OTHER COUNTRIES. CANADA.
Considerable
prospecting for platinum by the Government as well as by private
individuals was in progress in Canada during 1918, and the results of
this work may be made available to the general public,1 as a
large part of it was more or less under governmental supervision.
Particular attention was given to the Tulameen and Quesnel River areas.
A company is also prospecting on Olivine Mountain, in the Tulameen
area, with a view of working the plati-niferous dunite. On October 1,
1918, it was reported that the refining of platinum had been begun at
the Dominion assay office, Vancouver.
COLOMBIA.
Exports
of platinum from Colombia to the United States maintained a fairly
steady level of 2,700 ounces a month throughout 1918, the total
quantity imported into the United States during the year being 30,543
ounces. The second dredge of the American Co. operating on Rio
Condoto, was not completed owing to difficulties of transportation and
labor, but it should come into operation in 1919. A British company is
about to begin the construction of a dredge on the Tamana. In July,
1919, the long-expected export duty of 5 per cent ad valorem on
platinum was imposed by the Colombian Government.
RHODESIA.
According to Zealley2
platinum has been found in ore from the Dream Reef, near Fort Gibb, in
the Gwilo district, Rhodesia. The ore is apparently a segregated mass
of magnetite, chromite, and heavy silicates in a large mass of partly
serpentinized dunite, which here forms the main mass of the "Great
Dike." Copper and nickel oxidation products are present in the
platinum-bearing material.
A
40-pound sample of ore was concentrated to 2 pounds, and the
concentrates assayed 1 pennyweight 20 grams (or 0.054 troy ounce) per
ton. This would indicate that although platinum is present it is hardly
in commercial quantity. No attempt was made to determine the extent of
the ore body.
RUSSIA.
There
is no real information to be had concerning the conditions in the
Russian platinum field. Apparently none of the dredges were operated in
1918, and a report has been received that many of them were destroyed
and that the little platinum that was mined was won presumably by crude
methods. It seems safe to say that it will be at least a year and
probably nearer three years after stable conditions return in Russia
before the Russian field can hope to get back to its pre-war rate of
production.
1 O'Neill, J. J. The platinum situation in Canada, 1918: Canada Geol. Survey Summary Report, 1918, pt. G, 1919.
2 Zealley,
A. E. V., The occurrence of platinum in southern Rhodesia: Southern
Rhodesia Geol. Survey Short Papers No. 3, Mar. 20,1918.
