Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1904-11-19
PLATINUM IN CUSTER COUNTY.
Property of the Ivanhoe Mining Conn
pany Carries Platinum.
TBlack Hills Mining Review

[Black Hills Mining Review.l
On the property of the Ivanhoe Min
ing company, eight miles east of Custer
at what is known as Camp Ivanhoe
(Chilkoo has been found an extensive
deposit of greenish gray rock which
eminent chemists declare carries plat.
inum. Platinum is a heavy silvery
white metal, higher in specific gravity
than gold, insoluble, like gold, in any
single acid, and fuses at very high
temperature. Its highly refractory nat.
ure has caused it to be quite extensively
used In incandescent lights, jewelry, and
in the manufacture of apparatus for
chemical laboratories 1t commands a
price trifle above gold-a: present
about 5000 per ounce. 1t is found
chiefly in placers, and up to date has
been detected in ores only in very rare
instances, so that this discovery in Gus.
ter county promises to be of importance
If sufficient quantities occur it will be
prohtably mined, but from a scientific
standpoint at least, it is of extraordin.
airy interest. The following letters from
chemist in the employ Of the govern
ment, located at Washington, are self.
explanatory. They are addressed to
the treasurer of the Ivanhoe company
VINO resides at indianapolis, Ind.
Washington, March 30, 1904.
81 have completed an investigation
OF the ore samples sent to me by you, as
far as | can 90 with the amount OF
material that you have placed at my
disposal. The problem has been one, l
am free to cofess, of most unusual diff
Guilty. haye, however, become very
much interested in it and haye treated
the work maihly from an unofficial
standpoint am pref ared to tell you
now, that your ore contains undOubted
ly not only platinum but other noble
metals of the platinum group. In my
preliminary investigations l naturally
picked and selected from the specimens
those portions which appeared to be the
richest in mineral constituents. The re-
suit was that by the time was prepar-
quantities OF the ore, only the leaner
portions remained From these l have
succeeded in extracting sufficient
weight of these noble metals to repre-.
sent i Of an ounce to the the ton OF
ore.
Il do not find any trace of uranium
present. and moreover if you are cor
rect in your claim that gold is present
/ can only say that haye not been able
to separate any gold from the noble
metals above mentioned. need no say
! to you that if this is an American ore
and If it exists in any quantity, the
problem is a most interesting one frOul
a scientific standpoint, and it is possible
that it might be equally interesting from
a financial one. "As have followed up
this difficult investigation, | can only
say that think it is due me to have
considerable larger quantities of the ore
put in my possession, so that l can OBJ
tain enough of the metals TO make com
plete Quanitive separations. Of
course | do not know what
plaps you may have about
any further work you may want done
but should be very much pleased il
you:thought you could trust me to un.
ldertake the complete work, and | would
also very much like to know all you feel
that you can tell as to the location and
extent of the ore bodies which these
samples represent. In addition to the
metals spoken of above, | do not find
anything of an unusual nature. have
tested carefully for any signs Of Radiant
activity, with negative results. The ore
contains large quantities of iron and
manganese; the large bulk Of the gan
que material being quartzose.
fNerv trulv vours'