcks which are of chief interest in connection with the platinum are the peridotite, the pyroxenite, and the granite. All petrogi-aphic details will be particularly limited to these.

MINERALOGY OP THE NUGGETS.

A careful "search through large quantities of Tulameen platinum 

has revealed a considerable number of nuggets which contain chromite. A few have particles of olivine still adhering to them, and before 

the examination in the field was taken up it was expected that 

olivine rocks would be found in the region, although in Dr. Dawson's
44 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

reconnaissance none were found, and the statement was made in his 

report that apparently none existed. It maybe added that since the 

writer's return a nugget has likewise been discovered with adhering 

pyroxene, as has been stated on page 26. This association, as well as 

that with chromite and with olivine, is illustrated on PI. III. When, 

however, the country was carefully observed along the upper waters 

of Slate Creek it was at once discovered that the great dike of peridb- 

. tite, with its flanking pyroxenite, was present.

JPeridotite. The peridotite is an extremely interesting rock. It is 

of the variety dunite, and contains, so far as the writer's observations 

have gone, no other minerals than olivine and chromite. Some secondary serpentine and some amianthus can be found, and occasionally a 

little pyrite; but in its fresh condition the rock appears to be practically 

pure olivine, with occasionally a little chromite. PI. V, A and J5, 

will serve to illustrate, it, and the following analysis, made in the 

 laboratory of the United States Geological Survey by W. F. Hillebrand, indicates its composition:

Analysis of peridotite (variety dunite) from Eagle Creek, British Columbia.

SiO2 ..................... 38.40

A12O3 .................... .29

Fe2O3 -------------------- 3.42

FeO...................... 6.69

MgO-... ................ 45.23

CaO-----.... ...--- - .35

Na2O,K2O................. .08

H2O-1100 ................ .24

H2O+110°................ 4.11

CO2 .__.- ...__.....__ ..- 1.10

P206 ................. - Tr.

S .............. ......... .06

C 2O8 ----- ----------- - 07

NiO ..................... .10

MnO..................... .24

Total ............... 100.38

If, we neglect the A1203 , Na20, K3O, H8O-110°, S, CraO3 , NiO, 

and MnO, and assume that the 4.11 H20 is in serpentine, this analysis 

yields the following percentages of minerals:

Magnetite....-.....---..... ..........-.--.-.-...---.........-... 4.90

Serpentine..... ....-........-..-..----.-..-----..-..... .-..- 31.49

Olivine........................_..^............................ 61.22

Calcite ......................................................... 0.63

Magnesite.................................................... 1.58

Total.................................................. 99.82

, This result is undoubtedly very close to the truth. 

The mass of the peridotite is occasionally traversed by veins of 

fibrous serpentine or amianthus, which appear to have been produced 

from the peridotite itself along lines of minor dislocation. The fibers 

of the serpentine run perpendicularly to the walls, as is the common 

case in such bodies of rock, and through the mass of the fibers grains 

of chromite are at times distributed in recognizable lines. These veins 

of serpentine become rusty on exposure and yield a bright red or 

brown decomposition product, which at once attracts the eye of a trav-
PLATE VI.
PLATE VI.

(A) Pyroxenite, Tulameeh River. British Columbia, x 70 diam. 

(5) Augite-syenite: augite. orthoclase. and magnetite, Tulameen River. X 70 

diam.

(C) Serpentinized peridotite, Mount SolOviev, Urals. X 70 diam.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 193 PL. VI

-HE MERIDEN GRAVURE CO.
KEMP.] BRITISH COLUMBIA. . 47

el or or prospector. Occasionally the peridotite becomes a dense black 

serpentine, especially in the vicinity of the dislocations. Shining 

specks of chrornite appear through the dark-green mass. Every 

endeavor was made by the writer to discover in the midst of the peridotite a mass of chromite of large extent, but except for bunches the 

size of the fist or at times still larger, and for certain minor streaks 

and veinlets, the search was unsuccessful. Great masses of the rock 

appeared with no chromite at all except in microscopic form. 

 Pyroxenite; augite-syenite. The pyroxenite is a black, rather 

coarsely crystalline rock, which, in typical cases when examined with 

the microscope and as shown in PI. VI, A, contains practically 

nothing else than common green augite. It has sometimes been subject to geological deformation, and has then developed secondary hornblende, and in a few cases a little original brown hornblende has been 

observed. Magnetite is not infrequent, and at Lodestone Mountain

it becomes a prominent feature in the rock.. It occurs, however, richly 

distributed through the pyroxenite and not in large, pure segregations. 

In the upper waters of Slate Creek and in the headwaters of the North 

Fork of Granite Creek and of Newton Creek much feldspar enters the 

pyroxenite, changing it to an augite-syenite (PL VI, B). When 

examined microscopically all the samples of this rock which were 

obtained indicated nnstriated feldspar, and therefore orthoclase, as 

the prevailing component. This was a matter of surprise, because in 

the field it was thought that the rock would certainly prove to be a 

gabbro or a diorite. On the contrary, it is a very basic syenite, and 

it therefore furnishes some interesting parallels with the rocks in the 

platinum region of the Urals. The discovery of pyroxene upon one 

of the platinum nuggets, and, so far as known, the entire absence of 

pyroxene in the peridotite, as well as the absence of olivine in the 

pyroxenite, make it probable that the platinum has been derived from 

both of these rocks. The pyroxenite is clearly a later rock than the 

peridotite, because on Mount Olivine (which name, as earlier stated, 

has been given to the high peak where the peridotite reaches its maximum elevation just south of the mouth of Eagle Creek) tongues and 

dikes of pyroxenite were found penetrating the peridotite, and on the 

slope of Mount Olivine toward the Tulameen dikes of pyroxenite in 

peridotite can .likewise be observed. It is possible that the syenite is 

a separate intrusion from the pyroxenite, but no evidence of this was 

met, and it seemed more probable, from such relations as could be 

discovered, that they shade into each other.

MOTHER BOCK OF THE PLATINUM.

In the endeavor to trace the platinum back to its original location 

in the mother rocks, it was evident after a brief survey of the ground 

that to be of economic importance it must-occur in some special form 

of the peridotite or pyroxenite. Mountainous masses of these rocks
48 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

could not, in the nature of the case, be systematically sampled and 

assayed. The abundance of chromite in the nuggets would lead one to 

search first of all for masses of chromite, and secondly one would wish 

to test every other peculiar type of rock. These latter were practically 

the veins of serpentine and the dikes of pyroxenite in the peridotite. 

Incidentally, too, a number of assays were made of the typical country 

rocks, of the basic dikes, such as diabase, and of the varieties rich in 

magnetite from Lodestone Mountain. As has been already stated, no 

deposits of chromite of large size could be found. Assays, of the serpentine veins have yielded in a number of cases platinum in amounts 

varying from a trace to nearly 2 ounces to the ton, but more extended 

sampling did not indicate a sufficiently even distribution of the platinum to justify exploitation. Assays of the older pyroxenite from 

lines of dislocation and from Lodestone Mountain, where the contained magnetite is abundant, failed to give other than very small 

traces or nothing whatever. A most careful search was made over 

the talus slopes and the exposed ledges in the endeavor to discover 

platinum in place, and hundreds of hand specimens in which chromite 

was especially abundant have been examined with the lens. In no 

case could a nugget be found. But it is fair to state that, when in 

small bits, chromite yields a shining fracture that is very difficult to 

distinguish from platinum itself, and while the writer was in no case 

able to assure himself, even by microscopic examination, that platinum was present, it is possible that very small scales of it were overlooked. Masses of rock rich in chromite were cobbed in several cases 

and were crushed and panned, but even in the concentrates it was 

not certain that platinum was present. Assays, however, did indicate it. The conclusion is therefore inevitable that the platinum, as 

a rule, is in excessively fine scales and that the large nuggets are rare.

It requires the concentration, in the processes of weathering, of an

enormous mass of rock in order to yield the gravels. The drainage 

system in British Columbia is comparatively young, and no such 

amount of rock has been exposed to concentration as lias been the 

case in the old and long eroded region of the Urals. Probably from 

this cause the amount of the gravels as well as of the available platinum is less in British Columbia than in Russia.

Rumors are current along the Tulameen that platinum had been 

discovered in former years near the mouth of Siwash Creek, which 

enters the Tulameen about 3 miles above Eagle Creek; Accordingly, 

a trip was made to this locality with a view of testing the report. 

The trail crosses Siwash Creek half a mile or more above its junction 

with the Tulameen and at an elevation of 200 or 300 feet above the latter. Below the ford Siwash Creek flows in a deep and narrow gorge, 

with numerous cascades, all due to the sheeting of the granite. In 

several places not far below the trail lines of dislocation are evident. 

One crosses the Siwash at right angles to its line of flow and has
KEMP.] BRITISH COLUMBIA. 49

changed the granite to a more or less decomposed mass over a width 

of 15 to 20 feet. The granite is stained green by chlorite. Assays 

of this material indicated a trace of platinum. At the first high 

cascade, a short distance below, the creek flows in a gutter caused 

by a belt of schistose rock, the schistosity appearing to be the 

result of excessive shearing in the granite. Samples of this material 

yielded good qualitative tests for platinum, although not enough to 

weigh. The identification of platinum in a rock of this character is 

extremely interesting, because it is a highly acidic eruptive and in 

strong contrast with the olivine and pyroxene rocks with which platinum is especially identified. The granite at Siwash Creek consists 

of quartz, orthoclase, plagioclase, biotite, and a little epidote. It is a 

typical granite, and except for the manifest effects of crushing does 

not deserve detailed description. Whether the platinum has been 

introduced in solution along lines of dislocation or whether it was an 

original mineral in the igneous rock can not be stated. No assays 

have been made of the unaltered material, and, so far as is known to 

the writer, its presence is limited to the lines of dislocation. The 

granite along Siwash Creek is also penetrated by a number of narrow 

dikes of diabase, but so far as known these are barren of platinum.

The following table gives the results of about 35 assays. Where 

trace is given it means a coloration test.

Tabulation of assays of platinum-bearing rocks from the Tulameen district,

British Columbia.

Kind of rock.

Banded zone of fibrous serpentine in peridotite. 

Do......... ........... ....................

Do........................................

Do...........................'..... . ........

Do........ .......................... .......

Do.........................................

Do.. ....i ........... ............. ..........

Do.........................................

Do...... ............ .-. - .. ....

Do.. ................................... ....

Do.........................................

Do...... ........................... ........

Do......................... .............

Do..........................................

Do ........................................

Do .........................................

Ounces per 

ton.

.25 

Tr.

.25

.125

.5

.25

125

Remarks.

Rusty ; poor in chromite.

Do.

Do.

Bowlder.

in peridotifce.

quartz-porphyry dike.

line of displacement.

Bull. 193-
50 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

Tabulation of assays of platinum-bearing rocks from the Tulameen district, 

British Columbia Continued.

Kind of rock.

Serpentinized peridotite ....................

Do....--...-..-.--.---.....-...... .... .

Do..... .................. ................

Do .._.................... _ 

Do. .. ....-.. ...... ...............

Ounces per 

ton.

Pn in f ft*

.125

125

Remarks.

The early placer washings and the two or three later hydraulic 

plants were all operated upon the gravels above the levels of the main 

creeks or in the shallow waters where bed rock was .not deeply buried. 

Some later projected enterprises are based on dredging the Tulameen, 

but they have not yet assumed visible shape.

An analysis of the Tulameen platinum was made by Dr. G. Chr. 

Hoffinann, chemist of the Geological Survey of Canada. a The sample 

weighed originally 18.266 grams. Of this, 17.894 was platinum and 

the rest rock matter magnetite, a little pyrite, and a few flakes of 

gold. Sp. gr. of platinum, 16.686. The platinum was separated into 

a magnetic part, 37.88 percent, and a nonmagnetic part, 62.12 per

cent. These were analyzed separately, and then the total analysis 

was computed, as follows:

Analysis of platinum from the Tulameen River, British Columbia.

Pt.-.- -.-- .- ...- - .-.- --- -..-.- -. --..

Pd. --.-.. .-..----.- ....-....-- --.. .............

Rh ....,... ............ ...... ..... ............. .............

Ir...... ................. ...... ...... ....... .......................

Cu.. ..... ...... . ...... ...... .... ....... ....... .-. ......

Fe... ..........-.. ... ......... .. .............. ......

Magnetic.

78.43

0.09

1.70

1 04.

3.89

9.78

3.77

1.27

99.97

Nonmagnetic.

68.19

0.36

3.10

1 21

3.09

7.87

14.62

1.95

100.29

Total.

72.07

0.19

2.57

1.14

3.39

8.59

10.51

1.69

100.15

Nonmagnetic, sp. gr. 17.017; magnetic, sp. gr. 16.095.

'Report of the Survey, Vol. II, 1886, Part T. Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada, Vol. V, 1887, p. 17.
KEMP.J UNITED STATES. . 51

Iii each case some of the grains contained chroniite. It is evident 

that iridosinine is relatively high in tlie nonmagnetic portion and 

that iron is the same in the magnetic portion. Dr. Hoffmaim has 

announced the occurrence of platinum in the black sand of Rock 

Creek, a tributary of the Kettle River, Osoyoos division, Yale district. 11 Platinum has also been met in small quantities at Lilooet and 

elsewhere in the drainage of the Fraser River.

ALBERTA.

.Dr. Hoffniaim has detected platinum in sands from near Edmonton, 

on the North Saskatchewan River. b

NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

Platinum has been reported in the black sands which have been 

obtained from the Yukon off the month of the Teslin and the 

Lewes rivers. The amounts are stated to be considerable. Forty 

cubic feet of sand are said to have yielded 12 pounds of concentrates, 

which contained platinum at the rate of 90 ounces to the ton. This 

means about two-fifths of an ounce to a yard of gravel. 0

UNITED STATES. 

ARIZONA.

Specimens of a shaly rock have been sent to the East from some 

locality near Williams, Arizona, which have yielded assays for platinum. The clays in Cataract Canyon, a branch of the Grand Canyon, 

are also said to contain platinum.

CALIFORNIA AND OREGON.

As soon as the gold washings were developed in California, in 1849, 

scientific interest was attracted to the small accessory minerals which 

occurred with the colors. The presence of platiniridium was early 

announced by R. M. Patterson, of the Philadelphia mint,'1 and subsequently platinum, itself was discovered in a great many places. 

The most productive deposits are in Trinity County, along the Trinity 

River, 3 to 4 miles below Junction City, but the annual product 

amounts to only a few ounces. Platinum and iridosmine have also 

been found in the beach gravels at Port Orford, which is in Oregon, 

some distance north of the California line. Some interest has been felt 

in saving these minerals, but they are excessively fine and the quantity

"Report Qeol. Survey Canada, Vol. VI, Part R, p. 9.

bldem, Vol. V, Part R.

o Q. S. Consular Reports, Vol. LIX, 1899, p. 507. The Teslin River is here called the Hootalinqua. The Mineral Industry, Vol. VII, p. 5G9.

(1 The earliest announcement of platinum from California known to the writer is by R. M. Patterson, Ueber die Beschaffenheit und das Vorkommen des Goldes, Platins, und der Diamanten in 

den Vereinigten Stuaten: Zeitschr. Deutsch. geol. gesell., Berlin, Vol. II. 1850, p. 61. The paper 

is a translation of a portion of a letter which was addressed to the American Secretary of State 

by Mr. Patterson, of the Philadelphia mint.
52 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BU^- 193.

is not great. They occur along the coast at other localities near this 

point. Further details will be found in the subsequent citations. The 

platinum resources of California have been very carefully investigated 

by D. T. Day, who has published a paper a summarizing and tabulating 

the results of many tests. Dr. Day's results are herewith quoted in 

full.

As early as 1852 Prof. W. P. Blakeh called attention to the existence of platinum 

at Port Orford, on the Oregon coast, and noted that the platinum equaled from 10 

to 80 per cent of the gold. This article seems to be the original source of the statement that the proportion of platinum to gold increases northward. B. Silliman, 0 

in his mineralogic notes on California, etc., extended our knowledge to the occurrence of platinum in the older deep placers, worked by the hydraulic process in 

Butte County. He also notes the occurrence of iridosmine with the platinum. 

Meanwhile T. Sterry Hunt had found platinum and iridosmine on the Riviere du 

Loup, Quebec, Canada, in 1851.

