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SECTION OF MINES MINERAL RKSOURCES OF CANADA BULLETLN ><). 1 PLA.TIIsrUM ELFRIC DREW INGALI^* M.E. Atm-UUt oftkt Royal School of Uinet, Em/land, Minim, Kngimer to tht itealoffieal Siirvei/ of Canada. ASSISTANTS Thko. Dbnis, B.8c. J. McLeish, B.A. OTTAWA PRINTED BY S. E. DAWSON, PRINTER TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY 1903 N08IN a *E^ jg£-j- i iS ai^^B .^ .i "I 1 / • I 1 4 GioLOuicAL St-KVKv or Cakaoa, Ottawa, March 27, l'.t03. RoiiKRT Bell. M.D., LLD., F.R..S., Acting Deputj Head and Director. ^'"i — I ^9, herewith to aubmit a pamphlet dealing with platinum. It represents a reprint with additions of the article with that title forming a portion of the Annual Report of the Section for 1901 (Part H, Vol. XrV) Annual Report of the Geological Survey Department, The material haa been collected and prepared by Mr Theo. Denis, B.Sc. Pursuant to a policy suggested some years ago and now carried out with your permission, this pamphlet is intended to be the first of a series giving, in condensed and popular form, information regarding thp mineral resources and possibilities of the country, together with any (lata regarding similair occurrences in other countries which may be of use to prospectors and operators in Canada. I am. Sir, Your obedient servant, ELFRIC DREW INGALL. IJ T PLATINUM I'l.AIIM M, So far the pruduction of thin meUl i» altogether derived from the i'rodi.ct...n, placer working on the Similkameen river diatrict of Britwh Columbia Aa will be Men on inapection of the flgurea in Table 1 below, the yiel.l haa been generally falling oflF for some yeara paat. The amount i« now inftigniflcant. Tahlk I. I'LATlNrU. AXSDAL Ph<)1)Dm.. I 1897... I 1898 . I 1890 . 1900. 1901 ... 1902. . . *!,noi) :i,rii»» 10,000 I 3,300 i 1,800 I ».»»> j T'lO l,t!0O 1,500 ' 825 Nil. I 457 i 190 I t- UIOLOOIOAL tOIITIT OP CARADA PiATiMi'H. Ai Mti'-'M of pUUnain mn not nuuinfMtnrad in OkOMK tiMr* la I'rodiictiun. no ^>om» fiuwliet for tba eroda meUl mmI the import*, m thown in Table 2, rapraaent only th« liniahad artieian. Imvavt*. Tail* -X I'UkTINUI. iMnitTHlit t'LATINlH. Fm»l V—t. V»lw. 18M • 118 DIM. . ftW IMtS . , . . 7W I«M I.IM \m. 1,433 1MB v ia,«76 ISM ».1«7 IWO &,2IA IIIM . 4.0M itws . i.wa i«a . u,aKt 1«M 7,1S1 1806 18H6 :<,»37 *>,uis xam. U.OSl 9.7M l§Bt). . »,«71 iwn B7,»10 mv . 30,2l» 'I'Utinuin wire and pUtinuni in Inn, »tri|a, •liivU nr pUtto : I'laliniim n-tiirtii, |>anii, condennMn, tubing >ii in their w»rk>. Ihity fri**-. It is to be hoped that the incrMaing demand for thi8 valuable ineUl may stimulate proB|)eotinf{ and lead to the discovery of other workable deposits. With this in view Mr. Theo. Denis, B. 8c., of the 8uff of the Mines Section htM prepared the following article on the subject, giving in condensed form, information inaccessible to the ordinary reader ou account of itH being scattered throughout a number of techni- cal publications. Descriptive matter relating to the mode of occur- rence and methods of working deposits in other -ountries has been included as 8uggesti> e of points likely to be of use to the prospector and miner in Canad> . OCCURKENCES OF PLATINUM IN CANADA. Occiirr.^in;. .. Althoufh the first refereni-e to the mcurrence of platinum in Canada was made as early as \M2, by Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, yet, the production r. KITTIO!! or MIMU • *. for, •■ nwy be •erti by ihi) ubl« given •bov*. hM bMn very im*!! I'i-'timih. and mortover the flfurM show gfMt irraguUritjr (rom y«»r to jr«M. (icciitmw™. Thi« ia du« to tha (act ■ ■ at in CmuuIa this meUl i« oljUinad •■ • by- product only, nukinly in th« working of Mm* •uriferoui plkoert in Hritiah Coiunbia, »nd in nuuty omm tb* black platiniferoa* aand which i* bald back in '.ba riiHaa of tha tlnioaboxaa, ia orarlookad and thrown away owing to tha ignoranoa, on the part of tha minart, of ita value or of tha moda of further treatment. Kven aa lata aa 1899, tha Provinoial Mineralogist for Britiiih Columbia in bin rapoH for tha year •ays that ' It appaara that many of the placer minert do not know iu value and throw it away an lo much black sand." Thi» may have baan due to the fact that until a few yean ago the demand for platinum