METALLURGY.
Some
details of the metallurgy of the platinum group of metals were given in
the report on platinum for 1915. Little detailed information is at hand
concerning the recent experiments on Boss ores, but it is understood
that a form of chlorination treatment is to be used. A small
experimental plant has already been built at the mine, near
Goodsprings, Nev. The results of this experiment will be watched with
considerable interest.
Of
equal importance to the American industry is the working out of a
method for the commercial recovery of platinum from the black sands
obtained at many placer deposits in California and Oregon. In the
report for 1915 the suggestion was made that small custom mills for the
treatment of black sands, conveniently located throughout the
platiniferous placer region, might successfully solve this problem.
The
Geological Survey has been informed that a custom mill has been built
at Kerby, Oreg., for the treatment of black sands. It is understood
that the first installation, by T. W. Gruetter is small. The exact
process to be used is not divulged, though it mayfollow the plans
outlined by Gruetter in the technical press.1 The success of
this installation will mean much to southwestern Oregon and
northwestern California. For, if it is demonstrated that placer
concentrates can be successfully and profitably handled by custom
plants, there would seem to be little question of similar installation
at various places where platinum is known to occur.
Albert H. Sherwood, of Oroville, Cal., has patented 2
a process for recovering fine gold and platinum in which the sands,
after a preliminary wash with 15-25 per cent sulphuric acid, are
subjected to an amalgamation process using copper amalgam and copper
sulphate. The method described 3 uses three or four stages
and a variety of chemicals and apparatus. It is not known whether any
plant using this plan is in operation.
The
Platinum Metals Co., of Philadelphia, is putting on the market a
product called "amagnite," which, when added to mercury in ordinary
amalgamation, is claimed to aid the amalgamation of rusty and greasy
gold and to hold platinum. The company is erecting an experimental
plant at Philadelphia, which will be ready for operation by July, 1917.
USES.
Little can be added to the summary of uses of platinum given in the report for 1915.4
A few alloys/which may replace platinum chemical ware, have been
patented, among which "rhotanim," made by the Industrial Research Co.,
of Cleveland, Ohio, has been widely advertised. Another alloy,
"palau,," containing palladium and gold, made by the Pacific Platinum
Works, is said by the Bureau of Standards, Department of Commerce, to
have considerable promise for certain chemical uses. Several other
palladium-gold alloys for
i
Min. and Scl. Press, vor. Ill, pp. 698-fi99, 1915; idem, vol. 113, pp.
20-21, 1916. > U. S. patent 1192945, dated Aug. 1,1916. "Met. and
Chem. Eng., p. 603, Nov. 15 1916.
< Hill, J. M., Platinum and allied metals: U. 8. Geol. Survey Mineral Resources, 1915, pt. 1, pp. 148-151, 1916.
45083°—m b 1916—pt 1-----2