The various notes concerning the finding of platinum on the Pacific coast have 

been well summarized in the publications of the California State mineralogist, and 

show that platinum has been found at many places on the Pacific beach from as 

far south as San Bernardino County northward to the mouth of the Columbia. 

Indefinite reports have been made of its occurrence farther north, on the Washington beach, but its amount is certainly not great. The principal beaches where 

platinum has been reported, beginning at the south, are: Santa Barbara, Lompoc, 

the beaches of San Luis Obispo County, Santa Cruz, and occasionally between 

Santa Cruz and the Golden Gate. In accordance with Blake's- statement, the richest beaches are farther north, in Humboldt and Del Norte counties. The beach 

mines cf Gold Bluff, north of Arcata, Big Lagoon, Stone Lagoon, Little River, 

Crescent City, California, and Gold Beach and Port Orford, in Coos County. Oregon, 

have all yielded platinum in commercially appreciable quantities. Still farther 

north platinum is found at Yaquina Beach, Oregon, but the sands there are poor. 

Port Orford has proved, perhaps, the 1 richest beach.

Sharpless and Winchell have made an unusually careful examination of the 

sands at Bandon, on the Oregon beach. They almost invariably found platinum, 

but the proportion was not so encouraging as less careful workers had estimated. 

All this beach platinum is discouragingly fine and difficult to save.

Most of the platinum product has come from inland diggings, where the grains 

are comparatively coarse. It has become well known in the placers of the American River, and in Plumas, Shasta, Trinity, and Siskiyou counties, California. 

The Bee Gum district in Shasta County, the Hay Fork district in Trinity County, 

and the deposits along the Trinity from Chapman's mine, south of Junction City, 

northward to beyond North Fork, are most promising.

Conditions of occurrence. Though platinum metals are so frequently found in 

many of the gold placers of the region including Trinity, Shasta, and Siskiyou 

counties, their occurrence in this region is by no means universal. There seems, 

for example, to be no platinum in the Weaverville placers on the Trinity. The 

platinum -bearing placers confirm the accepted idea that the platinum originates 

in the serpentine rock in which this region abounds; for the platinum-bearing 

gravels are sure to be closely associated with some'prominent serpentine ridge. 

Nevertheless, no platinum has yet been found in place within the area named.

A hurried trip through this region enabled the writer to learn, by the analytical 

aid of Dr. Waldron Shapleigh, that in the Bee Gum district of Shasta County, at

» Trans. Am. lust. Min. Eng., February, 1900, Vol. XXX. p. 702. 

b Am. Jour. Sci., 2d series, Vol. XVIII, p. 150, and Vol. XXII, p. 8. 

"Am. Jour. Sci., 3d series, Vol. VI, p. 132.
KEMP.] UNITED STATES. 53

Hay Fork, and at Chapman's mine, on the Trinity, osmiridium makes up perhaps 

the greater part of the mixture of platinum metals. At Chapman's mine Colonel 

Barrows obtained 30 ounces of small nuggets averaging one-third inch in diameter, 

apparently altogether too hard for platinum, and yet considerably coarser than is 

usual for osmiridium, which has the habit of occurring in very small scales. Dr. 

Shapleigh has shown that these nuggets yield a small amount of platinum on 

treatment with aqua regia, and then fall apart into the ordinary scales of osmiridium. He has found, also, that the Pacific beach platinum often contains more 

than 90 per cent of osmiridium. This explains the fact that little effort has been 

made to mine the platinum, for until recently the osmiridium has had practically 

no value.

At the time of my visit platinum was noticed also in the placers near Grants 

Pass, Oregon, and by examining numerous samples of black sands traces of platinum were found in the Snake River from Bakersville to Lewiston, and in a sand 

reported to come from Miles City, Montana."

In examining the well-known platinum localities on Q-ranite Creek, near its 

junction with Tulameen Fork, in British Columbia, it was estimated that the 

placers contained about one-fifth as much platinum as gold. I could get DO test 

for osmium, but Dr. Hoffmann, of the Canadian geological survey, has found 

samples of platinum yielding as high as 25 per cent, and on the average about 10 

per cent, of osmiridium.

In further search for the platinum metals, the writer collected heavy sands from 

placer mines in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. 

These samples averaged 4 pounds in weight. The sand was first separated by 

ordinary assay sieves into about nine sizes: Coarser than 20-mesh; through 20,40, 

60, 80,100, 120, 160, and then 200 mesh. Each size was then in good condition for 

easy separation of the highly magnetic portion by a rude form of separator. By 

limiting the magnetic separation to the highly magnetic particles, very little gold 

or platinum was removed with the magnetic portions, as the panning of these portions proved.

By panning each size and then counting (or weighing, where the amount was 

considerable") the flakes of gold and platinum a fair idea of the proportion of platinum to gold could be gained. As the sieving was^carried to such uniform sizes, 

it was possible, by counting weighed amounts, to estimate the unit weights of 

flakes of the different sizes, and thus to approximate, roughly, the total weight of 

gold and platinum obtained.

The results are shown in Table I.

In addition to the sands mentioned above, about 25 ounces of Klondike gold 

dust was examined, and only a grain or two, probably of platinum, was found.

A number of concentrates collected by Mr. A. H. Brooks, of the United States 

Geological Survey, from the Tanana Eiver district, in Alaska, and also the beach 

sands brought from Cape Nome by Mr. Brooks and Mr. Schrader, showed no 

platinum.

"Dr. P. W. Traphagen confirms this find of platinum at Miles City, Montana. The concentrated sand examined by him contained 10 per cent of platinum.
54 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. 

TABLE I. Pan tests of platinum-bearing gold sands.

[BULL. 193.

Post-office and State.

Weight

of 

sample,

Value of

platinum

metals

per ton.

Percentage of 

platinum 

to gold.

CALIFORNIA.

Crescent City, Del Norte County................................... 80

Smith River, Del Norte County................................... 23

Crescent City, Del Norte County (South Fork Smith River).... 62

Trinity Center, Trinity County ............................_._ 35

Burnt Ranch, Trinity County ................. .................. 45

Weaverville,Trinity County ...................................... 20

Big Bar,Trinity County .......................................... 40

Junction City,Trinity County.................................... 49

Hawkina Bar, Trinity. County .................................... 63

Randsburg, Kern County............................1............. 50

Wilson Creek, Humboldt County.............-..........:........ ' 45

Big Lagoon, Humboldt County ............._........._........ 60

China Flat, Humboldt County.............................._.... 25

Orleans,Humboldt County........................................ 36

Hamburg,Siskiyou County ....... ..................._....... 20

Do............................................................... 55

Sawyers Bar, Siskiyou County ..................... ............. 79

Oak Bar,Siskiyou County ......................................... 123

Fort Jones, Siskiyou County ...................................... 51

Sawyers Bar, Siskiyou County .................................... 45

Klarnath River, Siskiyou County.---......-....--.---............ 63

Rock Ranch, Siskiyou County ................................... . 29

Callahan,Siskiyou County .............:.......................... 58

Hornbrook,Siskiyou County ...................................... 19

Callahan,Siskiyou County ........................................ 25

Scott River,Siskiyou County .............................'......... 9

Happy Camp,Siskiyou County.................................... 48

Cecil ville, Siskiyou County ......................................... 20

Do .............................................................. 14j

Walker, Siskiyou County ............ .............................. 37

ShastaRiver,Siskiyou County..................................... 30

Klamath River, Siskiyou County.................. ................ 30

Gottville, Siskiyou County .................. ...... ..:......... .... 20

Camptonville, Yuba County ....................................... 37

Do..-.....................:.................................... 50

Quincy, Plumas County.................................:.......... 40

Laporte, Plumas County .........;................................ 50

Butte "Valley, Plumas County ..................................... 35

Do........... .................................................. 30

Slate Creek, Sierra County ........................................ 40

Gibsonville, Sierra County ........................................ 50

Do............................................................... 20

Chico,Butte County ............................................... 40

Magalia, Butte County............................................. 60

Inskip,Butte County ............... ...... .................. 20

Brownsville,Butte County .................... ...- ..--..... 30

Michigan Bluff,Placer County .............. .................... 56

Do................................................................ 59

Grizzly Flats,Eldorado County................................... 40

Smith Flat, Eldorado County......'................................ 40

Railroad Flat, Calaveras County .........-........-...------.--.- 50

$0.04

0.54

681.31

0.28

13.09

0

3.75 

1934.18 

4.05 

0

0.02 

0

177.08 

6.87 

0 

.86

2.39

0.54

0.07

' 0.07

2.40

0.51

7.02

0.18

0

1.83

50.97

2.01

0.15

0

0

0

0

.32

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

5.46

0.30

0

0

.34

0.19

0

0

0

17

6.8

2.230

79

104

0

11

34

0

8

0

138

50

0

280

31

12

3

51

26

134

06

0

0 

0 

0 

0 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0

0 ' 

8.4 

1.2 

0 

0 

1 

.1 

0 

0 

0
UNITED STATES. 55

TABLE I. Pan tests of platinum-bearing gold sands Continued.

Post-office and State.

CALIFORNIA continued.

OKEGON.

Denmark, Curry County: 

No. 1...... .......................................................

No. 2............................................................

No. 3............................ .................................

No. 4. .................................... .........I... .........

No..5............................................................

No. C... ............................. ........................

No. 7............................................................

No. 8.... ........................................................

No. 9....... ....................................................

. No. 10......................'...'................-...-....... ......

NO. n............ ............................... ................

IDAHO.

MONTANA.

ALASKA.

Weight 

of 

sample, 

in 

ounces.

84

03J

25

4!)j

AAi

50j

48*

4.71

fa

50

574

53

50

52

118

CO

50

GO

50

100

Value of 

platinum 

metals 

per ton.

80.02

0.06

1.08

.0(5

0

.15

.24

.25

.32

0

.21

.03

0

.01

.06

0

0

0

0

0

Percentage of 

platinum 

to gold.

.2

.008

300

20

0

18

10

60 '121

20

50

3.6

0

12

8

0

0

0

0

0

The total results above reported show that if ;ill the sands examined were considered together, there would be about halt' as much of the platinum metals as of 

gold.

With regard to the percentage of platinum in the sands from various parts of 

the Pacific coast, Dr. Shapleigh has furnished the following table:

TABLE II. Percentage of platinum in sands from Pacific coast.

Locality.

Bee Gum district, Shasta County, Gal . . .

Hay Fork district, Trinity County, Cal. .

Crescent City, Del Norte County, Cal. ..

Metals. Highest 

per cent.

20

84.

73

58

27

80

11

83

47

83

Lowest 

per cent.

13.5

70

30

18

15

72

8

46

15

23

The "other platinum metals" include iridium, osmium, ruthenium, rhodium, 

and palladium.
56 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

The platinum from California is characteristically low in iron and 

at times quite high in copper and indium. It may also contain much 

iridosmine mechanically involved in the nuggets. In some of these 

respects it presents a contrast with the metal from Russia.

The following analyses have been collected from various sources:

Analyses of platinum from the Pacific Coast.

Pt. .............. '.. ............

Ir. .....-.. ..................

Eh .............................

Pd..-. .......... ............

Os. ..................... .......

Ru ............................

Au .............. ... -..-.,.

Fe. _------.-.. ..........

Cu.. ............. ...........

Sand ..........................

Pb. ............................

Hg ............................

Total.... ................

1

85.50

1.05

1

.60

.80

G.75

1.40

1.10

2.95

101.15

2

79.85

4.20

.65

.95

.05

.55

4.45

.75

4.95

2.60

100

3

76.50

.85

1.95

1.30

1 25

1.20

6.10

1 25

7.55

1 50

.55?

100

4

63.30

.70

1.80

.10

.30

6.40

4.25

22 55

.60

100

5

53.50

2.60

43.40

.50

100

6 >

57.45

.40

.65

.15

.85

4.30

2.15

37.30

3

100.25

7

57.75

3.10

2.45

25

.81

6.79

.20

27.65

99

NOTES TO TABLE.

Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 are taken from the valuable paper by Deville and Debray in the Annales 

de Chimie et de Physique, Vol. LVI, 1&59, pp. 449-481.

No. 4 is from Kromayer, Archiv Pharrnacie, ii, Vol. CX, 14; Jahresberichte, 1862, p. 707.

No. 7 is by F. Weil, and was originally published in Armeugand's Genie Industrielle, May, 1859, 

p. 262. See also Dingler's Polyt. Jahrbuch, Vol. CLIII, p. 41; Neues Jahrb.. 1860, p. 354.

PAPERS REIfERRTNG TO PLATINUM IN CALIFORNIA AND OREGON.

The following references to the occurrence of platinum, in California 

will be found'of interest:

CALIFORNIA, Annual Reports of the State Mineralogist, as follows: Vol. IV, 1884, 

pp. 309, 311 (on iridium, see p. 231); Vol. VIII, p. 217, for Humboldt County; 

p. 584, for SisMyou County; Vol. IX, p. 717, for Trinity County; Vol. XII, p. 

408, for Trinity County.

DAY, D. T.. Notes on the occurrence of platinum in North America: Transactions 

American Institute Mining Engineers, Vol. XXX, p. 702, February, 1900.

GENTH, F. A., On a probably new element with iridosmine and platinum from 

California: Proceedings Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, December, 

1852, p. 209. American Journal of Science, March, 1853, p. 246. Dr. Genth 

does not mention the exact locality from which he obtained the sample. He 

notes the presence of sisserskite, IrOs4 , in six-sided scales, and some platiniridium and native platinum. On analysis the platinum yielded Pt. and Pd. 

90.24, Ir. and Rh. 2.42, Fe. 6.66, and sisserskite 0.68.

SILLIMAN, B., American Journal of Science, 3d series, Vol. VI, p. 132.

On platinum in Oregon the following will be of interest:

BLAKE, W. P., American Journal of Science, 2d series. Vol. XVIII, p. 156. Professor Blake states that in the placer gold of Port Orford, on Cape Blanco, 

there is as much as 10 to 30 per cent of platinum which in earlier years was 

discarded.
KEMP.J UNITED STATES. 57

COLORADO.

A number of reports have been current of discoveries of platinum 

in Colorado, and the writer lias seen several samples and the results 

of assays, but in no case were exact localities recorded. One sample 

resembles a black hornfels and probably came from a contact zone of 

eruptives on shale or slate. It was permeated by films of pyrrhotite. 

It resembled closely a similar rock which was said to have come from 

the Lake Superior region and which was circulated among geologists 

and consumers of platinum ten to fifteen years ago. !V

GEORGIA.

Platinum has b en reported from Lnrapkin County, Ga., but the 

writer has been unable to obtain details of its geological relations. 1'

IDAHO.

Platinum has been discovered in the gold-bearing sands of the

Snake River from Bakersville to Lewistoti, along the western border 

of the State. 0

MONTANA.

Platinum has been reported from the Ar icinity of Miles City. d

NEW YORK.

A remarkable nugget of platinum was found about 1880 in the 

glacial drift near Plattsburg, N". Y. In course of time it came into 

the possession of Prof. Peter Collier, who submitted it to a careful 

mineralogical and chemical examination. The nugget consisted of 

metallic platinum and chromite in the proportions of 46 per cent of 

the former and 54 per cent of the latter. It measured 4 by 3 by 2^ 

cm. It weighed 104.4 grams. Its specific gravity was 10.446. The 

specific gravity of the separated platinum was 17.34. The nugget was 

slightly magnetic. After the chromite had been mechanically separated from this metallic portion, the latter was soluble all but 0.74 

per cent. An analysis of the platinum yielded the following result:

Analysis of platinum from nugget found in glacial drift near Plattsburg, N. Y.

Pt.......................................................... 82.814

Ir _.....___..._....._....__.....---.._.........,........... .627

Eh............................ ............. .............. .286

Pd .................... ..................... .............. 3.105

Fe........ ................I..---------.-.......-... ._.-- 11.040

Cu ......................................................... .397

Ai2oa ...................................:...........:........ 1.953

Cab..:. ..................................................... .069

MgO ............................ ......................... .030

Total................................................. 100.321

 Compare note on the Rambler mine, Wyoming, p. 34.

b Charles Bullman, The Mineral Industry, Vol. I, p. 375.

