DOMESTIC PRODUCTION.
CRUDE PLATINUM.
Mine
returns for the year 1919 are now available and indicate that the
figures for California—683 ounces of crude platinum containing 503
ounces of refined platinum metals—as published in the report on
platinum and allied metals in 1919, were essentially correct. The
published figures for Oregon—119 ounces—are very much higher than the
quantity reported by the miners, which was only 37 ounces of crude
platinum. It is believed that the refiners' figures may represent
purchases of accumulated stocks of platinum brought out by the high
prices, whereas the miners' reports are more representative of the
actual condition of mining, though it is realized that the reports from
Oregon mines for 1919 are not so complete as could be wished. The
Alaskan figures as given are correct.
Mine
returns for 1920, although not entirely complete at the date of
writing, April 30, 1921, indicate that the production of crude
platinum metals was about as follows: California, 656 ounces, part of
which was nearly pure osmiridium and was sold to consumers, not to
refiners; Oregon, 36 ounces, part of which came from beach mines in
Coos and Curry counties and part from the dredges near Sumpter, Baker
County.
Platinum
refiners report purchase of domestic crude platinum in 1920 as follows:
From California mines 555 ounces, as compared with 683 ounces in 1919;
from Oregon mines 23 ounces, as compared with 119 ounces in 1919; from
Washington mines 8 ounces, as compared with none in 1919; and from
Alaska mines 27 ounces, as compared with 22 ounces in 1919. The total
recovery of refined metals from the 613 ounces of crude platinum
purchased by refiners in 1920 was 488 ounces, showing that the United
States crude platinum averages approximately 80 per cent of platinum
metals. This was made up of 59 per cent of platinum, 16 per cent of
iridium, and 5 per cent of palladium and osmiridium. Some lots of
domestic crude platinum, largely from Trinity County, Calif., sold to
refiners in 1920 carried more than 60 per cent of osmiridium. The crude
platinum saved by the dredges along the Sierra Nevada foothills carries comparatively little iridium.
Refiners
report the purchase of 23,009 ounces of foreign crude platinum, from
which a total of 19,504 troy ounces, or an average of
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