Show platinum mining promoters get hard jolt from government warning to the public to scrutinize carefully offers of stock in so called platinum producing companies proffered by unscrupulous pro promoters motors is given by the department of the interior through the bureau of mines although the united states from widely scattered sources produces only a few hundred ounces of platinum a year certain promoters have made extremely fanciful announcements regarding b ab properties claimed to contain platinum in commercial quantities these promoters bolster their claims by the display of erroneous assays essays which in some instances have reported values as high 6 as worth of platinum to the ton in one instance the assertion was made that a property near yonkers N Y contained 10 tons of rock bearing precious metal values ranging from to per ton a mere bagatelle of from two to four billion dollars in the case of a seattle wash concern the possession of ore containing platinum and gold in astonishing quantities was heralded while the location of the deposit was kept secret in order to forestall a mad rush numerous samples of alleged platinum bearing ores from various properties examined by assayers of the bureau of mines at reno nevada have failed to disclose the presence of platinum in appreciable quantities in some inse instances ances definite evidence has been obtained of the salting of samples with platinum wire and foil platinum worth six times that of gold during the past few years possible domestic resources of platinum have attracted much attention on account of the extensive use of platinum during b the world war and the practical elimination of the russian supply the price of this metal rose to new high b levels and thou though 9 h it has since receded to some extent the price is now nearly six times that of gold whereas in 1913 the average price of platinum was 45 per ounce in 1923 the price is approximately this condition has not only greatly stimulated search for platinum in the united states but has also offered an opportunity port unity for fraudulent promotions which has not been overlooked by those ever on the alert with promotion schemes in addition to the economic causes namely the excessive demand partly due to new uses particularly for jewelry the increase in price and the very limited domestic supply there are also certain technical factors that must be considered the correct determinations of platinum in small quantities is by no means simple As the methods employed are usually those of fire assay similar to those used for gold and silver the prospector or others would naturally seek custom assayers for the determination of platinum in general all reputable assayers are capable of making platinum determinations incorrect platinum returns have been made by chemists who choose to employ fanciful methods the result of these conditions is that during the past few years there has been an increase in the number of assayers turning out erroneous platinum returns resulting in a number of promotions doomed to failure it may be added that the mistakes have nearly always been in the direction of too high a platinum content platinum scarce in this country the staff of the rare and precious metals station of the bureau of mines reno nevada has made an especial effort to determine whether the united states has really any important domestic sources of platinum but the results have proved disappointing A large number of samples of placer and lode material has been examined but in most of them negative results were obtained these samples have come from all of the mining states including alaska the united states appears to have no important resources of platinum at least none which is at all likely ever to supply the nations demand or any considerable fraction of it under 1000 oz a year is not much of a supply when the country needs ten to fifteen times that quantity the case of platinum is is a parallel with those of tin and nickel this country has no tin or nickel resources of significance ance that there is is some platinum in the united states is undisputed but virtually all of the metal is recovered from the heavy concentrate or the well known black sand collected on dredges or at hydraulic king plants in california oregon and alaska As the dredges alone handle over cubic yards of gravel per year the platinum content per yard is infinitesimal during the period 1916 1919 inclusive the boss mine in nevada contributed to the totals but hardly exceeded ounces in any one year in addition to the placer deposits of california oreg oregon gon and alaska which contain platinum metals and the well known lode deposits of the rambler mine in laramie county wyoming byomin b 4 the boss mine in dark clark county nevada and the salt chuck chu ck mine in prince of wales island alaska which also contain platinum metals but always in in combination with copper and some gold and silver boulder county colorado and the copper king za mining district dark clark county nevada have supplied samples in which the bureaus chemists at reno detected small quantities of lode i platinum platinum is recovered as a byproduct by product from the refining in b of gold silver nickel and copper but the quantity present in the ori original 6 inal is usually too small to detect it is well known that the source of platinum is in basic eruptive rocks yet it has been stated by promoters that platinum as well as gold and silver have been found and successfully extracted from oil shale a sedimentary rock in studies made by the intermountain experiment station of 01 the bureau of mines at salt lake city no plat platinum inurn was detected in either utah or wyoming shale black sands in rivers or on coast beaches have always been considered as probable sources of platinum these include the deposits on the coast of southern oregon and northern california where a 9 great reat deal of investigation 0 has been done by state and federal authorities and on whick an equal amount of hard labor and money has been waste by prospectors and others in order to ascertain what were the possibility possibilities of recovering platinum from these beach sands in 1917 an a eng engineer ineer was sent by the bureau of mines to examine the tn it region A total of thirty seven samples was taken a and in only three cases was platinum detected and these were concentrated material russia greatest producer of in normal times russia is the greatest produce platinum the annual output amounting to over am Is ounces equal to 90 per cent of the worlds total this lils A all recovered by dredging or hand washing 0 methods to though Z colombia south america now produces close CIO se ounces of platinum 1 nu T yearly not an ounce cot comes iles hand frog I 1 ore rock in place all be being ing recovered by dredging daino za or na washing methods ky by the growing seriousness of the situation cre cited dicing ng unscrupulous pro promoters motors of alleged plat platinum inurn prod pa gin officials properties has suggested to various state mining the western states the necessity of taking some action to protect the public legal C prosecution has been considered but not hitherto employed owing I 1 to the lack of sufficient laws to reach the cases also to the difficulty of securing evidence of the necessary cha character racier legislative 1 relief has been considered in the form of a law re requiring quirin g the licensing and examination of assayers and the so called blue sky laws have also been considered as a possible remedy little or no progress has been made toward the eradication of the evil the bureau of mines advises persons who are asked to speculate in a platinum property to let it alone unless the purchaser is prepared to go to the expense of a careful examination by a competent engineer in a press statement issued by the department of the interior on platinum and allied metals which was prepared by J M hill of the geological survey released on june 20 1923 it was stated that refiners finers re reported the purchase of 7 ounces of crude platinum from idaho the reports from placer mines to the geological survey did not however report any production of platinum in idaho in 1922 and further investigation of refineries purchases in 1922 1912 shows that no platinum was produced in idaho |