°D. T. Day, Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., Vol. XXX, p. 705, February, 1900.

d D. T. Day, idem, p. 705.
58 'PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

Some osmium was also present, but was not determined on account 

of the difficulty of the analysis. The gangue was mostly chromite 

and on analysis yielded the following:

Analysis of gangue of same platinum nugget.

Cr2Os ...... ..-------.-------.-..-......-.......... ........... 54.944

FeO. ... -........ ..__-_...._.__.___ _._....____._. ........ 31.567

A18OB .. ----..-..-..-..- '.-...._....-....-....,....-.-..... 5.690

SiO"..'.............. ..... ............................ .--. 3.731

CaO.--,.- .................................................. 3.405

MgO ........................................................ .941

Total.............. .................................. 100.278

It is evident from these results that chromite is the chief component 

and it is possible that in it a little alumina may have replaced some 

of the chromic oxide. There remains uncombined, therefore, silica, 

lime, some alumina, and probably a little magnesia, although it is 

also possible that some, or even all, of the magnesia may have replaced 

a portion of the ferrous oxide of the chromite. Pyroxene would be 

the most natural mineral which would embrace the remaining uncombined elements.*

As this nugget was found in the glacial drift it has clearly been 

brought in from the north. The glacial striations near Plattsburg 

have been reported by H. P. Gushing to run from S. 15° E. to S. 15° 

W. and to be influenced by the local topography. Farther, south the 

writer has noted them in the valley of the lake, as well as back in the 

mountains, to be S. 60° W. as a rule. A southwesterly movement of 

the ice sheet would have brought glacial material to Plattsburg from 

the great areas of serpentine which occur in Quebec north of Vermont 

and which are commercially productive of chromite. There seems 

little reason, therefore, to doubt that the nugget has been derived 

from this source, but as yet no platinum has been announced in the 

serpentine region.

NORTH CAROLINA.

In 1847 C. U. Shepard announced the discovery of platinum in a 

small sample of concentrates, which had been saved by Mr. T. J. 

Clingrnan, of Asheville, N. C., from gold washings in the northern 

part of Rutherford County. The platinum nugget weighed 2.541 

grains, and had a specific gravity of 18. This, if authentic, was the 

earliest discovery of platinum in the United States, but the metal 

must be extremely rare in the region, because no further records of 

its occurrence in the metallic state have been made. North Carolina 

is rich in areas of serpentine and basic igneous rocks. b Prof. F. P.

"A remarkable nugget of platinum, by Peter Collier: Am. Jour. Sci., 3d series, Vol. Ill, p. 123.

b Native platinum in North Carolina, by C. U. Shepard: Am. Jour. Sci., 2d series, Vol. IV. p. 

280. See also Minerals and mineral localities of North Carolina, by P. A. Genth: Vol. II of 

Geol. of N. C., p. 12. Two other localities are given, and palladium is also reported.
KEMP.] UNITED STATES. 59

Venable, however, after a careful examination of the evidence has 

decided that th3 discovery was probably not authentic. a

 After the discovery of sperrylite in the Sudbury region of Ontario, 

great interest was felt by all geologists in locating it in other places. 

In 1894 Mr. W. E. Hidden observed it in the pannings of gravels 

taken from the Ned Wilson branch, Coler Fork of Cowee Creek, 

Macon County, N. C. The quantity was small, and the announcement was not published until 1898, when more was found in connection with the mining of rhodolite, a variety of garnet of gem grade. 

Messrs. Hidden and Pratt subsequently traced the rhodolites to their 

parent rock, which proved to be a ledge on the top of Mason Mountain. The rock consists of rhodolite, biotite, and considerable iron 

sulphides. In pannings of some of the loose decomposition products taken from the surface of the ledge, crystals of sperrylite were 

discovered. This rare arsenide of platinum has therefore been found

in place in North Carolina. 11

PENNSYLVANIA.

In 1852 Dr. F. A. Genth detected platinum in a clay slate from 

Lanciister County, Pa. The slate contained chalcopyrite and galena, 

and when 300 grams were fused with oxide of lead and black flux 

they yielded a button which, on being cupelled, was found to contain 

from 0.0005 to 0.0014 per cent silver, gold, and platinum. Some 

iridium was likewise identified in a qualitative way. Ilmenite from 

the same general locality afforded tests for silver and platinum. 0

Platinum has also been detected by assay in a black shale which 

occurs east of Boyertown and near the little village of Sassamansville. 

The locality is not far from the line between Montgomery and Berks 

counties. Although some tests afforded amounts sufficient to weigh, 

the distribution is too irregular and variable to warrant mining.'1 A 

vein from this vicinity containing quartz, pyrites, and oxidized lead 

minerals yielded one-half ounce per ton of platinum and either gold 

or palladium.

A pyritous d ioritic gneiss from the Archean areas of Pennsylvania, 

locality not definitely known, has given assays from one-half ounce 

to over 2 ounces to the ton.

MEXICO.

Platinum has been reported from the Las Yedras mine, Sinaloa, 

but the writer has been unable to discover further particulars on 

record. 0 In a brief note on an interesting series of specimens from a

».Tour. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc., Vol. VIII, pt. 2,1892. See also W. E. Hidden, Am. Jour. Sci., 

Vol. XXII, 1881, p. 25.

i»Occurrence of sperrylite in North Carolina, by W. E. Hidden: Am. Jour. Sci.,November, 

1898, p. 381. See also same for April, 1898, p. 294, and for December, 1898, p. 467.

cF. A. Genth, Pharm. Centralblatt, 1852, p. 72.

d Information kindly furnished by A. W. Johnston.

o Charles Bullmann, The Mineral Industry, Vol. I, p. 375.
00 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

quicksilver mine whose locality is not given, F. Sandberger has 

stated that with the ores he found some pseudomorphs of limonite 

after pyrites, which on assay yielded weighable amounts of platinum. a

CENTRAL AMERICA. 

HONDURAS.

Platinum has been reported from Choloteca and Gracias, but 

further particulars are not available. h

WEST INDIES. 

SANTO DOMINGO.

Very early in the history of platinum grains were, brought from 

Santo Domingo, probably in connection Avith the endeavors of the 

French to acquire possession of the island. The grains were obtained 

from the gold washings of the Yaqui River (or, as it is also spelled 

in foreign articles, Jacky, or Jacki, or lacki). The Yaqui rises in the 

central part of the Republic and flows northwest into the sea near the 

boundary with Haiti. The French chemist, Vauquelin, submitted some 

of the grains to chemical examination in 1810. He first dissolved off 

a ferruginous crust, which gave a yellow solution with hydrochloric 

acid. In this way 0.3 gram was lost in a total of 36.7. On solution 

in aqua regia a residue of 0.8 gram was obtained, consisting of little 

black needles, with some quartz and a black sand. The needles were 

considered iridium and the black grains chromite. Qualitative 

examination yielded tests for copper, iron, chromium, osmium, iridium, rhodium, and palladium. M. Vauquelin believed that titanium 

was also present, but he obtained no test for gold. c

SOUTH AMERICA. 

BRAZIL.

Platinum was observed at a very early date in the gold washings 

of Brazil. In the valuable description of this great country by C. F. 

Hartt it is specifically recorded as being found in several places in 

the province of Minas Geraes. The localities are chiefly in the basin 

of the Rio das Velhas, in the southern central part of this State. 

The country rock is described by Hartt as a syenitic gneiss which is 

cut by quartz veins. In the Boa Esperanga veins platinum is said to 

be present, and at Gongo Seco, 20 miles east of Morro Velho, the gold is 

said to contain palladium. Hartt remarks in general that the gold of 

Brazil is always alloyed with silver and occasionally with platinum.

iNeues Jahrbuch fur Mineral., 1875, p. 625.

>> Charles Bullmann. The Mineral Industry, Vol. I, p. 375.

cL. N. Vauquelin, Analyse du platine trpuve a Saint-Domingue: Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Vol. XV, 1810, p. 317. Compare also Quyton de Morveau, Annales de Chemie, 

Vol. LXXIII, 1810, p. 334. A. Vogel, Platinerz von San Domingo: Jour. Cheru. Soc. London, Vol. 

XXVII, 1874, p. 196.
KKMP.] BEAZIL. 61

It may likewise contain iron. Iridinm and iridosnriiie occur in the gold 

washings of Minas. This reported occurrence of platinum in veins 

is an exceedingly interesting and important one, and corroborates in 

a general way the statements already made for several other places. 

Additional citations by liartt are reproduced below, but the original 

sources have not been accessible to the writer. A peculiar variety 

of gold, known as "ouro preto," is obtained in this region. It was 

formerly collected in considerable quantity, but now only the poorest 

laborers pay attention to it. A sample obtained from O. A. Derby 

was analyzed in 1882 by W. H. Seamon, who gives the composition as 

follows:

Analysis of ouro preto from Brazil.

Gold. ..--.--............ -.- --- -..- .... 91.06

Palladium...................... ...... .'._... - . 8.21

Silver...........:.. ._.. .- . . .... Trace.

iron.......................................................... Trace.

Total.................................................... 99.27

Specific gravity, 15.73.

The iron was regarded as a mechanical adherent. When calculated the formula is PdAu6 . Berzelius, in 1835, published a similar 

analysis from Porpez. This variety was called porpezite.

Analysis of porpezite from Brazil.

Gold ........................... ......................... 85.98

Palladium................................................... 9.85

Silver.................. .............................. ........ 4.17

Total.....'................-...-.....,.................... 100.00

The geological relations of the peculiar gold-palladium alloy have 

been described by Johnson and Lampadius, as follows: The alloy 

occurs in beds of a rock, called by tho natives zacotinga (or jacotinga), 

which is an aggregate of specular hematite, mica, quartz, and pyrolusite. This is the itabirite of the European writer?. The rock is 

crushed and washed. 11

a Berzelius, Neues Jahrbuch fur Mineral.,.1835, p. 184. J. Cloud, Palladium in Brazilian gold: 

Poggendorf's Annalen, Vol. XXXVI, 1810, p. 3JO. C. F. Hartt, Geology aud physical geography 

of Brazil, pp. 448, 542. Johnson and Lampadius, Journal fiir prakt. Chemie, Vol. X, 1837, p. 501. 

See,also, on the rock, Housserand Claraz, Zeit. Deutsch. geol. Gesell., Vol. XI, 1859, p. 448. Lampadius and Plattner, Ueber das gemeinschaftliche Vorkomuien des Platinerzes und des gediegen 

Silbergoldes in eiuem Gangfosstte aus Brazilien: Jour, technische Chenlie, Vol. XVIII, 1833, p. 

453. (Not accessible to J. P. K.) W. H. Seamon, Analysis of native palladium gold from Taguaril,near Subara, Minas Geraes, Brazil: Chemical News, Vol. XLVI, 1882, p. 216. Williamson, 

Geology of the Parahyba Gnld Region: Trans. Geol. Soc. Manchester, England, Vol. VI, 1866, 

p. 113. W. H. Wollaston, On platina and native palladium from Brazil: Philos. Trans. Royal 

Soc. London, Vol. XCIX, 1809, p. 189.

The following authorities are likewise cited by Hartt: Burton, The Highlands of Brazil; 

Castelnau, Expedition dans 1'Ainerique de Sud; von Eschwege, Geognostisches Gernae'ldo voii 

Brasilieu. No mention of platinum could be foun.d by the writer in v. Eschwege's Pluto 

Braziliensis.
62 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. BULL. 193.

FRENCH GUIANA.

An announcement was made to the French Academy, in 1861, by 

Damour, that a very curious nugget had reached him from Aicoupai, 

011 Hamelin Creek, in the basin of Appronaguel. It weighed 0.85 

gram. Its specific gravity was 13.65. It was malleable, silvery white, 

and less fusible than gold. On analysis it yielded:

Analysis of nugget from basin of Appronaguel. 

Platinum. ...--..-.-..---...--........_.._._.___.___.__._.. . ... 41.96

Gold ................_..........__....____._'.:.._.._._......___ 18.18

Silver ........................................................ 18.39

Copper ................................... .......'............. 20.56

Total.......... ........................................ 99.09

It dissolved so easily in nitric acid that it was believed to be clearly 

a mechanical mixture, and not an alloy that is, the copper and silver 

were easily removed, and a brown sponge of gold with white scales of 

platinum remained. a

COLOMBIA.

Platinum was first discovered in connection with gold washings in 

Colombia. The original sample was obtained at Cartagena and was 

brought to Europe in 1735. The sample was reputed to have been 

obtained in the river Pinto, a stream which the writer has been unable 

to locate on the modern maps. Colombia is now a producer of commercial platinum second in rank to the Urals. The deposits are all 

in the form of placers and are situated upon the western watershed, 

near the divide which separates the waters of the northerly flowing 

Atrato from those of the southerly flowing San Juan. The general 

district is called El Choco. It embraces two provinces-^a northerly

one, named Atrato, whose capital is Quibdo, and a southerly one, San

Juan, whose capital is Novita. The greater part of the platinum is 

obtained in San Juan. It occurs with gold along the main stream and 

its tributaries from its junction with the Sipi to the headwaters. 

Charles Bullman states that below the Tamana the proportion is ten 

to one in favor of gold, while above it is two to one. The only outcropping rocks in the basin of the San Juan appear to be of very recent 

origin. They are described by Bullman as indurated clays and conglomerates, probably of Tertiary age. As Bullman was unable to 

discover evidences of marine life, he considers them to be freshwater deposits. The sediments are at present much tilted, and are supposed to have been upheaved at the close of the Tertiary. There is 

evidence also of glacial action, according to Bullman, the ice having 

moved from northeast to southwest, and having transported bowlders, 

clay, sand, and the precious metals. These later deposits, in part at

 Damour, Comptes rendus, Vol. LII, 1861, p. 688.
KEMP.] UNITED STATES OF COLOMBIA. 63

least of glacial origin, are locally called caliche. Bullman defines the 

word as follows: "By caliche is meant sand, pebbles, and bowlders 

bound or held together by clay, or it may be called a weathered, disintegrated, cement gravel." As shown in the accompanying section 

(fig. 3), the caliche rests upon clays and conglomerates. The present 

drainage has cut deeply into both the latter formations, and has concentrated in the river gravels the precious metals which were contained in the formations now constituting the banks. It is believed

FlO. 2. Sketch map of Colombia, showing the location of the platinum placers.

that the gold and platinum have come from the. granitic, syenitic, 

and metainorphic rocks of the Andes. Mr. Bullman concludes that 

very little has been derived from fissure veins, although more or less 

quartz containirig gold is obtained in the gravels.

In mining, attention is paid both to the bars in the running streams 

and to the caliche. In working the former the miner builds up a little 

barricade of larger bowlders, in the lee of which the sands are dug-up 

and washed in a batea. Women are more especially engaged in this 

work. The mining is carried on in a desultory manner, the natives
64 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS.. [BULL. 193.

working at low water and being content with such returns as supply 

the necessaries for their simple life in this region.

When sufficient water can be readily obtained it is used to sluice 

the caliche, which is broken down by bars, raked over somewhat with 

a crooked tool, and tumbled into the sluices. At periodic intervals 

the clean-up takes place. Some more ambitious attempts have been 

made to dredge the rivers, but without much success, the gravels 

being of low grade.

The nuggets of platinum occasionally carry chromite, but, although 

a considerable quantity has been examined by the writer, through the 

courtesy of Mr. A. W. Johnston, of the S. S. White Dental Manufacturing Company, other minerals aside from gold have not been 

observed. Other observers have recorded the characteristic presence 

of zircons. The nugg'ets occasionally reach rather large size. One 

in the museum of the geological department of Columbia University 

weighs 52.597 grams and has a specific gravity of 13.584. Assuming 

a specific gravity for platinum of 17.6 and for chromite of 4.5, this 

would imply 16.124 grams of chromite and 36.473 of platinum.

FIG. 3. Geological cross section of the caliche beds from the Iro to the Opogodo. (After Charles

Bullman.)

It was obtained by Mr. Bullman. A still larger one is owned by 

Baker & Co., of Newark, 1ST. J. Its weight is stated to be about 2

pounds.

