The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-07-15
PLATINUM FIRST
FOUND IN COLOMBIA
The Beautiful and Very Expensive Metal
Comes Now Almost Exclusively
from That Region.

The fact that platinum, that beautiful
and very expensive metal just now worth
about six times as much as gold, was
first discovered in South America in a
section Of what is now the republic Of
Colombia is not exactly a matter Of com
mon knowledge Furthermore, il may
not be generally known that the scien.
fists, dentists, and manufacturers Of the
most expensive jew"lry in the United
States must now depend for their sup
plies Of the precious white gold" practi.
cally entirely upon the Colombian mines,
for the Russian sources Of supply are
for the time being "out of the game"
Still, there seems no imminent danger
Of Colombia's resources in platinum be-
ing exhausted They have been mining
it down there for $50 years, but the out
put seems TO be constantly increasing
As an instance, according to the current
number of the Bulletin of the Pan
American Union Washington, D. c., the
exports of the metal during the past
three years were yalued as follows: In
1915 at 1907 800; 1915, at 81 $50, 900; and
for the year 1917 at 81, 100, 100.
Incidentally, ii is interesting to note
that at one time-and that not 80 very
long ago-the crude platinum grains that
were mixed in with the ore Of certain
gold mines in Colombia were regarded as
a waste product, and thrown away. DR..
Geo. F. Kunz, Tiffany's great expert on
precious stones and metals, in an arti-
Gle recently contributed to the "Bulle-
tin of the Pan American Union tells of
it as follows:
"The rejection of platinum as a waste
product in the operation of refining gold
led TO some strange happenings in Colon
bia, The platinum separated from the
gold by the dry, or blowing system,
was either cast into the street or thrown
through cracks in the building where the
work was done. Later, when platinum
became valuable, a considerable quaint.
ty of the metal was thus discovered in
Quibdo, capital of the Choco district
where much gold refining was done. As a
result the entire town Of some ] 800 in.
habitants was turned into a mine, and
the natives were employed in working
the streets for the government, while
many property owners mined under their
houses. In one case man went so far
as to tear down his store, and was re.
warded by recovering enough platinum
to rebuild on a larger scale and clear
$4,000 in American gold besides"
DIR. Kunz' article is replete with in.
teresting information about platinum
and, among other things, he tells how
the world first learned of the existence
of surh a rnmarkahIa natal
In view of the many uses to which
platinum can now be put and of it's in.
creasing value it seems strange that Flu.
ropean knowledge of its existence is dat.
ed not farther back than 1895, when the
South American deposits, now within
the limits Of the republic of Colombia
were visited by the Spanish traveller, Dor
Antonio de Ulloa tl7l6-l795), who had
been appointed with Don Jorge Juan tc
accompany French scientific expedition
sent out by the government to execute
the measurement of an arc Of the merid.
ian on the plain of Quito. Although the
first publication of Ulloa's observations
was made in his 'Relaeion historical del
viaie a la America meridional,' issued in
two folio volumes at Madrid in l74s
specimens of the new metallic ore had
already been brought to England from
Jamaica as early as l74l, by Mr.. Charles
Wood, an English metallurgist, the ma.
terial having reached him by way OF
Cartagena in the then New Granada
later part of Colombia. OF the appear
ance and qualities of the new metal, Mr.
Wood stated that the 'Platina de Pinto
otherwise called Juan Blanco,' was
smooth and brilliant, of uniform struc.
ture and not liable TO rust or tarnish on
exposure to the air. He adds that the
Spaniards did not take it from veins as
ore, or as metallic masses, but in powder
or small grains. He believed that it was
rarely secured entirely pure, since in all
examples he had seen he always observed
an admixture of black and shining grains
similar to those found on the coasts OF