Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1912-12-26
SAVING PLATINUM
.l,ittle Drama Enacted In Uncle
Sans Assay Offices.
SCIENCE IN THE STAR ROLE.

Matalo ~ 0SAOO ISOVNs ivy
Scared q Brilliant Success.
Even the United States government.
has become possessed Of the present
A.v fever to eliminate any waste and
sron leaks In the methods OF doing
.hnys The results. particularly In
.hs mipts and assay Offices. have been
remarkable.
For instance. the old method Of ex-
,racting gold from baser metals when
y came from the mint consisted merely
Of treating the smelter bars Of gold
with nitric acid. which dissolved out
the baser metals. leaving the gold with
a small percentage of impurities that
could be removed by fusing with inter
Germany went the United States one
better in this. The professors over
there, men whose genius for scientific
detail is unsurpassed by those of any
other nation. perfected q process for
refining by electricity. Simply stated.
II ia nothing more nor less than electric
Mating The smelter bars are placed
in the plating bath. and the gold is de-
posited In an absolutely pure state.
leaving the base metals behind in solu
tion.
II was this residue that interested
the high brow professors. The fact
that platinum il frequently found with
gold has been recognized ever since
the science Of metallurgy was in swad-
ding clothes; also the fact that gold
and platinum have one quality In CON-
mon-i e., that no single acid known
will dissolve them. 1t takes q comb
nation Of nitric and muriatie acids to
get either Of these two metals in solu-
uon. silver. on the other hand. Is
readily soluble in nitric acid. No one
ever thought Of testing nitric acid
solution OF silver for the presence Of
platinum because Of the theory, sound
as religion. that platinum could not be
dissolved by nitric acid Therefore. 1t
was argued. II there wasn't enough
silver in the solution to make 1t worth
while to extract 1t. then, of course
there could not be any platinum. Sc.
into the sewer 1t went
The professors began to experiment
At the first step they uncovered the
dusky gentleman in the wood pile
They discovered curious fact--name-
". that. while platinum alone was not
soluble in nitric acid. some Of its al
Toys with silver were soluble For
instance, a composition Of s per cent
platinum In silver Is readily soluble
Right there was the clew leading to the
discovery that for years out Of mem
DRY untold quantities of the precious
metal, essential above all others 10
electrical manufactures. had been run
ming into the sewer. All solutions were
carefully tested. Salts Of iron were
added. precipitates supposedly of silver
were analyzed. and since then plati-
mum at the rate Of 5000 month has
been offered for sale by Uncle Sam.
1t Is interesting to trace the sources
OF this gold In that the facts suggest
tnat sooner or later deposits of plati-
mum In large quantities are going to
De found. Little of the gold coming
from the western United states and
Alaska contains platinum II Is found
almost entirely in the gold mined In
Mexico and South America. Gold from
these districts Is coming IN larger
quantities wear after year 1t Is found
ior instance. in what Is popularity
KNOWN as Guinea gold Guinea gold
nas peculiar ulster all It's own 1t Is
n'ehly priced In the jewelry trade for
THIS same peculiar color
Ihere are vast reaches Of wilderness
10 south America that, filled with
u'iasInic swamps and lurid savages
armed with poisoned arrows. have 50
Tar resisted the advance of the white
man 1t seems not too much to expect
.nat sooner or later when these dis
u'cts are exploited. platinum in large
quantities will be discovered Some
nret Harte is probably a-bOrning now
y. " sing the romance of Platinum gulch
ue romance of gold is founded on the
"a'efiai consideration of S2O67 an
ounce, which the governments Of the
ear'h nave decreed must he its price
10" and for evermore They will
'aNe TO build second story exten
s''' on the romance of the metal that
worth twice as mucf as gold
wv" that Uncle Sam is finding this
a n,le OF PLATINUM in the supposedly un-
moved bars that the big refining com
'an'eN are sending in from their smelt
r.s Tue Interesting question is arising.
!, no owns the platinum. Uncle Sam or
lne rehneries! Uncle Sam bought their
eo,u refined it for them at cost and
'a'd them dollar for dollar out of his
,oVhet. Actually he WINS ont on the
!. Now that he has stopped
te 'e"K IN his drainpipe. he Is "A little
naturally. If one can play mt a game
w can play mt the same game Some
:. Tue digger smeiter companies. whose
,s'pui -is sufficient. have undertaken
ae TASK OF recovering this platinum
~, ae'''se'ves II Uncle Sam can help out