Gold has also been observed involved in the nuggets of platinum, 

and it seems at times to occur with the latter mineral in the mother 

rock. The platinum has not been definitely traced back from these 

washings to the mother rock, but some observations were made, as 

far back as 1826, by Boussirigault, a French traveler, who communicated them to Humboldt, by whom they were laid before the French 

Academy. Humboldt presented them with an introduction of his 

own, which has given the impression that the observations were made 

in Brazil, and has occasioned the erroneous citations of platinum 

from the province of Antioquia, Brazil, which appear in Dana's Mineralogy and elsewhere. M. Boussingault's observations were made 

at Santa Rosa, province of Antioquia, Colombia, about 10 leagues 

northeast of Medellin. The locality is situated 2,775 meters above 

the sea. The country rock is described as a syenite or syenitic gneiss 

of the same general quality as that which prevails at Medellin, and it 

is cut by many veins of quartz. The surface is covered by alluvium,
KEMP.] FRANCE. 65

which has been concentrated by the streams. Together with the gold, 

occasional lumps of limonite are met and are saved by the gold 

washers. They are afterwards pounded up and panned down, because 

they contain considerable gold. Other lumps of limonite are gathered 

directly from the outcrops of the veins and appear to be portions of 

the gossan. In the pannings of one of these lumps derived from, the 

outcrop of a vein, Bonssingault obtained grains Of platinum which 

were the same in appearance as those washed from the gravels of El 

Choco. While the specimen was not found absolutely in place, there 

seems reason to believe that Boussingault has correctly referred it to 

its original situation, and has therefore recorded a very important 

and interesting case of the occurrence of platinum with other metallic 

minerals in a vein whose filling was largely quartz. Boussingault 

states that the syenite, together with porphyritic greenstones, extends 

from Santa Rosa over into the Choco district. 11

EUROPE. 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

A few scales of platinum have been discovered as a very rare mineral in the gold-bearing sands of Ollalipian, Siebenbiirgen. 1'

FRANCE.

Scales of platinum in very small amounts have been discovered in 

one or two places in France in connection with gold. Thus at Morbihan, in Brittany, it is occasionally seen with gold in tin-bearing sands 

which occur along the coast. It is likewise known at Gard, in 

Cev enn.es. c

The announcement was made in 1833 that platinum had been 

detected in galena in western France, but subsequent assays failed to 

corroborate the statement. Investigation, however, proved the presence -of platinum in limonite in several localities in the Departments 

of Charente and Deux-Sevres..(1

In 1847 E. Gueymard, a French mining engineer, discovered the

' "The above notes upon platinum in Colombia have been drawn chiefly from a report which 

was made by Charles Bullman in 1890 for New York parties and which was privately printed. 

For the courtesy of its use the writer is indebted to Mr. A. W. Johiiston, to whom acknowledgments are here made. In a modified form the general results of Mr. Bullman's examination also 

appear in the very valuable paper upon the Platinum Metals which he contributed to the Minei'al 

Industry, Vol. I, p. 373. A description of the methods of gold washing will be found in the 

Engineering and Mining Journal, April 2, 1892, p. 347. Boussingault's paper appears in the 

Annales Chem. et Phys., Vol. XXXII, 1820, p. 204, and in Poggendorff s Annalen, Vol. VII, 1826, 

p. 515; Vol. X, 1827, p. 490.

k v. Zepharovitch, Mineralogisches Lexikon fur Oesterreich, Vol. I, p. 318. See also Jahresber. 

Chem., 1847-48, pp. 1022 and 1152.

«A. Lacroix, Mineralogie de France Vol. II, p. 390.

dDingler's Polytech. Journal, Vol XLIX, 1833, p. 232; Poggendorff's Annalen, Vol. XXXI, 1834., 

pp. 16 and 590; Phil. Mag., 1834, p. 158.

Bull. 193 02 5
66 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

presence of platinum in tetrahedrite, which he found in metamorphic 

limestones on the mountain called Chapeau, above Chatelard, in the 

commune Champoleon, in the Vallee du Drac, Hautes Alpes. The 

limestone occurs in beds between protogine and a rock that appears 

to be related to spilite. The gray copper contains silver iip to 12 per 

cent, and in addition antimony, lead, zinc, iron, sulphur, and a little 

arsenic. The gangue is dolomite, quartz, and barite, being very similar to the veins at Guadalcanal, Spain. M. Gueymard made a hundred analyses; 80 afforded no platinum, and in the remaining 20 

the amount was not always large enough to weigh. His experiments 

were, however, subsequently verified in Paris, and of their reliable 

nature there seems to be no doubt. He extended his researches to 

St. Arey, near La Mure (Isere), and in the bournonite of the dolomites 

and of the altered limestones he identified platinum. Sometimes he 

could detect it in samples of 5 grams, and again he could not in samples 

of 20 grams, but it proved to be more commonly present than at Chapeau. A third locality was discovered in the Plan des Cavales, on the 

mountain of Rousses, Oisans, Isere. The country rock consists of 

protogine, gneiss, talc-schist, and some beds of Liassic limestone, now 

changed to dolomite and magnesian limestone. Here are situated old 

mines from which was obtained a foliated green carbonate of copper 

which carried 50 per. cent Cu. This mineral yielded in two cases 

weighable amounts of platinum. Again, he discovered indications of 

platinum in slightly argentiferous gray copper and copper carbonate 

near Presles, on the right bank of the Bens, in Savoy.

When M. Gueymard's samples were tested in Paris traces of 

rhodium and iridium were likewise identified. The amounts of the 

platinum metals are not, however, sufficient to justify mining. a

GERMANY.

A very interesting occurrence of allopalladium was early noted in 

the mines at Tilkerode, in the Hartz. It was at first thought that the 

mineral contained selenium, but the selenium was afterwards shown 

to be a mechanical mixture. The mineral was called eugenesite by 

Zinken. It contains palladium, silver, and gold. b The allopalladium 

occurs as microscopic six-sided scales 011 the gold of the Eskeborner 

shaft, together with quartz, selenide of lead, selenide of mercury, 

dolomite, and calcite. The mines at Tilkerode are based upon irregular lodes in diabase, or between it and neighboring slates.

Platinum has also been reported from the Siebengebirge c and from 

Freiberg. d

"Memoire historique sur la decouverte du platine dans les Alpes, by E. Gueymard: Comptes 

rendus, Vol. XXIX, 1849, p. 814; Vol. XXXVIII, 1854, p. 941. 

b Luedecke, Minerale des Harzes, p.- 6! 

cfierg- und Httttenm. Zeitung, Vol. XIII, 1854, p. 232. 

d Idem, Vol. VII, 1848, p. 628.
KEMP.] RUSSIA.

GREAT BRITAIN.

67

A few grains of platinum have been observed in the gold-bearing 

sands of Wicklow, in Ireland. n Some few scales have also been noted 

on the island of Jersey and in the sands at the mouth of the river 

Urr, Kirkcudbrightshire. b .

RUSSIA.

It is a curious fact that platinum was not discovered in the Urals 

until nearly a hundred years after it had been brought to Europe

FIG. 4. Map of Perm, Russia, showing the general geography of the platinum region.

from South America. It was, in fact, known to occur both in Colombia, Brazil, and in Santo Domingo before it was detected in the Rus-

»W. Mallet, Philos. Mag., 3d series, Vol. XXXVII, p. 393.

11 Greg and Lettsom, Mineralogy of Oreat Britain, 1858, p. 245.
68 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

sian gravels in 1819. It is possible that it was known at even a much 

earlier period in some of the gold washings of Bohemia, because certain old records are of such a character as to leave little doubt that 

the writers referred to platinum, and in Colombia in all probability it 

was known to the Spaniards in the first half of the sixteenth century.

The Russian sources of supply furnish nearly all the commercial 

platinum. Although the metal is known over a wide area, the really 

productive districts are comparatively limited. They lie along the 

eastern watershed of the Urals, in the eastern portion of the 

kingdom of Perm, and on the western watershed farther south. The 

boundary between European Russia and Siberia leaves the summits 

of the Urals north of the platinum district and runs off to the southeast, so that a large area of the eastern drainage is embraced in European Russia. A few years ago the greater part of the platinum came 

from the district of Nijni-Tagilsk, but at present the largest supply 

is obtained in the Goroblagodat and Bisersk districts, which are 

about 130 miles north.

GENERAL LITERATURE ON PLATINUM IN RUSSIA..

ANTIPOV. The character and present condition of the mining trade in the Ural:

Mining Journal. London, 1860, Part I, pp. 498-500. 

BELONSOV. Platinum of the Ural. Idem, 1891, Part III, pp. 323-327. 

CLAUS. BeitragezurChemieder Platin-metalle. Dorpat, 1854: Jahresber. Chemie,

1855, p. 423ff. 

ENGELHARDT, MORITZ v. DieLagerstatte des Goldes und Platinsim Ural-Gebirge,

Riga, 1829. See also Mining Journal, 1829, Part III, Vol. VII, p. 67. (Last

inaccessible to writer.) .

ERDMANN. Beitriige zur Kenntniss von Russland, ii, Part II, 1826, p. 132. 

EREMEYEV. Verhandlungen d. r. k. Min. Gesellsch. zu St. Petersburg, Vol. XIV,

1879, p. 155. (Not accessible to writer.)

HELMERSEN. Reise nach dem Ural und der Kirgisensteppe. Beitrage der russichen

Reiches, 1841, 1843, pp. 87, 105, 182-183, 205, 212. (Not accessible to writer.) 

HELMHACKER, R. The occurrence of platinum in the Oural Mountains: Mining

and Scientific Press, San Francisco, September 17,1898. 

KOKSCHAROW, N. v. Gediegenes Platin, Materalien zur Mineralogie Russlands,

Vol. V, p. 177.

- MineralogischeNotiz: Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersbourg, Vol. VII, 1866.

(Not accessible to writer.) 

KRASSNOPOLSKY, M. E. Geologic investigations along the eastern side of the

Ural: Trans. Russian Geol. Commission, 1890, p. 177.

-LAURENT. Notes sur 1'industrie de 1'or et du platine dans 1'Oural: Annales des 

Mines, 1890, p. 537. Eng. and Min. Jour., Vol. LILT. 1892, p. 430.

LEPLAY. Recherches geologiques dans 1'Oural. Comptes rendus, Vol. XIX, 1844, 

p. 853; especially p. 858.

Louis, HENRY. The occurrence and treatment of platinum in Russia: The Mineral Industry, Vol. VI, 1897, p. 539.

LUBARSKY. The Ural platinum in nature: Mining Journal, London, Vol. VIII, 

1828, pp. 158-161. (Not accessible to the writer.)

MEUNIER, STANISLAS. Observations sur la constitution de la roche mere du platine. 

Comptes rendus, Vol. CXVIII, 1894, pp. 368, 369.
KEMP.] EUSSIA. 69

MEUNIER, STANISLAS. Etude sur la roche mere du platine de 1'Oural: Comptes

rendus du VII Congr. Geol. Internationale, 1898. p. 157. 

MINCHIN. Chemical analyses of the different kinds of platinum from the Urals:

Trans. Min. Soc. St. Petersburg, Part II, 1842, p. 101. (Not accessible to

writer.) 

MURCHISON, SIR RODERICK. Geology of European Russia, 1849. Part II, pp.

113-114, 312-319. 

MUSCHKJET.OFF, J. W. On the primary deposits of platinum in the Western

Urals: Trans. Royal Russian Min. Soc., 2d series, Vol. XXIX, 1892, pp.

229-230.- Zeitschr. fur Kryst., Vol. XXIV. p. 505. 

OSANN. Several analyses of platinum are given in Poggendorf's Annalen, Vol.

VIII, p. 505; Vol. XI, p. 411; Vol. XIII, p. 283; Vol. XIV, p. 329; Vol. XV,

p. 158. 

ROSE, GUSTAV. Reise nach dem Ural, 1837, pp. 327-335,338-341; 1842, pp. 386-390,

599-600.

SAYTZEFF, A. M. On mineral localities in the Urals: Bull. Russ. Geol. Commission, 1888, Vol. VII, pp. 265-287. 

 Platinum deposit's of the Urals: Trans, Univ. Tomsk, Vol. XIV, 1898,'

The original in Russian was issued by J. N. Budiakoff & Sons, Tomsk. A

translation somewhat abstracted will be found in the Zeit. fiir prak. Geologie, Nov., 1898, p. 395.

STCHUROVSKY. The Ural Ridge, pp. 315-333. (Not accessible to writer.) 

TCHUPIN. Geographical and statistical dictionary of the State of Perm, 1873.

(Not accessible to writer.) 

TSERRENER. Erdkunde-Gouvernements Perm, Leipzig, 1851. (Not accessible to

writer.)

GOROBLAGODAT AND BISERSK DISTRICTS.

These two districts are situated northeast of the town of NijniTurinsk. From the watershed of the Urals two small rivers or creeks, 

called the Iss and the Veeya, flow eastward and enter the Tura River. 

They rise about 10 miles apart and preserve this general distance to 

their mouths. They are each about 30 to 40 miles long. The Tura, 

which is the main stream of the region, rises to the south near the 

Perm-Ekaterinburg Railroad. Th'e Tura crosses the railroad near 

the village of Kooshva and pursues a northerly course of 35 miles 

until it meets the Iss. It then bears away 65 miles eastward to the 

town of Verkotoor, after which it swings around to the southeast and, 

crossing the boundary of the kingdom of Perm, flows past the wellknown city of Tiumen and soon joins the Tobol River. The Tobol 

discharges into the Irtish, which empties into the Obi. The waters 

finally reach the Gulf of Obi and the Arctic Sea. The course of the 

Tura is in many respects similar to those of the Tulameen and Similkameen rivers of British Columbia, since all three flow north, northeast, and finally southeast. The productive platinum ground is found 

all along the Iss and the Veeya and on the Tura from its junction 

with these two streams as far as Verkotoor. The linear distance, 

therefore, is approximately 100 miles, and the general area is estimated at about 2,000 square miles.

Physiography. In physiographic character the region is an old 

land area which has suffered protracted surface weathering and
70 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

degradation. The drainage has reached a stage approximating a baselevel or graded slope, and consequently the concentration of heavy 

minerals of all sorts, originally in a state of sparse dissemination in 

the country rock, has been extreme. This fact must be borne in 

mind in any comparison for economic purposes between the Urals and 

any other platinum region, such as, for example, British Columbia or 

the United States of Colombia. The rivers of the Urals appear to have 

been formerly larger than now, and the valleys are often choked and 

silted. The rivers meander, with many oxbows and cut-offs, across 

the level stretches.

Distribution of the platinum-bearing gravels. Platinum is found in 

commercial quantity most richly along the Iss. The gravels are less

59°

FIG. 5. Sketch map of the platinum-bearing streams in the Goroblagodat and Bisersk districts, Russia. (After C. W. Purington.)

rich along the Veeya and on the Tura. The two tributaries are 

undoubtedly responsible for the platinum in the Tura. The platinum 

is afforded by placers of the usual type, but on account of the former 

larger development of the drainage there are productive gravels away 

from the present streams and in abandoned channels which are more 

or less similar to those with which the gold seekers of our Western 

States are familiar. The productive ground extends, as a rule, to 

distances varying from 200 to 800 feet on each side of the present 

rivers. Along the broader parts of the Tura, Purington states that the 

total width of the productive ground may be half a mile, and that 

generally throughout the region he has obtained colors by panning, 

from the grass roots downward, but of course the richest streak lies 

nearest to the bed rock.
KEMP.] RUSSIA. 71

Hard geology. The rock formations along the Iss and the Veej7 a are 

very suggestive of those in British Columbia, and the accompanying 

geological map (fig. 6), which is reduced from the valuable report of 

Prof. A. M. Saytzeff, will be useful for comparison with that earlier 

given for the Tulameen district. Near the headwaters of each stream 

are extensive outcrops of peridotite, which are associated with equally 

large areas of syenitic gneiss. There are smaller exposures of diorite, 

gabbro-diorite, and gabbro, all of which are represented by the same 

conventional sign on the map. Still farther downstream each creek 

passes into an area of porphyrites, within the limits of which are two 

associated exposures of Lower Devonian limestone. Beyond the

Fro. 6. Geological map of the headwaters of the Iss and the Veeya rivers. (After a colored

map by A. M. Saytzeff.)

junction of the Veeya and the Iss with the Tura the geology has not 

been colored on the map which accompanies .Professor Saytzeffs 

report upon the platinum deposits, but the rock formations along the 

Tura seem to have no special connection with platinum, because the 

river derives all of its metal from its two tributaries. The fullest 

statement of geological details will be found in the paper by Professor 

Saytzeff, entitled Geological Investigations in the Nicholay-Pavdinsk 

district, which is subsequently cited in the bibliography. A brief 

outline, however, is here given regarding the" several formations.

