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552
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MINERAL RESOURCES.
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effort
to keep the prices at the highest level possible. With a view to this
the company, in 1905, offered the following terms to everyone who
would be willing to sell platinum to it: On delivery of the platinum
the company pays as an advance 12,000 rubles (§6,180) per pood (36.112
pounds) of crude platinum containing 83 per cent of pure metal. After
the platinum has been refined and sold the whole of the difference
between the amount advanced and the sum realized is handed over to the
seller. The company's profit is represented by an interest at the rate
of 5 per cent per annum on the money advanced before the platinum is
sold and one-fourth per cent commission for every three months, and
also 1.70 francs for every lot of platinum delivered, irrespective of
the quantity. All of the valuable metals of the platinum group which
are found in the crude platinum, such as palladium, rhodium, iridium,
osmium, and ruthenium, become the property of the company as
compensation to it for the cost of refining, etc.
The
combine of platinum users, in their turn, pay to the company 3 francs
per gram of refined platinum, which is equal to 18,400 francs
($3,551.20) per pood, the company also receiving 50 per cent of the
profits derived by the sale of the articles made out of the platinum.
This price of 3 francs per gram fluctuates in accordance with the
conditions of demand and supply of this product on the world's market.
In 1905, for instance, when the largest platinum producers reduced
their output, and disposed of their product in one way or another, it
was found possible to pay 3.30 francs per gram; that is, about 20,250
rubles ($10,428.75) per pood, with the same 50 per cent participation
in the profits. Since then the French company further reduced their
output, and in consequence of this the demand became greater still and
the price went up to 28,000 rubles ($14,420) per pood. It is therefore
clear that the present high price of platinum can be quite easily
explained by the natural conditions of supply and demand without
reference to any rumors about intended Government action (such as an
export duty).
In
the history of the platinum industry there was a time when the metal
could scarcely find any use at all. Thus, in the twenties of the last
century, after the discovery of platinum in the Ural Mountains, the
world's output of this metal, according to data collected by the
Russian minister of finance, amounted to 40 poods per annum. The demand
for it, however, was so small that the Government had to take steps to
find a sale for it and began buying it on its own account for coinage
purposes. In the sixties of the same century the development of the
chemical industries in western Europe, and later on the springing up of
electrical engineering and of the dental manufacturing business,
increased the uses of platinum, but in spite of this the supply was
still in excess of the demand, which latter was not of a permanent
character, and the prices, which were then comparatively low, were
ruled by the action of speculators more than by the condition of supply
and demand.
All
this has since changed. The demand for platinum has become permanent,
the platinum producers have become able to fight the speculators, and
they are making good use of their chance. Statistics show that Great
Britain, France, the United States, Germany, and Russia together
require annually as much as 23,292 pounds of platinum. Of this quantity
the United States takes approximately 7,200 pounds, Great Britain 6,696
pounds, Germany 4,752 pounds, Franco 4,356 pounds, and Russia 288
pounds. If we admit, according to the experience gained in America,
that in the total quantity of platinum used there is contained 35 per
cent of old metal worked up again, we find that the markets of the
above-mentioned five countries alone require every year a supply of
15,084 pounds of fresh platinum, while the available output is only
about 10,800 pounds. Russia being the only source from which the
world's market is supplied with platinum, and as a considerable part
of the platinum output in Russia is concentrated in the hands of the
French Platinum Company, mentioned above, the latter is at present
absolute master of the market and can regulate prices at will. There is
therefore no need whatever to look for the cause of the high price in
the rumor of an export duty.
In
regard to the question of the imposition of the export duty on
platinum, Mr. Gulishambarov declares that no such duty will be imposed.
It is true that at the first and second conferences of Russian gold
producers, when speaking of the needs of the platinum industry, views
were expressed in favor of the establishment of a stricter control
over the export of crude platinum abroad, and the conference petitioned
the Government for the imposition of an export duty. This petition
was, however, refused by the Government, as it was found exceedingly
inconvenient and diflicult to demand that platinum, which is usually
exported from Russia in the form of postal packets, shall be declared
in the consignment notes and to establish a custom inspection of postal
packets containing platinum. In 1904 the committee of the conference
again made representations to the Government to the same effect, but
without success, and the question of an export duty on platinum can now
be considered as finally decided in the negative. Apart from the
difficulties which the carrying out of such an export would have
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