Ch. 2: Platinum in 1913

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	PLATINUM AND ALLIED METALS.	451

	FOREIGN PRODUCTION. RUSSIA. The following description of the Russian platinum industry was furnished to the Mining Journal, London, by E. de Hautpick:¹ The decision of the Imperial Government to impose a 30 per cent tax on imported platinum, which formed the subject of a recent contribution to the Mining Journal, Is likely to have an important Influence on the world's platinum market. The marked rise which has been witnessed In price since 1898 is due to the fact that whilst consumption of the metal has increased, fresh discoveries of ore have not kept pace. Consequently producers are compelled either to rewash their old tailings or undertake the exploitation of sands of lower or less remunerative content. There is a steady decline evident in the average yield from the Ural placers. The figure is now 0.05 ounce troy of crude platinum per ton of gravel. The corresponding contents for earlier periods were considerably higher—viz: 1894-1907, 0.09 ounce; 1883-1894, 0.1 ounce; 1850-18S3, 0.33 ounce; 1838-1850, 0.4 ounce; 1829-1838, 0.5 ounce. Moreover, the cost of labor, timber, fuel, and taxes have all increased. The result is that the cost of production has largely appreciated. During the past three years the price has remained around £7 10s. ($36.50) per troy ounce for crude; previously there were rapid monthly fluctuations, varying as much as from 85s. ($20.68) to 175s. ($42.58), giving rise to great uncertainty in working. With the steady prices of the last three years we can judge pretty well what is the normal production of the field. The output in 1913 amounted to 157,508 troy ounces, as against 177.375 ounces in 1912 and 185,381 ounces in 1911, thus showing a decline from 15.000 to 20,000 ounces per year. Looking at the industry over a longer period, the decade 1904 to 1913 gave a total production of 1,705,808 ounces, against 1,788,257 in 1894-1904, a diminution of 82,386 ounces, as compared with a decade previous. These figures show the substantial exhaustion of the placers. The two principal centers of platinum production are Blagodat, on the Asiatic slope, and Nizhni-Tagilsk, on the European slope of the Ural Mountains. The Blagodat placers are in reality gold-platinum deposits. The Nizhni-Tagilsk placers contain platinum, and their production is twice as great' as that of the Blagodat placers, and the quality of the ore [gravel] is also better, as can be seen by the following chemical analysis:



	The richest district is South verkhotoor, which yielded during 1913, 10:2,408 ounces troy, 15,000 ounces less than in 1912. The North Verkhotoor district during 1913 produced 11.320 ounces of platinum—1.641 ounces less than in 1912. The Cherdensk district output in- 1913 gave 6.155 ounces, or 50 ounces less. The Perm district production was 36,835 ounces, and the South Ekaterinburg 800 ounces. A marked development in recent times has been the increase of dredging on the placers. * * * In 1913 about 22,000 ounces were won by dredges, and 137,000 ounces by hand labor. Since 1904 the dredge proportion has gone up from 4i to 14 per cent. The extension of their use must depend to some extent on their being found suitable to work placers hitherto inaccessible to them. * * * The chief companies owning dredges at present are the Fedorovsky, the riatina. the Neviansk, the Draga, and the Nizhni-Tagilsk ' Min. .Tour. (London), Mar. 14, 1914,

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