The syenite-gneiss is, as a rule, coarsely crystalline and well foliated, but it sometimes exhibits a finely granular structure and may 

pass to massive types. In the coarse varieties the reddish feldspar
72 ; PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

and the dark-green hornblende can be readily identified. The rock 

is greenish gray in color and contains veins and nests of quartz.

Under the general name of peridotite a considerable variety of 

rocks is included, viz, peridotite, olivine-gabbro, olivine-diallage rock 

and rock composed chiefly of diallage, and serpentine. All of these 

are closely related and pass one into the other by transition. Similar 

ones occur likewise in the district of Nijni-Tagilsk.

The diorites, gabbro-diorites, and gabbros are all closely related to 

one another by transitions. Gabbro seems to have been the original 

from which the others have been derived by the metamorphism of the 

pyroxene to amphibole. The rocks also exhibit gnessoid structure at 

times.

The porphyrites are chiefly diabasic and uralitic.

In addition to the rocks mentioned, talc-schist has been discovered 

in the soil of one or two of the mines. The Lower Devonian limestone 

is a dark or light-gray variety, and in some places has a purple-red 

color. It is fine grained and has many veins of calcite, some of which 

contain cinnabar. Pebbles of cinnabar from the veins are found in 

the gravels together with the platinum where the limestone forms the 

bed rock. The dip of the limestone is steep, and the riffles and pockets formed by its passage across the creeks furnish some of the richest deposits. The limestone is penetrated by igneous dikes, which 

are thought by some observers to have a connection with the introduction of the cinnabar.

Mother rode of the platinum. Professor Saytzeff has carried out 

some investigations in order to trace back the platinum to its mother 

rock. He concludes, from its association with chromite and with serpentine, that the peridotite is the chief source, but that the metal is 

present in the syenites and the gabbros. As regards the latter rocks 

the conclusions are based chiefly upon the association of the nuggets 

in some places exclusively with bowlders of these types. Platinum 

seems actually to have been found only in the bowlders of peridotite 

or its derived serpentine. Mr. Purington pounded up a sample of 

serpentine taken from the gravels and weighing about 20 pounds. He 

succeeded in panning scales of platinum worth about 2 cents from it. 

This would be equivalent to about $2, or from a seventh to an eighth 

of an onncft, per ton.

Placers. The placers are of two varieties those which are in the 

beds of the running streams and those which are now above water. 

The former seem to be chiefly dug by hand dredges, and, so far as the 

descriptions lead one to infer, wing dams, sluices, and the familiar contrivances of our Western States seem not to have been yet introduced. 

The gravels which occur above the rivers are worked throughout the 

district. On the land there is a general surface layer of peat or vegetable material called turf. Below this is a variable thickness of poor 

gravel, and then the pay streak is met. The overburden varies from
KEMP.] " RUSSIA. 73

5 to 20 feet, and the pay streak is 4 feet and less. The overlying 

material is stripped off, and then the productive gravel is carted to 

the washers. Less frequently the productive gravel seems to be a 

saprolite, or crust of decomposed peridotite, as described by-Professor 

Saytzeff. Gold accompanies the platinum in a very subordinate 

capacity. As is usual in our Western placers, clayey streaks give the 

best returns. Opposite the mouths of tributary brooks the'platinum 

is often particularly rich. The Aralley of the Iss narrows and widens, 

and the best placers are found in the wider reaches, where the velocity 

of the stream becomes checked. Where there are hollows in the bed 

rock, more especially in the limestone, the concentration is often 

marked.

Fairly large bowlders are sometimes present along the Tura, but 

on the Iss they do not exceed 18 inches. Only the local rocks are 

represented by them, and, as a rule, they are but slightly rounded. 

The region has never been glaciated.

Mr. Purington gives some estimates of value which are based on 

statistics obtained from local authorities and from his own panniugs. 

From the grass roots down, the gravels over the whole region will not 

yield over 40 cents to the cubic yard. Along the Upper Iss 63 cents 

is the estimated contents, and on the Lower Iss 65 cents, for an average of 10£ feet of gravel. Along the Tura the gravels, which are 

dredged in 7 feet of water, are estimated at 52 cents to the yard. 

These values would seem to be amply sufficient to afford a large 

margin of profit if, in other respects, the region is at all adapted to 

the methods of hydraulicking or dredging that have been developed 

in western North America.

In Professor Saytzeff's descriptions of the workings, many detailed 

cross sections of the gravels are given, together with pictures of the 

carts and washers. A description of the methods of working will 

also be found in Mr. Purington's recent paper, and those of the 

Nijni-Tagilsk region have been described and illustrated by Mr. G. F. 

Knnz and Prof. Henry Louis in papers to which reference will be 

subsequently made in the bibliography.

LITERATURE ON THE GOROULAGODAT AND BISEItSK DISTRICTS.

BOURDAKOFF, V. J., and HENDRIKOFF, I. M. Description of the mining of platinum at the works of J. A. Bourdakoff & Sons, etc.: Trans. Soc. Naturalists in Urals, Vol. XIV, pp. 1-107. A French translation by G. O. Clerc was 

published at Ekaterinburg in 1896. The writer has had access only to the 

Russian.

GOLACHOVSKY. Description of newly described mines of platinum and gold: 

Mining Journal, 1820, Vol. VIII, p. 103. (Not accessible to writer.)

KOLTOVSKY. On the platinum mines in the district of Goroblagodat:. Mining 

Journal, 1840, Part 1, p. 227. (Not accessible to writer.)

LOSCH, A. Two specimens of native platinum from Bisersk: Trans. Royal Russian 

Miu. Soc., St. Petersburg, Vol. XXVII, 1890, p. 440. (Not accessible to writer.)

PURINGTON, C. W. Platinum deposits of the River Tura: Trans. Am. Inst. Min. 

Eng., Vol. XXIX, 1899, p. 3.
74 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

SAYTZEFF, A. M. Geologic investigations in the Nicolay-Pavdinsk district and

surrounding places of the Central Ural and the eastern slope: Mem. Russ.

Geol. Commission, Vol. XIII, 1892, 97 pages, with a resume in German.

Reviewed in Neues Jahrbuch, 1895, Vol. II, p. 289. 

SIVKOV. Geognostic description of certain parts of the Goroblagodat district,

investigated in 1834 and 1835: Mining Journal, London, 1836, Part III, Vol.

VIII, p. 225. (Not accessible to writer.) 

STAHL. Gold und Platin in Nicolaje Pawdinsk (Ural): Chemiker-Zeitung, 1897,

No. 40.

NIJNI-TAGILSK DISTRICT.

The productive ground in this district is found about 22 kilometers, 

or about 18 miles, south-southwest of Nijni-Tagilsk. Platinum occurs

Peridotite, 

olivine.

Gabbro-diorite, 

dlorite.

Syenite-gneiss. Devonian 

limestone.

Tale schists. Platinum 

placers.

Fiu. 7. Geological map of the Nijni-Tagilsk platinum district. (After a colored map by A. M.

Saytzeff.)

on both the eastern and the western watershed, but it is obtained 

more especially on the western. The streams head in Mount Solovie v. The Vissirn, the Martian, and the Chansh (or Schaitansk) flow
RUSSIA. 75

westward, while some of the headwaters of the Tagil, a tributary of 

the Tura, flow eastward. Mount Soloviev consists chiefly of peridotites, but it has associated with them the same gabbros, diorites, syenitic gneisses, and Devonian limestones which have already been 

mentioned under the northern'district. The accompanying geological 

map, taken from Professor Saytzeff's paper, will give an idea of the 

geological relations. In their petrographic characters the rocks seem 

to be much the same as in the northern districts. The peridotite has, 

however, been somewhat fully described by Inostranzeff in connection 

with his investigations of the mother rock. A full translation of Professor Inostranzeff's paper is given on subsequent pages, and in it an 

outline of the peridotites will be found. The accompanying photomicrograph (PI. VI, C) has been prepared from a specimen which was 

gathered in the region by Dr. G. P. Merrill in 1897, and which has 

been very kindly placed in the hands of the writer.

In connection with an investigation of the bowlders which had been 

observed to contain platinum, Daubree has given an analysis of a 

specimen of the peridotite, as follows:

Analysis of peridotite from Mount Soloviev. 

SiO2 ....I................;.....................-.............. 47.60

A12 03 -------------------------------------------. --- -..- 3

FejOjandPeO.....:.... ................................ 7.60

MgO.......................................................... 26

CaO.-... ........... ........................:..._ ........... 11.30

Loss on ignition... ........................................... 4.30

Total................................................... 99.80

Under the microscope it consisted of diallage, olivine, veins of serpentine, and chromite. Some small scales of platinum were noted in 

the rock. a It is interesting to compare this analysis with the analysis of the mother rock from British Columbia, p. 44.

In addition to the pocket of platinum-bearing rock which is described 

by Professor Inostranzeff, Prof. Henry Louis has mentioned a streak 

of serpentinized rock which was 6 feet wide and which was actually 

mined to a depth of 35 feet. It was crushed and washed, and yielded 

15 dwt. per ton. Below 35 feet the values gave out. b

Placers. As already stated, the placers lie mostly on the western 

watershed and are found over an area of about 80 square miles. They 

are similar in character to those described in the region farther north. 

The gravels are often from 30 to 40 or even 60 feet deep, and the pay 

streak lies upon the bed rock, and is 6 to 10 inches thick. Sometimes, however, another pay streak will be found part way down. 

The richest layers are somewhat irregular in shape and distribution. 

When next the bed rock they are usually attacked by shafts, from 

which the miners burrow out and through which they bring the gravels

"Comptes rendus, Vol. LXXX, 1875, p. 707. i> The Mineral Industry, Vol. VI, p. 542.
76 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

to the shaft and finally to the surface. The mining is done in the 

winter and the washing in the summer. The gravels are broken up 

by puddling machines and washed by being passed through sluices 

with rimes. A brief account of the methods of mining will oe found 

in the paper by Mr. G. F. Kunz in the report on Mineral Industry of 

the Eleventh Census, page 341. The largest nuggets are obtained in 

this region, but the platinum is less pure than that gathered along 

the Iss. It is angular and of darker color and contains more iron, 

whereas along the Iss it is light colored, and is more apt to be in 

scales, especially when it is obtained at some distance from the mother 

rock. Many analyses of Russian platinum are given on pages 18-19.

LITERATURE ON THE NIJNI-TAGTLSK DISTRICT.

 Platinum in diorite of the district of Nijni-Tagilsk: Mining Journal, London, 1863, Part III, p. 412. (Not accessible to writer.)

BECK, R. Die excursion des VII. Geologen congresses nach dem Ural: Zeitschr. 

ftir prak. Geologie, Jan., 1898, pp. 24-25.

GOTTA, B. von. Berg- und Hiittenm. Zeitung, 1860, p. 495. Platinum in a bowlder of yellow serpentine with chromite.

DAUBREE. G. A. Association, clans 1'Oural, du platine natif a des roches a base 

de peridot; relation d'origine qui unit ce metal avec le fer chrome: Comptts 

rendus, Vol. LXXX, 1875, p. 707.

HELMH ACKER, R. Platin auf primarer Lagerstatten: Zeitschr. fur prak. Geologie, 1893, p. 187.

INOSTRANZEFF, A. Gisement primaire de platine dans 1'Oural: Mittheil. Naturf. 

Gesell. in St. Petersburg, Nov. 7, 1892, Vol. XXIII, pp. 1-8. Zeitschr. fiir 

prak. Geologie, 1893, p. 87. An English translation appears belo:v.

KOLTOVSKY. Mines of Messrs. Demidoff in the district of Nijni-Tagilsk: Mining 

Journal, 1846, Vol. VIII, p. 272. , (Notaccessible to writer.)

KUNZ, G. F. Report on Mineral Industries: Eleventh Census of the United States, 

1892, p. 341. A trip to Russia and the Ural Mountains: Jour. Franklin Institute, 1898, pp. 193 and 264.

LUBAESKY, Platinum mines in the district of Tagilsk: Mining Journal, London, 

1828, Vol. XI, pp. 125-127. (Not accessible to the writer.)

TERREIL. Nickel-bearing platinum from Nijni-Tagilsk: Comptes rendus, Vol. 

LXXXII, 1878, p. 1116. ' .

PRIMARY DEPOSITS OF PLATINUM IN THE URALS 

By A. INOSTRANZEFF. a

Originally discovered in South America, platinum was brought to Europe in 

1735,b and was recognized by Shaeft'er as an element in 1752. Notwithstanding the 

fact that it was discovered, so long ago, it has been extracted up to the present only 

from placers, and its original place of formation has been unknown. It is true 

that, as a mineral disseminated in hard serpentine rocks, platinum has been found

"Reported at the meeting of the department of geology and mineralogy of the St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists, November 7,1892. (Translated from the Russian.)

Table of Russian weights.

1 poud =* 40 fnnts = 36 pounds avoirdupois. 

1 f unt = 96 zolotuiks = 0.9 poiind avoirdupois. 

1 zolotnik = 96 dolei = 0.0094 pound avoirdupois.

t> Dana, Mineralogy.
KBMP.] RUSSIA. 77

in the mountains of Brazil and in the Cordilleras of North America, 11 but in such 

minute quantities that these discoveries could hardly be regarded as proving the 

original place of growth of the nuggets.

In. Russia platinum was first found in the gold mines of Dakovlev in 1819, 1 ' 

later in the sands of Neviansk, Bilimbayevsk (1822), and Kuvshinsk factories (1824); 

and finally, in 1825, the richest Ural sands of the SuchoVissiinsk works in the 

. district of Nijni-Tagilsk were discovered.

According to Gustav Rose. 0 platinum occurs in the central and southern parts 

of the Urals, as well as in the northern, eastern, and western slopes. In the 

majority of places it is met in small quantities, associated with native gold. Only 

in the sands of the Nijni-Tagilsk works is platinum found in considerable quantity, 

and it is usually not associated with gold.

A study of Russian platinum has been made by many scientists, and a concise 

statement, enlarged by personal observations, may be found in an article by H. T. 

Kokshavov/in which he makes the following remarks: "The original place of 

deposition of platinum in the Urals has not been found as yet, but judging from 

the samples of native (virgin) platinum, in which can be seen adhering chromic iron, 

and sometimes, although seldom, serpentine, it should be sought for in the latter, 

as mentioned by Rose, because in serpentine chromic iron occurs in masses.

Daubree," in his experiments with the samples of the country rocks furnished 

him by Jaunez de Sponville from the mines of Tagilsk, found in them platinum 

associated with olivine, serpentine, and chromic iron. A close relation between 

the platinum of the sands and that of the rocks which contain olivine was determined by the same scientist in New Zealand, where the mines form a part of the 

Dun Mountains. This mountain is composed of a rock in which olivine predominates, and which was called "dunite " by Hochstetter. Daubree observed a like 

relation of platinum sands to serpentine in the island of Borneo.

This summer I had occasion to travel in the Urals and to visit several places 

well known to geologists, among which were the mountainous district of TagilsK, 

containing most interesting platinum mines. They are situated southwest of 

the Nijni-Tagilsk factory, along the rivers Vissim, Martian, and Chansh, on the 

western slope of the Urals. As has been known for a long time, the soil of the 

Tagilsk platinum mines, as well as a considerable part of the fragments found 

there, consists of serpentine and olivine rocks. There are also inetamorphic 

schists and a peculiar conglomerate, which is developed in the neighborhood, 

consisting of fragments of serpentine and olivine rock and chromic ir.on, held 

together by a lime cement.

The platinum occurs in the sands in grains, and frequently in nuggets. [The 

largest found weighs 23.5 funts 21.15 pounds.] On washing the slimes, gold, 

iridium, and osmium are found.

The Tagilsk platinum mines are located along the rivers Vissim. Martian, and 

Chansh, which rise in the mountain Soloviev. The distribution of the platinum 

around about the Soloviev Mountain suggested long ago the advisability of searching in the mountain for its original source, but all prospecting has remained 

fruitless. At the time of my visit to the Tagilsk mines I had the opportunity of 

witnessing the discovery of the original place of deposition of platinum in the 

Urals. This discovery, like many others, was due to a laborer who had no license 

to perform any work there, but did it on his own account. Such persons are 

known in Siberia as plunderers or pillagers.

