The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-06-27
Romance of Platinum Minina.

Romance of Platinum Mining.
From the Wide World Magazine.
Platinum is the most costly Of the
precious metals, being worth over 500
an ounce to the finder. Being the hard
est of metals, and possessing a very
high melting point, 1t has been COM
Wandered by the various govern
ments for use in the making of aero
plane and hydroplane engines and in
other weapons Of war. 1t is, in fact, a
metal essential to winning the war.
The price of refined platinum in the
United States is five times the value of
gold, while at Columbian ports and on
the rivers of that republic, whence
steadily increasing quantities are be-
ing obtained, the price actually now
received for the crude metal by the ma
tive miners is the equivalent Of 20
pounds 10 shillings per ounce. In con-
junction with Columbian platinum,
other rare metals are found and ex-
tracted In the process of refining, such
as iridium, palladium, osmium (osmir-
idium), rhodium and ruthenium, all Of
which have special attributes, and are
correspondingly costly, some of them
closely approaching platinum in value.
AS may be supposed, a metal which
receives SO much attention from gov
also In Russia@must POSSESS remark
able properties, which may be briefly
stated: Alloyed with one of it's by
products, iridium, platinum is the
hardest of metals. 1t will not tarnish
or oxidize, and is exceedingly ductile;
it's melting point is very high: its
electric resistance and chemical re-
fractory qualities are corresponding
~ great. To use a technical phrase,
difficult to express otherwise, it pos
sesses the lowest co-efficient of eX-
pansion Of any metal; is aid to have
a greater specific gravity-that is, to
be heavier-than any other known
substance; is impervious to the corros-
I've action or oxygen or any other gas;
and, except in aqua regia "a combina>
ton OF nitric and h~ydrochloric acids),
1t is insoluble in acids.
The basis of high explosives is a
plentiful supply of acids, and particu-
larly or strong tuning sulphuric acid,
in the manufacture of which platinum
may be said to be an essential. In
deed, it is a very necessary article to
winning the war. The metal stands
almost entirely alone in its applica-
ton to magnetos, the contact points of
the ignition system Of engines for aero
planes, hydroplanes, and all kinds OF
petrol motors, as also for standard
therlmo couples, telephone and tele-
graph instruments, and for other pur-
poses, almost as vital, but too num-
erous to mention.
Its high price is due to its great
scarcity. Fifty years ago it was worth
20 shillings an ounce. A little short
Of two centuries ago, in 1877, when
first discovered in Colombia, 1t had no
market value at all, but was a per-
quisite Of the monarchs of Spain, to
whom Colombia belonged. AS the ma
tive finder received no reward, out
was obliged to surrender to the author
tiles any platinum which he had dis
| nnx,arnI Ia rynrbfno ~ III &c.. xN1I
he naturally found very little, and only
a small quantity was sent to Madrid
until some sort Of reward became OBJ
tainable. AS a matter Of fact, the
native miner generally threw away as
valueleSs the platinum he found. AS
the washing of the gravels was largely
carried out near the miners huts,
where later on the platinum n gold
were separated, nan houses have re-
Gently been pulled down for the purpose
Of recovering from the earth below the
platinum which had been thrown away.
The earliest recorded price paid for
platinum was two pesos a pound, in
1888, or, say, about four shillings pres
ent currency for a quantity of precious
metal worth at his time 240 pounds
in the United Kingdom and l 1900 in
the United States. The next recorded
price was IL plaster or pieces OF
eight" per pound, which would be
| SANAA W S'SNN 80 ~ AAop' NtIA -
days platinum vas used for making
cups and other utensils, just as we use
pewter and Britannia metal, and some
times in place Of bronze for statues.
AS platinum Is indestructible and the
zeal 1900 is not so very long ago there
should be a considerable number Of
exceedingly valuable cups jugs, ewers,
coffee pots and other articles still re-
naming in Spain, where the bulk of
this early platinum found its way, TO
gay nothing Of Duets and statues. OF
the latter, two OF a king of Spain, one
Of pure platinum, the other of plati-
mum alloyed with copper are known
to have been sent from Colombia as
gifts to the monarch they represented.
No records are available of the first
discovery Of platinum in the Ural
mountains OF Russia, but that its orig
inal source is dunite rock has been
proved there, as elsewhere. but nowhere
has Wha may be called the 'matriX'
rock been found sufficiently rich to
warrant the employment of machinery
and stamps for crushing it. AS in the
republic Of Colombia, Russian platinum
Is obtained by dredging. s~lu!cing or
hydraulicing, or by native workers,
from a luvials-washed dirt and
gravels-in which, during the course
of ages, it has been deposited, but 1t
would appear that the Russian de-
posits are becoming exhausted. For
some years previous to 1912 Russia
yielded 95 per cent of the total Of the
worlds production, but the Russia:
yield, 900, 900 troy ounces in 1911, fell
to lS5, 3S1 ounces in 1912, whilst in 1916
it was only 1865 ounces.
No rich deposits Of platinum have
been found in the British empire, far
flung though it is. 1t has n little. New
South Wales and Tasmania in 1916
produced 272 ounces, and Canada GO
ounces. In the same year the United
States produced from it's own ores 75O
unces. There remains the republic OF
Colombia. which in 1916 yielded 25,0C0
ounces and is reported to have pro-
1uced round about 50 00n OUNCES in