The Platinum Situation in the United States 



Win LI-:, ihuiiiji; the Great War, the 

 use of platinum for catalyzing 

 ]nocesses in the production of con- 

 centrated suljjhuric acid for the manufac- 

 ture of explosives, for dehydrating nitric 

 acid, and for aeroplane and other war 

 machinery, has been made especially prom- 

 inent, the wide employment of it in electric 

 appliances of various kinds is at least of 

 equal importance. Large amounts of plati- 

 num have been used for dental work, because 

 of its durability and its resistance to the 

 action of acids. The latter qualities have 

 made it of the greatest possible value also 

 for various chemical vessels, such as cru- 

 cibles and retorts. Within the last ten or 

 fifteen years it has been employed by manu- 

 facturing jewelers in many ways, such as 

 for watcheases and for other of the smaller 

 ornamental pieces, and for precious stone set- 

 tings, more especially for diamond settings. 

 Because of the increasing demand for plati- 

 num in the war industries, the War In- 

 dustries Board decreed that after Octoljer 

 1, 1918, the use of this metal in the manu- 

 facture of new stocks of jewelry or for 

 other nonessential purposes should be pro- 

 hibited. The same law applies to iridium, 

 palladium, osmium, ruthenium, rhodium and 

 compounds thereof. It is said that the 

 Government has a sufficient supply on hand 

 after commandeering the stock of unmanu- 

 factured metal, and the prohibition, there- 

 fore, does not extend to platinum jewelry 

 already made up, which can be sold as here- 

 tofore — that is, by manufacturers or dealers 

 licensed by the War Industries Board. The 

 decree is the result of a special emergency 

 act to effect Government control over plati- 

 num, iridium, and palladium, passed by 

 Congress October 6, 1917, and amended July 

 1, 1918. The situation at that time, after a 

 careful survey, was recognized as serious. 

 Platinum in the L'nited States sold in 1890 

 at .$16 a troy ounce and is selling now at 

 $105 a troy ounce, five times the cost of 

 gold. This situation arose directly from the 

 embargoes of 1915 put upon exportation 

 from the countries at war, England, France, 

 Germany, and Eussia, and from the practical 

 cessation of the Russian supply, followed 

 by increased demands after our entry into 

 the war. Prior to the war, Russia had 



furnished 95 ]>er cent of the world's entire 

 stock. The cutting off of the Russian sup- 

 ply, the principal source of the metal, the 

 imperative need for it for war purposes, and 

 the consequent stringent measures taken by 

 the various governments to restrict its ex- 

 jiortation, have operated to limit its use 

 greatly, and have also induced an active 

 search for substitutes which might prove 

 more or less satisfactory. To this end alloys 

 of gold and palladium, gold and osmium, or 

 gold and nickel have been used with fairly 

 good results in many cases. The shortage 

 has also stimulated the search for platinum, 

 not only in the metallic deposits of various 

 I)arts of the United States, but throughout 

 the entire world, and several new, minor 

 sources have come to light. It is possible that 

 a change in metallurgical methods may fur- 

 nish a quantity of platinum and palladium 

 in place of that not now available from 

 Canadian sources, and that the resources of 

 the United States and Colombia may be de- 

 veloped to greater extent. 



There is good prospect from the devel- 

 opment of deposits in Japan, where a con- 

 siderable amount of platinum and palladium 

 has been obtained by electrolysis from cer- 

 tain copper ores. Brazil also offers good 

 and constantly improving prospects; here 

 platinum is to be found in a number of 

 localities, often combined with palladium. 

 Tasmania has recently sent out a notable 

 amount of osmiridium, one of the allied 

 platinum metals and one of the most useful 

 substitutes for the latter in many of its 

 uses. The copper ores of Canada, especially 

 those of Sudbury, Ontario, can be made to 

 supply a very large amount of palladium 

 and a considerable quantity of platinum 

 also, by systematic treatment. In all these 

 regions, however, except the last named 

 Canadian locality, the deposits are widely 

 distributed, and many new ones must be 

 added to those already reported in order to 

 give full promise of an important addition 

 to our much needed platinum supply. Un- 

 questionably, if our best hopes should be 

 realized in the constitution of a newly and 

 firmly organized Russia, that land will again 

 be able to resume her platinum output, al- 

 though the necessity for seeking new and 

 promising fields will in no wise be lessened 



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