"Mining Journal, 1891, Book III, p. 324.

bMinchin, Chemical analysis of the different kinds of Uralitic platinum: Trans. Min. Soc., 

Part II, 1842, p. 101.

cReise nach dem Ural, dem Altai und dem Kaspischen Meere, Vol. II, 1837. 

d Materials for the Mineralogy of Russia, 

e Daubree, Association de platine natif a des roches a base de peridot, Paris, 1876.
78 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

The manager of the platinum mines, Mr. Costenetzky, learned that in the northern part of the Soloviev Mountain such a plunderer was excavating the rock, 

and that this rock was being crushed and washed in a neighboring river. The 

plunderer noticed that he was being watched and ran away. It was therefore 

impossible to know whether he actually obtained platinum or anything else. 

This circumstance, however, led the manager to begin a reconnaissance of the 

locality. Through the kindness of the Tagilsk administration and Mr. I. A. Hamilton, some of the rock where the laborer had conducted his work was blasted with 

dynamite, and on the freshly formed surface could be seen the following: The 

massive rock in its fresh fracture appeared blackish green, with polyhedral jointings. The portions along the crevices were of a whitish-yellow color, and surrounded the cleavage planes like a band, giving the appearance of an altered mass 

of rock. In the place where the laborer conducted his work there was discovered 

a pocket, 35 cm. in diameter, which extended deep into the rock.

As compared with the native rock, this rock appeared, when fresh, to be of a 

less compact nature, and could be quite easily split to pieces with a chisel; but if 

left in the air it would harden. In some places this rock was very close to the 

altered surface of the native rock, while in others it was directly in contact with 

the fresh, unaltered country rock. Besides, between the poskets there could be seen 

separate small pieces of the native country rock. The rock containing the pock 

ers consists principally of chromic iron, serpentine, and dolomite, the last named 

of which is in small quantities in the form of cement, and a still lesser quantity 

of opaline silica, which appears sometimes as a spheroidal mass.

In connection with the distribution of the serpentine and the chromic iron it 

may be noticed that they are frequently in layers parallel to the plane of contact 

with the neighboring country rock.

This method of distribution reminds one of the distribution of serpentine in 

some of the ophicalcites.

The country rock is of a finely granular texture, and in thin sections one may 

observe with a microscope transparent greenish grains of olivine, which largely 

make up the mass of the rock. The bands consist of rock partly unaltered and 

partly altered through the process of superficial change to the yellowish serpentine.

Under the microscope the wall rock exhibits crystallized grains of colorless 

olivine of varying size and with a characteristic shagreen surlace. The grains 

were grouped so that, with the binding mass, they represented a hexagonal contour, and their outline resembled the section of a crystal of olivine. The mass 

that binds these grains together is a light-green serpentine, distributed in colored 

veins which have a foliated structure. Through the serpentine is disseminated 

a little chromic iron, which appears by reflected light to have a dull luster. It 

is more in evidence in places where some of the material crumbled out in preparing the sample for examination. The olivine predominates over the serpentine. 

In polarized light the olivine exhibits strong interference colors. Serpentine 

under the same conditions reveals a granular structure. But in some places 

one may detect with polarized light sporadic inclusions of grains of dolomite. In 

treating the substance with H2SO4 the acid dissolves a considerable quantity of 

iron and attacks the olivine, removing it and separating out an amorphous silica. 

In this reaction the serpentine loses its original color and is darkened, but the 

gra: ns of dolomite are completely dissolved. Being guided by the principal component parts of the country rock of the Soloviev Mountain that is, olivine and 

chromic iron and considering serpentine as a product of the change undergone 

by o ivine, one sees clearly that the serpentine has been derived from that variety 

01 peridotite which is called dunite.

Comparing this rock with the real dunites of other countries, we see a material 

difference, viz, that the latter consist almost entirely of olivine, while in the 

lornier there is some serpentine, which has undoubtedly been produced from
KBMP.] . .RUSSIA. ' 79

olivine by metamorphic processes, as is shown by the hexagonal section occupied 

by separate fragments of olivine all bound together by serpen-tine.

Such a rock might be called paleodunite; but we must not overlook the fact that 

in the olivine rocks several are connected by transition, and the decrease of one of 

the component parts in one rock may lead to its transition into the other. Thus 

the presence of enstatite makes a special variety, but it may decrease in amount 

almost to disappearance. Such a rock was described by Wadsworth" under the name 

saxonite, but Rosenbusch 1' did not accept the name, and renamed it harzburgite.

Nevertheless, the description of saxonite, furnished by Wadsworth and illustrated in PI. IV, fig. 4, of his work, reminds us of the rock of the Soloviev Mountain, with only the difference that in the latter no enstatite was disclosed and there 

is considerably more olivine than in saxonite (harzburgite).

Under the microscope the rock with pockets appears to consist of many irregular angular grains of chromic iron, and to be fractured and have many cavities. 

The cementing material between the grains of chromite is chiefly serpentine, and 

in lesser quantity dolomite and opal, the last named sometimes in beautiful 

spheroidal masses. The last two minerals penetrate the crevices and cavities 

of the chromic iron. c In reflected light the chromic iron exhibits a weak, blaclf, 

shining metallic luster; but no other minerals with a metallic luster can be seen. 

A few pieces of the rock (with pockets) could be observed, by means of a strong 

magnifier, to contain exceedingly fine grains or leaves of native platinum disseminated in the chromic iron. This search for it, by the way, was very difficult on 

account of the presence of the hollows in the seams of the chromic iron, which in 

a certain position before the light gave an exceedingly strong luster.

To determine the presence of platinum in the rocks (with pockets) in which the 

platinum could notb;,' seen by means of a microscope, about 14 funts (5,733 grams) 

of it was taken from the place of blasting, crushed, and carefully washed. On 

obtaining the slime in the iron pan used in the washing, under the water there was 

observed a thin silvery band of native platinum, which was difficult to separate 

from the chromic iron by continuous washing on account of the danger of losing 

the fine microscopic leaves.

On examining the slime, even with a strong magnifying glass; no platinum was 

found. The examination was interfered with largely by the mass of angular 

grains of chromic iron, which possesses a strong, metallic, glassy luster, and by 

the size of the platinum, which was microscopically minute. The quantity of 

concentrates obtained in this experiment was 25 grams, and in order to find the 

chemically pure platinum, the following method was adopted. The concentrates 

were treated with aqua regia, the solution each time being evaporated'to dryne s 

on a water bath; the residue was then treated with sulphuric acid twice and again 

evaporated to dryness on a water bath. The residue was then treated with absolute alcohol, filtered, and to the clear solution was added solid ammonium chloride 

in excess. The solution was then slightly warmed and ammonium chloroplatinate 

precipitated. The precipitate was then filtered out and dried in the filter, ignited, 

and weighed in a porcelain crucible.'1 The platinum obtained was then treated 

with aqua regia, in which it dissolved completely, thus proving the absence of 

iridium. The solution was evaporated to dryness in a water bath, the residue 

treated twice with sulphuric acid, and again evaporated to dryness. After washing the residue, a few qualitative tests were made. A part of the solution was 

reduced by zinc, and chemically pure platinum was obtained. This was tested

»M. E. Wadsworth, Lithological Studies, 1884, p. 125. 

 b Roseubusch. Mikroskopischo Physiographic, 2d edition, 1887, p. 269.

cH. J. Joss, who came at the time of my return from the platinum mines in Tagilsk, brought 

several samples of native rock to St. Petersburg. These samples were shown at the meetings of 

several scientific societies of the city.

»'Inall my experiments with platinum, no platinum apparatus of any kind was used. All 

solutions, ignitions, and weighing were made in porcelain apparatus.
80 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. . [BULL.-193.

with platinum iodide, for the characteristic platinum reaction, and afforded a rosecrimson co'or." In all, 0.0644 gram of chemically pure platinum was obtained from 

the slime, or considering the weight of the whole quantity of rock employed in 

this experiment (5,738 grams), it produced 0.00112 per cent of platinum.

 Bearing in mind the fact that the platinum is found here in exceedingly fine 

oarticles, we might j ustly suppose that in the rough washing which was performed 

apart of the platinum was carried away by the water, and that the given figure is 

probably below the correct one. In order to obtain an accurate result, 500 grams 

of the rock was crushed and carefully tnixed, and from this was taken 100 grams, 

which was treated twice with aqua regia. This solution was carefully evaporated 

to dryness on a water bath and the residue treated with sulphuric acid twice, with 

repeated evaporation. Then the residue of silicic acid was filtered out. The filtrate 

was again evaporated to dryness on a water bath and the residue dissolved in 

alcohol. Slightly warming this solution with chloride of ammonium,'just as in 

the previous experiment, a precipitate of ammonium chloroplatinate appeared. 

This was collected on a filter, rinsed, dried, and by ignition converted into chemically pure platinum, amounting to 0.0103 gram, or 0.0103 per cent of the rock. 

This platiuum was treated qualitatively in the same way as that obtained from 

the concentrates.

From the same 500 grams of the crushed rock another 100 grams was taken and 

treated with aqua regia six times. In this operation 35 grams of the rock went 

into solution. The filtrate was separated first with an excess of sulphuric acid, 

then with water to dryness on a water bath. The solution in water, with the 

addition of a little sulphuric acid, was filtered from the precipitate. The platinum 

was reduced by zinc, collected on the filter, washed, and dried. The filter was 

then burned and the platinum weighed, amounting to 0.0111 gram, a quantity 

nearly the same as that obtained with ammonium chloroplatinate (0.0103 gram). 

Therefore the average amount of chemically pure platinum contained in the rocks 

may be taken as 0.0107 per cent.

Comparing the results of the last experiment with the determination of platinum in the concentrates, it is evident that in washing the crushed rock there was 

a loss of platinum, first because the water carried some away; and, secondly, for 

the reason that in 14 funts of the material used it was difficult to pick out only the 

rock with pockets. Some of the native olivine rock was present and thus reduced 

the percentage of the metal.

Rock containing platinum is found in the pockets, with dunite, although the

metal occurs in au exceedingly fine state. Platinum is usually associated with 

other precious metals, such as gold, silver, iridium, osmium, etc., and the deposits 

in these mountain rocks are no exception to the general mode of occurrence. The 

amount of platinum is somewhat sporadically distributed, at one time enriching 

the accompanying rock and at another decreasing to complete disappearance. Of 

course we have a right to suppose that platinum is sporadically disseminated in 

its native rock, and it is possible that the laborer had already worked out that 

part of the pocket in which the platinum was, not of'microscopic size nor in sparsely 

distributed condition. This fact also points to the finding of platinum in the 

sand, in which it can be seen with the naked eye, disseminated in chromic iron. 

Of course the continuation of the investigation in the Soloviev Mountain must 

disclose such pockets, and it is not improbable that veins will be discovered in 

considerable number. It may be that in this rock (with pockets) will be found 

microscopic partic~.es of platinum which can be extracted by washing, although 

now it can be extracted only by chemical means.

The place of discovery, at all events, contains a considerable quantity of the 

metal, and, expressing it in the ordinary way, it is 41 zolotniks to every 100 poods 

of rock. At the present time in the Tagikk platinum mines rock is being worked 

which contains 2i-12 zolotniks per 100 poods.

"Annales de Chemie et de Physique, 1833.
KEMP.] SPAIN. 81

From further investigation we may expect some additional information to that 

reported by myself. But, in all events, 150 years had elapsed before the original 

place of deposition of platinum was discovered. Speculations, as expressed by 

different investigators, concerning this mountain rock which contains the precious 

metal, are now out of place. There is no doubt that the original source of platinum is peridotite, to which future investigations in the different parts of the 

Urals, one of the most interesting regions in the world, should be confined.

PLATINUM ELSEWHERE IN RUSSIA.

Platinum has been reported in a number of other places in the Russian Empire. Federov has mentioned its occurrence, together with 

gold, in the extreme north of the kingdom of Perm, along the Loswe 

River and its tributaries. Syenitic gneiss seems to be the prevailing 

country rock. 11 Platinum is said to occur along the Ivalo River in 

Lapland, associated with diamonds and probably derived from a 

peridotite. b

Platinum is said to have been found in traces in the province of 

Baikal and Yenisei, Siberia. 0 '

Palladium has been reported by T. W. Wilm in the gold-bearing 

sands on the south coast of the Black Sea. It is stated that it constitutes 8 to 10 per cent of the concentrates. d

Platinum is said by J. A. Phillips ° to occur in small quantities in 

the auriferous quartz of the Beresovsk gold mines. Beresovsk lies a 

few miles northeast of Nijni-Tagilsk.

SPAIN.

One of the most interesting discoveries in connection with platinum, 

was made early in the last century by the French chemist Vauquelin. 

He received a suite of ores from a silver mine at Guadalcanal, a few 

miles northeast of the Rio Tinto district, Seville. The ore resembled 

tetrahedrite closely, and on analysis was found to contain copper, 

lead, antimony, iron, sulphur, silver, and sometimes arsenic. It was 

associated with a gangue of calcite, barite, and quartz. The platinum proved to be variable, reaching at times 10 per cent and again 

being present only in traces. The same was true of the silver/ The 

silver mines of Guadalcanal are situated north of the city of Seville. 

The country rock is mica-shist, and the mines were formerly very 

productive, but are now of little importance. 5

This discovery of platinum in a mineral containing copper, together 

with antimony and sometimes arsenic, and in an undoubted vein, is

"Miueralogischesaus dem nordlichen Ural, by E. V. Federov: Tschermaks mineral. Mittheil. 

Vol. XIV, 1894, pp. 85,143.

l>A. E. Nordenskjold, Poggendorffs Annalen, Vol. CXL, 1870, p. 330.

<r Notice explicative sur la carte mineralogique de la Siberie (prepared for the Paris Exposition, 1900), p. 10.

<1 T. W. Wilm, Russ. Phys. Chem. Gesell., St. Petersburg, March, 1893.

e Treatise on Ore Deposits, 3d edition, pp. 545-546.

r Notice sur 1'existence du platine dans les mines d'argent de Guadalcanal en Estramadura: 

Annales de Chemie, Vol. LX, 1806, p. 317.

S Ore Deposits, by J. A. Phillips, 1896, p. 493.

Bull. 193 02 6
82 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

extremely interesting and important. Reference may be here made 

to the additional occurrence of platinum with tetrahedrite in the Alps 

and the neighboring parts of France, as is described under " France," 

p. 65. The similar occurrence of platinum in the form of sperrylite 

in the Sudbury region of Ontario may be likewise mentioned in this 

connection, and the ore at the Rambler mine, Wyoming.

AFRICA. 

ALGIERS.

The only mention of platinum in Africa that has been met by the 

writer is a brief note by G. Aime upon an occurrence of galena at a 

place called La Bouzaria, a few miles from the city of Algiers. The 

communication was made to the French Academy and the sample 

was handed to MM. Berthier and Becquerel for verification of the 

reported presence of platinum, but the results of their assay have not 

been found. a

ASIA AND THE EAST INDIES. 

BORNEO.

Platinum was discovered in 1831 in the gold washings of Goenoeng 

Lawack, southeastern Borneo. The gravels occur in a hilly country. 

Their bowlders are diorite, syenite, copper, and fragments of quartz, 

which are mingled with a sand of quartz and magi ite. They range 

from several feet to several fathoms in thickness, and toward the coast 

are buried beneath marshes. Cinnabar is said to accompany the 

grains. When analyzed, sample.s afforded the following results:

Analyses of platinum nuggets from southeastern Borneo.

Pi................. ......................... .^...... ............:. .. .

ir.. .:...... ................................................. ...........

Rh .... ........... ...........................................-.:._.....

Pd_. .....................................................................

Os....... ..............................................................

An ......................................................... ............

Fe. ....................................................................

Cu. .......................... ..........................................

Hg

Fe2O3 .... ;..............................................................

Cu.. ....................................................................

Total. .............................................................

1

70.21

6.13

.50

1.44

1.15

3.97

5.80

.34

8.83

1.13

.50

100.00

2

71.870

7.920

1 1.286

.480

5.866

.430

8.430

.658

.420

2.240

.400

100.000

3

89 r,n

.66

.30

.20

10.67

.13

3.80

98.36

NOTES TO TABLE.

