INTRODUCTION.
People
are apt to think carelessly of platinum as a good setting for precious
stones; the metal is, in fact, indispensable to many of our industries.
Dishes and utensils of platinum are absolutely necessary in chemical
laboratories, and on their laboratories all great industries depend for
guidance. Alloys have been developed for some parts of the ignition
systems of internal-combustion engines, but no substitute for platinum
has been found for certain delicate parts of these systems. Platinum
or allied rare metals have wide application in many instruments of
precision used in the physical testing of all kinds of materials.
Probably the most important use of platinum at present is in the
contact process of making concentrated sulphuric acid, an essential
commodity to many industries aside from its use in the manufacture of
munitions.
The
United States alone apparently uses about 165,000 fine ounces of
platinum a year. The known supply of platinum is small; possibly
5,000,000 ounces have been produced in the world to date. Estimates
based on the official figures of production from Russia since 1843
(which are taken as 25 per cent low) and on the assumption that Russia
has supplied 95 per cent of the world's output indicate that the total
quantity of crude placer platinum produced in the world since 1843 has
been less than 4,632,000 troy ounces, or about 159 short tons.
Probably
500,000 ounces of this total output of platinum is in use as a
catalyzing agent. The quantity manufactured in the form of chemical and
physical equipment can not be readily ascertained but may be roughly
estimated at 1,000,000 ounces. Electrical devices may have required
500,000 ounces, but perhaps 250,000 ounces would cover that use. The
jewelry industry has probably consumed 1,000,000 ounces, and the dental
industry also about 1,000,000 ounces. Minor uses and hoarded platinum
will account for the remainder of the total supply derived from the
known placer deposits.
Realizing
the urgent necessity of increasing the domestic production of the
metals of the platinum group, the United States Geological Survey has
enlarged its field of investigation of the domestic platinif-erous
deposits. At the request of the Secretary of Commerce the Geological
Survey will also take a census of all unmanufactured and scrap platinum
in the United States that can be considered as an immediately available
supply. It is confidently hoped that this census will show that the
United States has a sufficient reserve of platinum to meet all the
immediate needs of industry. The use of
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