PLATINUM IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



By PAUL R. HEYL. 

 (Read February 7, 1913.) 



North Carolina, on account of the variety of different minerals 

 it affords, may well be classed with Freiburg, Saxony, and Franklin, 

 N. J. More than one hundred and eighty different minerals occur 

 there, and in some cases minerals otherwise rare occur there in com- 

 mercial quantities. 



The gold mines of North Carolina have been known for a cen- 

 tury, and it would be but natural to expect small quantities of plati- 

 num to be found in such localities. The first announcement to this 

 effect was published by Shepard in 1847.^ It appears from his re- 

 port that a nugget of platinum weighing 2.5 grains was found among 

 the gold washings in a rocker at Mr. Erwin's mine in Rutherford 

 county. The miner who picked it out supposed it to be silver, and 

 other miners in the vicinity claimed to have seen similar lumps occa- 

 sionally. It would seem, however, that such occurrences must be 

 very exceptional, as Hidden,- in 1881, failed to find any platinum in 

 five localities, and Venable in 1892,^ after a careful examination of 

 gold washings from several places and a failure to find any platinum 

 therein, was inclined to distrust Shepard's report. 



In 1894,* however, Hidden discovered sperrylite, the native arse- 

 nide of platinum, in panning gravel from a creek in Macon county, 

 and traced it to its source in rock on the top of a mountain. 



The present communication deals with the occurrence of plati- 

 num in a different part of the state, and is believed to be the first 

 published notice of the subject. The interest centers around the 

 little village of Ruffin, in Rockingham county, about fifteen miles 

 south of Danville, Virginia. The country hereabouts is devoted 

 mainly to farming, tobacco being the chief crop. Apart from a 



^American Journal of Science, series 2, Vol. 4, p. 280, 1847. 

 ^ Ibid., series 3, Vol. 22, 1881, p. 25. 

 "Ibid., series 3, Vol. 43, 1892, p. 540. 



* Kemp's " Report on Platinum," Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey, No. 193. 



21 