1 and 2. Bleekrode, Platinerz von Borneo: Poggendoff's Annalen, Vol. GUI, p. 656. Platinerz 

vou Goenoeng Lawack auf Borneo: Idem, Vol. CVII, p. 189. 

3. M. Booking, Liebig's Annalen, Vol. XCVI, 1855, p. 243. '

'Mineral de plomb sulfur6 d'Alger, by G. Aime: Comptes rendus, Vol. VII, 1838, p. 246.
KEMP.J NEW SOUTH WALES. 83

The Fe2 03 and Ou mentioned at the end of the analysis were insoluble in HC1.

The following microscopic minerals occur with the platinum grains: 

Topaz, zircon, ruby(?), diamond, quartz, and feldspar, but no ilmenite.

According to L. Plorner the gravels occur in the drainage area of 

the Banjermassing River, which rises in the Ratoos Mountains. The 

mountains consist of serpentine, diorite, and gabbro. A red clay lies 

at their bases and contains the gravels which hold the gold and platinum. The platinum is to the gold as 1 to 10, but at the time of Horner's observations it was thrown away. He estimates that 10,000 

ounces were being lost veaiiy (1842). a

BURMA.

Platinum has long been known as an associate of gold in the placers 

that are washed near Ava, in Upper Burma. The locality does not, 

however, appear to be commercially productive. 11

JAPAN.

In a catalogue of the minerals of Japan in the collection of Mr. T. 

Tsunashiro for the Paris Exposition platinum and iridosmine are 

reported as occurring in grains in the sands of the river Yubari, 

Ishikari.

AUSTRALIA AND OCEANIA. 

NEW CALEDONIA.

Scales of platinum have been observed in the gold-bearing sands of 

Andam Creek, below Boude. c

NEW SOUTH WALES.

Platinum has been discovered in several localities in New South 

Wales. The one which first attracted attention is in the northeastern 

corner of the province, on the seacoast, between the mouths of the 

Richmond and Clarence rivers. For many years the sands have been 

washed for gold. More or less platinum occurs as well, and from time 

to time a few ounces have been saved. It is, however, of no great 

economic importance.

In 1889 platinum was discovered in some peculiar deposits near 

Broken Hill, the famous lead-silver camp, in the extreme western part 

of the province. In the course of a few years the matter was carefully investigated, more particularly by Mr. J. B. Jaquet. In the 

platinum-bearing localities the country rock consists of schists,

"L. Horner, Poggendorff's Annalen, Vol. LV, 1842, p. 526. In Beck's Erzlagerstatten there is 

cited a paper by T. H. Posewitz, Das Diauianten-Vorkominen in Borneo: Jahrbuch K. Ungar. 

Landesanstalt, Vol. VII. It is not accessible to the writer.

b J. Prinsep, Poggendorff's Annalen, Vol. XXXIV, 1835, p. 380; A. Faber, Pharmac. Centralblatt, 1848, p. 569.

ePelatan, Les mines de la Nouvelle Caledonie, Paris, 1892, p. 53. This citation is quoted.from 

A. Lacroix, Mineralogie de France, Vol. II. p. 390.
84 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

gneisses, and quartzites, all of which are highly altered sediments of 

Lower Silurian age. They have been penetrated by dikes and bosses 

of granite and very basic diorite. Some serpentine likewise occurs 

within 6 or 7 miles. The platinum has been detected in a very peculiar ferruginous deposit, which is similar to the gossan of the normal 

vein. These gossany outcrops are irregular and never extensive. 

They cap the altered sediments and eruptive rocks alike, and no 

definite law of distribution can be detected, but. at times they certainly are situated at the junction of a compact and a more loosely 

textured rock. As they are followed down, the ferruginous character 

diminishes, and the deposit passes into ferruginous clays, and these

FIG. 8. Sketch map of New South Wales, showing the distribution of platinum.

into granules of silica cemented with kaolin, or into kaolin itself. 

Decomposed feldspathic rock ensues, which may represent either 

gneiss or a portion of a granite dike. There are no defined walls. 

The platinum-bearing rock passes gradually into the others. The 

platinum occurs distributed through the decomposed material, but 

more abundantly in the clays and kaolins than in the iron cap. Shafts 

have .been sunk to a depth of 20 feet, and many assays have been 

made. The yield is extremely variable, but it may be said to range 

from an ounce and a half down to a quarter of an ounce or less per 

ton. Copper has been met in some of the outcrops, but no traces of 

copper pyrites or other iron or copper sulphide ores have been found.
KEMP.] NEW SOUTH WALES. 85

No platinum has been detected by the eye. It is so extremely fine 

that it is known only by assay. Mr. Jaquet states that there is no 

analogy between these deposits and well-defined lodes. He concludes 

that they have been produced by springs, .which issued at one time 

where the deposits are now found. Iron, copper, and platinum were 

thus probably carried to the surface. The iron and copper were precipitated by the oxidizing action of the atmosphere, but the platinum 

was absorbed by the clays and kaolin. Platinum is not known, however, beyond a few feet in depth.

This, occurrence is a most extraordinary and interesting one, and 

proves beyond question that platinum is not limited to placers, nor, 

indeed, to basic igneous rocks. If Mr. Jaquet's conclusions are corGneiss and schists.

Z4TEET

Fio. 9. Geological section of the platinum deposit near Broken Hill, New South Wales.. (After

J. M. Jaquet.)

rect it would certainty seem to be demonstrated that platinum circulates in solution. Some years after the above discovery platinum was 

found in commercial quantity in the deep placers of Fifield. The 

country rocks at Fifield are Silurian and Devonian. Silurian slates 

have been penetrated by diorite, which consists of hornblende, plagioclase, and accessory sphene and quartz. One gold-bearing reef has 

been located in the diorite. The gold and platinum bearing gravels 

form a lead from 60 to 150 feet wide, which.extends'for a little over a 

mile. They are covered by 60 to 70 feet of loam, with occasional 

bands, of barren quartz conglomerates. The platinum and gold occur 

as small waterworn grains in crevices in the bed rock and in the few 

inches of sand just above' it. The nuggets range up to 5 dwt. It
86 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

is thought by Mr. Jaquet that the platinum and gold have been concentrated from the neighboring conglomerates, which are supposed 

to be Tertiary.

Platinum has also been discovered as a rare mineral in a few additional gold washings in the colony.

For a general list of papers bearing upon the economic resources of 

New South Wales, see the bibliography prepared by W. S. Dun, 

which has been published in the Records of the Geological Survey 

of New South Wales, Vol. VI, Part IV, pp. 183-357. For platinum, 

see more especially pp. 312-314. In this place only the more important 

papers will be mentioned:

On the beach sands, see the Records of the Geological Survey of New South 

Wales, Vol. IV, Part I, page 25; also Proceedings of the Royal Society of New 

South Wales, Vol. XXVI, p. 368. Brief notices appear in the Annual Reports of the 

Department of Mines and Agriculture.

On the deposit near Broken Hill, see J. B. Jaquet, Report of the Department of 

Mines and Agriculture for 1892, p. 143, and the Records of the Geological Survey 

of New South Wales, Vol. V, 1896, p. 33. An abstract appears in Zeitschr. Mr 

prak. Geologie, 1893, p. 322.

On the Fifield deposits, see G. W. Card, Records of the Geological Survey of 

New South Wales, Vol. IV, p. 130; also J. B. Jaquet, Report of the Department 

of Mines and Agriculture, 1895, p. 181, and Records of the Geological Survey of 

New South Wales, Vol. V, p. 34.

Attention should be directed at this point to the remarkable occurrence of platinum in Australian coals which is described earlier in 

this paper (p. 35), It is not known to the writer from which one of 

the colonies the coal was obtained.

NEW ZEALAND.

Platinum has been found over a considerable area in New Zealand 

almost entirely in connection with the gold washings. It occurs in

the eastern part of Middle Island, on the Cluthe River, and in a few

gold districts of the Nelson region in the northern part of Middle 

Island. Iridosmine is frequent in the latter. It was noticed in this 

district by von Hochstetter. Some small scales of iridosmine were 

brought back by him from the Takaka diggings. The occurrence of 

the metal in this district is of extreme interest when taken in connection with, the country rocks of the Urals and of British Columbia. 

As is well known, Baron von Hochstetter discovered in the Dun 

Mountains, near Nelson, the very peculiar rock, consisting of olivine 

and chromite, which he named dunite. It is almost exactly the same 

in mineralogical composition and texture as the chief mother rock 

which has been found in the other two platinum, districts just cited. 

One other interesting feature of the New Zealand gravels is the 

occurrence of bits of nickel-irons in association with the platinum. 

Like it they appear to be excessively basic segregations in igneous 

rocks. In the Zeitschrift fur praktische Geologie for June, 1898, p.
KEMP.J ' CONCLUSION. 87

222, a stray paragraph appears in which it is stated that in the Nelson 

district of New Zealand platinum has been found in an eruptive rock 

near the Takaka River. The eruptive breaks through limestone and 

the quantity is not commercial, but further particulars of the original 

source of the statement are not given.

Cox, S. H., Notes on Mineralogy of New Zealand; Trans. New Zealand Institute,

September to November, 1881. 

HAMILTON, W. S. On platinum crystals in the iron sands of the Orepuki gold

field: Trans. New Zealand Institute, Vol. XVIII, p. 402. 

HOCHSTETTEK,'F. M. Geologie von Neu-Seeland, Vol. 1,1864, p. 212.

TASMANIA.

Within the last few years the iridosmine which has been discovered 

in the gold placers of western Tasmania has assumed commercial 

importance. The need of osmium for certain forms of incandescent

burners had brought these placers into notice. Montgomery states 

that a good deal of platmiridium and iridiimi is obtained along the 

Savage River, having probably been derived from the serpentine 

which is known upstream. Platinum itself is reported f rom the Wilson 

River, and osmiridium, containing, however, very little.osmium, from 

parts of the King River gold field and the Salisbury field, near Beaconsfield. The original matrix has. not been discovered/1

CONCLUSION.

A careful review of the facts set forth in the preceding pages makes 

it possible to establish the following types of ore deposits and mineralogical associations for the platinum group of metals.

I. Placers. The platinum has been mostly derived from peridotites, 

but also in less degree from pyroxenites, gabbros, metamorphosed 

gabbros (now dioritic rocks), and syenites, often gneissoid.

Geologists have long appreciated the importance of the peridotites, 

but have not generally realized that, in a minor degree, the syenites 

are also of wide distribution and that they likewise deserve emphasis. 

Thus, for example, they are recorded in.the Urals, in Colombia, Brazil, and British Columbia.

II. Veins. Platinum or palladium has been observed in veins in 

connection with gold at Tilkerode in the Hartz; in Minas Geraes in 

Brazil; at Santa Rosa in Colombia; and at Beresovsk, Russia. 

Whether the platinum or palladium is or is not associated in these 

localities with other metallic sulphides, such as are mentioned below, 

does not appear from the incomplete records.

The peculiar deposit at Broken Hill, New South Wales, may be 

mentioned in this connection, although it differs from the type.

"A. Montgomery, The Useful Minerals of Tasmania.. (The statements are taken from a reprint 

kindly sent the writer by the author; but although evidently from some scientific society, it 

bears neither date nor reference.)
88 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS.

Platinum as a subordinate component in complex antimonial sulphides of copper and other metals (i e., tetrathedrite and bournonite) 

occurs in veins at Guadalcanal, Spain, and probably also in veins in 

the Val du Drac and elsewhere in eastern France. While this association is as yet only of mineralogical interest, it nevertheless shows 

that platinum can occur in this way, and makes it desirable that similar ores be tested where found.

Sperrylite occurs with covellite at the Rambler mine, Wyoming.

III. Platinum disseminated in eruptive rocks. The platinum occurs 

in two forms. The first is the arsenide, sperrylite, which is associated 

with copper-nickel ores in uralitized norites, at Sudbury, Canada. 

The mother rock of the North Carolina sperrylite has not yet been 

fully described and interpreted. Platinum in polydyrnite may be 

mentioned as a corollary to the Sudbury occurrence.

In the second form the platinum in the native state is contained 

in basic eruptives, more especially peridotites. The platinum is frequently involved in a very intimate way with chromite. In the most 

natural interpretation of the phenomena the two minerals are regarded 

as having crystallized in the normal passage of. the fused magma to 

the solidified condition. It should be clearly stated, however, that 

two views have long prevailed regarding chromite. Its deposits which 

are large enough to mine are so uniformly in serpentine, and are so 

often of such great extent, that the chromite has been believed by some 

to be a product of metamorphism. Its masses are supposed to be 

segregations which have resulted from the change of anhydrous chromium-bearing silicates to the hydrated form, with attendant separation of chromic oxide. a

On the other hand, chromite has been looked upon as a true igneous 

mineral; it has been discovered in basic eruptives, not in the least 

changed to serpentine; and it has therefore been believed to be, even 

when in serpentine, an unaltered survivor from a previous anhydrous 

magnesian eruptive.

In the one .or two cases in which platinum has been discovered in 

quantity in the country rock (on Mount Soloviev, Nijni-Tagilsk district) it has certainly been associated with an altered and serpentinized 

or even carbonated form of peridotite. It is fair to raise the question 

whether the presence of the platinum is in any way connected with 

this excessive alteration, or whether the change happened to take 

place where the platinum was previously abundant. In the Tulameen district A. W. Johnston and the writer have found platinum 

in serpentinized belts along dislocations, but many belts have also 

been tested which gave no platinum. In these occurrences the platinum is so excessively fine that evidence is not easily attainable as to 

its relations to the mother rock. In the present state of our knowla A brief review and discussion of this difference of opinion, together with citation of authorities, will be found in the writer's Ore Deposits of the United States and Canada, 1900, p. 413.
KEMP/J CONCLUSION. 89

edge it might be possible to develop an argument not easy to refute, 

that the platinum in these surroundings had entered in solution or 

had been deposited in connection with the secondary changes, and 

yet from a study of many nuggets and from very careful and detailed 

observation of the peridotite on the Tulameen, it is the writer's belief 

that the platinum is, in far the greater part, a true igneous mineral. 

This belief rests upon the following grounds:

1. Some nuggets contain the platinum associated with perfectly 

fresh olivine, and the relations are precisely those of two minerals 

which have crystallized from fusion and of which the platinum Is 

the older. Had there been any secondary introduction of platinum, 

so sensitive a mineral as olivine would haA^e shown some signs of 

change.

2. The platinum and chromite can be satisfactorily explained, as 

regards their relations, on the basis that the chromite is a slightly 

older mineral, which has become involved in and with the platinum, 

and that the latter has crystallized a little later. That the period of 

the much more abundant chromite has lasted into that of the rarer 

platinum, or even longer than it, is quite possible, because of the 

influence of the principle of solution. Chromite is somewhat more 

infusible than native platinum, a as has been shown experimentally 

by the writer's friend, A. W. Johnston. Nuggets of associated chromite and platinum have been placed before the oxyhydrogen blowpipe, and the platinum has been fused to globules and beads upon 

the still unaffected chromite, which, however, .finally slagged over. 

No mineral in a fused magma can crystallize out at a temperature above 

its fusing point, although its elements or ions may be held in the 

molten mass, because of phenomena of solution, at a temperature 

considerably below its fusing point under the conditions of pressure 

prevailing at the time. It is therefore quite reasonable that chromite should have first begun to crystallize, and that around centers 

thus set up platinum should have later separated out, and should even 

have entirely inclosed chromite or have been itself inclosed by the continued growth of the chromite. In this way the structures shown in 

the drawings of nuggets given on a previous page can be satisfactorily 

explained. That, however, the platinum and chromite which, perhaps in a very finely divided state, have thus once formed may have 

later passed into solution and have become segregated and concentrated is not to be denied, but, so far as the writer can learn, our 

knowledge of the chemical relations of the two elements is so limited 

that the nature of such solution and precipitation can not be outlined.

Iridosmine is invariably involved in a mechanical way with the 

platinum, and it also occurs as a separate mineral. Iridosmine is

* It must be remembered that the so-called native platinum is not the pure metal, but an alloy 

of predominant platinum with other metals of the group and with never-failing and important 

iron, minor copper, and frequent gold, all of which aft'ect the fusibility,.
90 PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS. [BULL. 193.

excessively infusible, and because of this character it probably crystallized before the platinum, and then became mechanically involved 

in the latter. When now found free it probably formed amid surroundings where little or no platinum was present.

