http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Platinum_crystals.jpg
 Basic

Properties that make Platinum so desirable, both
to industry and to jewelers
 How

data for Platinum
and where Platinum is mined
Major sources of platinum, most commonly used
mining practices
 Refining

platinum from ores
Complex chemical/mechanical processing
 Why
jewelers alter pure Platinum
 Atomic
number: 78, atomic
weight 195.
 Hardness of 4-4.5
 Melting point: 1768.3°C
(3214.9°F)
 Silvery white, doesn’t tarnish,
resists corrosion, faintly
magnetic, stable electrical
properties and is non-reactive.
 Used for vehicles, jewelry,
electronics, chemistry
applications and medicine.
PT
 Over
80% of the
world’s supply
found in South
Africa (Bushveld
Complex) with
additional 10%
accounted for in
Russian mines.
 Unique
features of
Bushveld deposit
Image from Kinnaird
Aerial Imagery courtesy Google Maps (Terrametrics 2011), modified by Call

Many types of mining
methods employed (pit,
blasting, mechanized)
 Platinum
($1549.00/oz)
occurs with gold
($1745.30/oz), copper,
iron,
palladium($641.00/oz),
osmium($380/tr oz),
nickel, iridium
($1,050/oz), cobalt
and chromium.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/
wiki/File:Platinum-nugget.jpg
 Rock
crushed and milled
Mixing
with special reagents
Air pumping
to generate bubbles, Platinum adheres to
bubbles, most other metals fall to bottom
of container
Bubbles dried and
smelted at 1500°C, allowing other
minerals to be removed and a ‘valuable’
metals matte to be formed. Periodic
tapping and influx of air removes iron and
sulfur from the matte.

Matte receives a chemical
treatment with electrolytic
techniques which removes copper,
nickel and cobalt.
Separation
with aqua regia and burning the
remains yields gold, palladium and
platinum. High heat treatment
>1600°C melts out the gold and
palladium leaving ‘pure’ platinum.
 One
Problem...Not easily worked.
 Answer:
Add in other metals.
 Possible
mixes and applications:
Pt950 / Ruthenium
Pt900 / Iridium
Pt950 / Cobalt
Pt950 / Iridium
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:One_litre_of_Platinum.jpg
http://www.bluenile.com/





Cawthorn, R.G. (1999) The platinum and palladium
resources of the Bushveld Complex, in South African
Journal of Science Vol 95 Nov/Dec 1999 pp. 481-489
Clarke, B., Uken, R., Reinhardt, J. (2008) Structural
and compositional constraints on the emplacement of
the Bushveld Complex, South Africa, in Lithos Vol 111
(2009) pp. 21-36
Egerton, F.M.G. (2004) Presidential Address: The
mechanization of UG2 mining in the Bushveld
Complex, in The Journal of The South African
Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Sept (2004) pp.
439-450
George, M. W. (2008). "Platinum-group metals" (PDF).
U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Commodity
Summaries (USGS Mineral Resources Program)
Kinnaird, J.A., The Bushveld Large Igneous Province
accessed on http://largeigneousprovinces.org
Oberthür, T., Melcher, F., Gast, L., Wörhl, C.,
and Lodziak, J., (2004) Detrital Platinum-Group
Minerals in Rivers Draining the Eastern Bushveld
Complex, South Africa, in The Canadian
Mineralogist Vol. 42 (2004), pp. 563-582
 Pennsiton-Dorland, S.C., Wing, B.A., Brown, M.,
Baker, M.A., Petrogenesis of the Platreef,
Bushveld Complex, South Africa interrogated
using mass-independent sulfur isotopes, Report
for the USGS Mineral Resources External
Research Program
 Titus, R., Witthüser, K., Walters, B., (2009)
Groundwater and Mining in the Bushveld
Complex in Abstracts of the International Mine
Water Conference October (2009) pp. 178-184
 http://unctad.org/infocomm/anglais/platinum/
market.htm