When platinum is observed associated with olivine and free from 

chromite, it is probable that in this portion of the magma there 

chanced to be little or no chromic oxide, just as, vice versa, we 

repeatedly find chromite and no platinum.

J. H. L. Vogt, in one of his valuable and suggestive papers, has 

outlined a course for the crystallization and separation of the platinum somewhat different from the one here given. a Vogt had his 

attention specially focussed on the iron in the platinum and iridosmine, and endeavored to place the latter two in line with the terrestrial 

and meteoric irons of various kinds. In the present discussion attention is fixed upon the phenomena of the chromite, platinum, and 

iridosmine as presented in their actual occurrences. Vogt, consequently, considers the iridosmine as the culminating stage in the separation of the platinum group, whereas the writer regards it as the 

first development and the forerunner.

Stanislas Meunier has taken a quite different view regarding the 

origin of the platinum as well as of terrestial irons, of magnetite, 

chromite, and even of other metallic minerals. A. Inostranzeff has 

remarked the irregular shape of some of the Russian platinum and 

its lack of crystal form as observed in the mother rock. Professor 

Meunier lays great emphasis upon this character, and draws analogies 

between it and the relations of certain magnetites, chromites, and terrestial and meteoric irons to their associated silicates. The metallic 

minerals are described as ramifying throughout the other silicates 

and as even penetrating their cleavage cracks in such a way as to 

support the inference that they are of later origin than the silicates. 

Professor Meunier then states that by introducing volatilized chlorides 

of iron, nickel, platinum, etc., together with hydrogen, into a porcelain tube heated to redness and containing fragments of pyroxene, 

olivine, or rock, he is able to deposit the metals or alloys of several 

metals in the interstices in such a way as to imitate closely the natural 

occurrences. By varying the gases he can make magnetite, chromite, 

and even silicates. He therefore concludes that the native platinum 

has been brought in, presumably in a similar manner, and has been 

deposited so as to yield the nuggets. b

While it is of great interest to know that the single metals, their 

alloys, and even the silicates can be deposited in this way, yet crystallization from fusion appeals to the writer as equally competent to 

bring about the observed results and as having much greater claims 

to probability and therefore to general confidence.

"Compare Zeitschr. fur prak. Geologie, July, 18'J3, pp. 267-268.

l> A summary of much previous work by Professor Meunier is given in the Comptes rendus 

de la VII Session, Congres Geologique International, p. 157.
KEMP.] CONCLUSION. ' 91

One or two final conclusions of practical value may be drawn in 

closing this paper.

1. Experience thus far gained leads to the conclusion that platinum 

is very sparsely distributed in its mother rock and that tho chances 

of finding it in quantities sufficient to mine are small. There is, 

nevertheless, a chance. If found, the recovery of the platinum by 

any means other than stamping and washing remains to be solved, 

and as the metal may be in a very finely desseminated state, this 

problem is a serious feature of the situation.

2. Large and permanent placers are to be looked for only in very-old 

land areas which have been subjected to protracted degradation and 

concentration.

3. In the assay of antimonial, arsenical, and other copper ores, but 

especially of tetrahedrite (gray copper or fahlerz), it is worth while to 

look for small percentages of platinum.

4. Deposits of chromite deserve similar testing.

INDEX.

Pago. 

Africa, platinum in ....................... 82

Alcoupal, French Guiana, platinum from 62 

Aiine, G., cited ............................ 82

Alberta, platinum in...................... 51

Algiers, platinum in ...................... 82

Allopalladiurn, character of .............. 15

Analysis, coal.............................. 35

iridosmino............................. 21

. ouro preto-..-....--..-..-............. 61

peridotite.............................. 44,75

platinum nuggets .................. 18-19,82

platinum ore........................ 50,56,57

porpezite ............................^. 61

Arizona, platinum in country rock in.... 33

platinum localities in ................. 51

Asia, platinum in.......................... 82-83

Augito-syenito from Tulamoen Eiver,

British Columbia, plate showing . 46 

Australia, platinum in .................... 83-86

platinum in coal from................. 35

Austria-Hungary, platinum in............ 65

Ava, Bxwma, platinum in................. 83

Bandon, Oreg., platinum at............... 52

Becquerel, A. C. See Berthier, P., and

Becquerel, A. C. 

Bee Gum district, Cal., platinum in....... 52-53

Berthier, P., and Becquerel, A. C.,cited.. 32 

Berzelius, J. J., cited...................... 19,20

Bisersk and Goroblagodat districts, Russia, map of.--.-.---. ----------- 70

platinum in.................... ..... 69-74

Blake, W. P., cited........................ 52

Booking, M., cited......................... 19

Borneo, platinum in.............-----..-.. 82-83

Boussingault, , cited ................. 65

reference to.. -- ------------------- 31

Boyertown, Pa., platinum near ........... 59

Brazil, platinum in country rock in...... 31-32

platinum localitiesin. _..........-... 60-61

British Columbia, platinum in cotintry

rock in......-...---..........---... 34

platinum localities in.................. 38-51

See also Tulameen River. 

Broken Hill, New South Wales, platimim

at................... .. . 83-85

section near....... .._..._.........._ 85

Bulhnan.C., cited....................... 57,59,60

Burma, platinum in I-..--..-.-------------- 83

California, platinum in Oregon and...... 51,56

Canada, platinum localities in _... ...__ 36-51 

Catlett, C. See Clarke, F. W., and Catlett, C. 

Chapeau Mountain, France, platinum on. 65-66

Page.

Chemical composition of native platinum and iridosniine..... ._...-. 16-25

Chemical relations of platinum .......... 11-12

Chromite, occurrence of, with platinum. 25 

Clarke, F. W., and Catlett, C., reference

to .................................. 33,37

Claus, C., cited............................ 19

Clingman, T. J., reference to............. 58

Coal, analysis of------.----.-..-.---------- 35

platinum in............................ 35

Collier, P., analysis by . ......._. _._.. 57

cited............... . . ... _..- 1.9

Colombia, nugget of platinum, gold, and

chromite from..................... 24

platinum in country rock in.......... 31

platinum localitiesin. ....._..... .. 62-65

sketch map of .- . . .-..- ..-. 63 

Colorado, platinum in......--.--.....-..-- 57

Colorado River, Colombia, platinum

. from, plate showing............... 14

Copper, percentage of, in platinum nuggets ........ ................. 22

Country rock, platinum in ............ 29-34

dishing, H. P., reference to.............. 58

Damour, A. A., cited...................... 62

Daubr6o, G. A.,cited.............._..... 77

reference to....---- ................. 30

Davidson, J. M., cited..................... 35

Dawsou, G. M., cited......_....._.... 39

Day, D. T., cited .......................... 57

quoted ........ -- .. ......------ 52-53

reference to.-..----..----..-----.------ 31

Debray, J. H. See Deville, H. St. C., and 

Debray, J. H....... ............

Derby, 0. A., reference to................ 61

Devillo, H. St. C., and Debray, J. H.,

cited .......................... 19,20

Dickson, C. W., reference to.............. 33

El Choco, Colombia, platinum in......... 62-64

Emnions, S. P., reference to.............. 38

Engelhart, M. von, cited.................. 30

discovery of platinum by............. 29

Eruptive rocks, platinum in.............. 88-91

Europe, platinum in ...................... 65-82

Pederov, E. V., cited...................... 81

Fifleld, New South Wales, platinum, at.. 85 

France, platimun in country rock in..... 32

platinum localities in ................. 65-66

French Guiana, platinum in.............. 62

Genth, F. A.,cited......................... 33,59

Georgia, platinum in...................... 57

Germany, platinum in country rock in... 32-33 

platinum localities in.................. 66

93
94 INDEX.

Page. 

Goenoeng Lawack, Borneo, platinum

from ............................... 83-83

Gold, occurrence of, with platinum...... 26

percentage of, in platinum nuggets.. 22 

Gold sands, platinum-bearing, pan tests

of................................... 54-55

Goroblagodat and Bisersk districts, Russia, map of.....-...-....---..--...- 70

platinum in...........................- 69-74

Grants Pass, Oreg., platinum at..__...-.. 53 

Great Britain, platinum in................ 67

Guadalcanal, Spain, platinum at........... 81

Gueymard, E., cited....................... 32,66

Guiana, platinum in.................... 62

Hamelin Creek, French Guiana, platinum

from ............................... 62

Hartt, C. P., cited ......................... 31.

reference to-...........--....--....--.. 60

Hidden, W.E., cited ...................... 59

reference to.........-...........----... 34.

Hillebrand, W. F., analysis by------------ 44

HofEman, G. C., analysis by .............. 50

cited............. --.. ......-- . 20

Holden, E. L. See Hutchins, C. C., and

Holden, E. L. 

Honduras, platinum in.................... 60

Horner, L., cited .......................... 83

Hunti T. S., cited................--..-.- 36

Hutchins, C. C., and Holden, E. L., cited. 36 

Idaho, platinum in .............--.----- 57

Inostranzeff, A., quoted................... 76-81

reference to.. ................----.- 30

Iridium, percentage of, in platinum nuggets ......................... - 20

Iridosmine, analyses of ................... 21

character of......-.---.--- ------- 15-16

from Slatousk, Ural Mountains, plate

showing...................-------.- 42

percentage of, in platinum nuggets.. 21 

Iron, percentage of, in platinum nuggets. 22 

Iss River, Russia, platinum along .... 70-73

Iss and Veeya rivers, Russia, geological

map of headwaters of............. 71

Ivalo Eiver, Lapland, platinum near..... 81

Japan, platinum in......--.--.------------ 83

Jaquet, J. B., reference to ................ 34,84

Johnston, A. W., acknowledgments to... 64

cited.....-.....-.-.----.-------------.- 33

reference to --------------------------- 31,34

Joss,H. J., reference to................... 79

Knight,"W. C., cited..-...-.-....--..------ 32

reference to.------------T..------------ 34

Koksharov, H. T., cited.................... 26,77

Lacroix, A., cited.-------------------.--... 65

Lancaster County, Pa., platinum in...... 59

Laurite, character of.........-..-.-.--- 16

Lockyer, J. N., cited...................... 36

Louis, H., reference to.-...-...---------.. 75

Lumpkin County, Ga., platinum in....... 57

Mallet, W., cited.........-..---....-...--.- 67

. Men-ill, G. P., aid by. ..-.- - -- - 75 

Meteorites,platinum in.--..--------.---.- 35

Meunier, S.,cited...-------.'------ ---.-- 90

Mexico, platinum in country rock in..... 31

platinum localities in....-------------- 59-60

Page. 

Mica, occurrence of, with platinum...... 26

Minas Geraes, Brazil, platinum in........ 60

Minchin, , cited .............. r .......... 19,20

Mineralogy of platinum nuggets of Tulameen district...................... 43-47

Minerals associated with platinum nuggets ................................ 25,26

containing platinum .................. 12-16

Mingaye.J.C.H., cited.................... 20

Montana, platinum in............._...... 57

Montgomery, A., cited.................... 87

Mount. See next word of name.

Ned Wilson Branch, North Carolina,

sperrylite at....................... 59

New South Wales, map of _............ 84

platinum in country rock in...... __ 34

platinum localities in.................. 83-86

New York, platinum in ................... 57-58

New Zealand, platinum in................ 86-87

Nijni-Tagilsk district, Russia, geological

map of............................. 74

platinum in._........................ 74-76

Nordenskj61d, A. E., cited ................ 81

North America, platinum localities in.... 36-60

North Carolina, platinum in country rock

in.....,___._____.____.__.__..._...__ 34

platinum localities in.................. 58-59

Northwest Temtory.platinumin........ 51

Olivine, occurrence of, with platinum... 25 

Ontario, platinum in country rock in.... 33

platinum localities in ................. 37-38

Oregon, platinum in California and...... 51-56

Osann, G., cited ............................ 19,20

Osmium, percentage of, in platinum nuggets .................................... 21

Ouro preto, analysis of.--................. 61

Palladium,character of........_....._ 15

percentage of, in platinum nuggets.. 21 

Patterson,R.M., cited............_.__ 51

Pelatan, , cited .......................... " 83

Penfleld, S. L. See Wells, H. L., and Penfield, S. L. 

Pennsylvania, platinum in country rock

in................................... 33

platinum localities in ................. 59

Peridotite,! analyses of .................... 44,75

in platinum nuggets of Tulameen district, British Columbia ............ 44-47

from Mount Soloviev, Russia, photo-.

micrograph of-.--...--- - -.., 46

from Tulameen district, British Columbia, plate showing ............ 42

Perm, map of..-....-.....-.-..--.....- 67

Pettenkoffer, M., cited.................... 32

Phillips, J. A., cited....................... 31,81

Placers, platinum found in __...... _... 87

Platiniridium, character of......-----.... 15

Plattsburg, N. Y., platinum at............ 57

Porpezite, analysis of _-..___-.-..-.._-. 61 

Port Orford, Oreg., platinum at. ...... 52

Posepny, F., reference to .......... .... 38

Pratt, J. H.,reference to..-.......--....-.. 34

Prinsep, J., cited .......................... 83

Purington, C. W., reference to........... 72,73

Pyroxene, occurrence of, with platinum. 26
INDEX. 95

Page. 

Pyroxonite from Tulameeii River, British

Columbia, plate showing.......... 46

in platinum nuggets of Tulamocn

River. British Columbia.......... 47

Quebec, platinum localities in............ 36

Rhodium, percentage of, in platinum nug-

. gets................................ 20

Rose, G., cited............................. 30,77

Rosonbusch, H., cited..................... 79

Rossler, H., cited.......................... 132,33

Russia, platinum in ....................... 67-82

Ruthenium, percentage of, in platinum

nuggets.....-..--.---....-----..... 21

Rutherford County, N. C., platinum iii__ 58-59 

Saiidberger, F., cited...---..'.............. 31,60

San Juan, Colombia, platinum in......... 62-64

Santo Domingo, platinum in.............. 60

Saytzeff, A. M., reference to.............. 71

Seamon, W. H., analysis by............... 61

Shepard, C. U., cited...................... 58

Sinaloa, Mexico, platinum at............. 59

Slatousk, Ural Mountains, iridosmine

from,plate showing ............... 42

Snake River, Idaho, platinum along ..... 57

Soloviev, Mount, Russia, peridotite of,

photomicrograph of..--.'.......... 46

South America, platinum in............'.. 60-65

Spain, platinum in......................... 81-82

Sperry, A. L., reference to ............... 33,37

Sperrylite, character of................... 16

in North Carolina.-------_.......... 59

occurrence of,......--------.-......... 37

Sperrylito crystals from Vermillion mine,

Ontario............................ 14

Sudbury, Ontario, platinum at ............ 37

Svanberg,L. P., cited....--..--.-.--....-- 19

Page. 

Tasmania, platinum in.................... 87

Terreil, A.,cited........................... 25

Thirkell & Co,, analysis by................ 35

Tilkorode, Germany, platinum at......-.- 66

Troltarelli, G., cited....................... &5

Tulameen district, British Columbia, assays of platinum rocks from...... 49-50

augite-syeiiite from, plate showing... 46 

geological mapof...................... 38

peridotite from, plate showing. _... 42 

platinum of-.................... .... 38-51

plate showing................... 14,24,28

pyroxenite from, plate showing...... 4.6

Tura River, Russia, course of............. 69

United States, platinum in................ 51-59

Ural Mountains, iridosmine from, plate

showing............................ 42

platinum in country rock in.......... 29-31

platinum localities in.................. 76-81

Vauquelin, L. N.,cited.................... 32,60

Veeja and Iss rivers, Russia, geological

map of headwaters of............. 71

Veins,platinum foundin.................. 87

Vermillion mine, Ontario, Sperrylite crystals from........................... 14

Vogt, J. H. L.,cited....................... 90

Wadsworth, M. E., cited.................. 79

Walker, T. S., reference to................ 37

Waterman, W. J., cited.-........,....--.- 39

Wells, H. L., and Penfleld, S. L., cited ... 32,34 

reference to....... ..'................... 33,37

Williams, Ariz., platinum near........... 51

Wilm, T. W., cited ........................ 81

Wyoming, platinum in country rock in.. 34 

Yaqui River, Santo Domingo, platinum in CO 

Zepharovitch, , cited..................... 66

o