wa» -.omewhat liraitwl and the market price accordingly comparatively low; but at prvtient, owing to iU extended uiea, tha price haa riian, lo that it now rivalu that of gold, tha market price for ingot platinum during l'.K)l, ranging from $18.00 to #22.00 per ounce. Platinum was tirat noticed in Canada in 1862, aa mentioned in the iieology of Canada of 1803. It was found on Kiviiro^lu Loup, prov- ince of Quebec, near its junction with the Chaudirre, in the course of washing sand for gold. Aswjciatorl with this native platinu-n were (•tates of a hard steel Rray meUl resembling iridosmine. There is alsu another record of platinum having been found under similar conditions in Rivit-re dea Plant*^, Beauca county, in the province of Quebec. Tlio quantity was very small and these finds poasess at present only a hisu>rical inUrest If, however, placer mining should U more vigor ously proaecuted in this region it is not impossible that platinum might become a valuable by-product of the operation. The recorded Canadian production of platinum comes from British Columbia, wher« the metal is obtained mainly in connection with the working of the auriferous ilepoeits of the Similkameen and Tulaiiieen rivers. It is rather diffiimlt to ascerUin when platinum was first discoven'*! in British Columbia. In his ' .Mines and Minerals of Economic vaiuo of British Columbia,' (Oeol. Surv. Rep. 76-77), the late Dr. G. M. Dawson mentioned finds of platinum on the Similkameen, Tranquille and Fraaer rivers. But as some of those placers were first worked as far back as 1858 it is very probable that the black platiniferous sand must have come to the notice of gold miners a good many years before. However, the first record of its having been saved is foun»l in the report ot the gold commissioner ot the Similkameen division for 1886 in which he says ; ' Mixed with the gold found in this tlistrict, and pos- 8 r.EOLOOlCAL 8CRVET OF CANADA Platucch. teaaed of • gi-eater specific gravity, is a whitish metal which at first Oceumncw. ''■• thrown away under the impreaaion that it was worthleaa. For oonsiderBble time no definite idea oould be procured as to its ralue. Mr. Jenaon, of Granite City, who forwarded a sample to a cousin of hia at Manchester, England, for analysis has kindly supplied me with the desired information. The metal is principally platinum, contain- ing small quantities of iridium, osmium, and palladium. Its value depends on the percentage of platinum, which varies in quantity and may \ye considered as worth about ^2.60 per ounce. The selling price at Granite City was 50 centa per ounce ; so the purchasers will reap a handsome return for their investment.' The following year he esti- mates the production to have reached some 2,000 ounces, which com- manded from 1^2.60 to $3.00 per ounce. Platinum has been found in many places in British Columbia in association with gold, v.i alluvial deposits, an annotated list of localities being given below, but jhe region of the Similkameen and Tulameen rivers (north fork of Similkameen) is by far the most important. The origin of the platinum found in the placers of the district, has not been definitely ascertained ; Dr. Dawson in his report on the Mineral Wealth of British Columbia expresses himself as follows : The mettl (platinum) occurs in notable quantity in the region of the upper Similkameen and Tulameen, in minute scales where the gold is " fine " but increasing in coarseness to small pellets and nuggets in places where " coarse " gold is found. Coarse grains and pellets of platinum have so far been found only on Granite, Cedar and Slate creeks, all entering the Tulameen on the south side. In certain claims in the.se creeks, the platinum has been found to equal half the weight of gold obtained Though above referred to aa platinum, the metal so named is alloyed with several other metals of the same class, of which oamiridium is the most abun- dant. Specimens of the native platinum from Granite creek have been subjected to careful examination and analysis by Dr. Hoflmann, who states that the material " having the composition of the ore here in question would, at the present time, be worth, from $2.90 to $3.6.') per ounce troy in the English market." Osmiridium is employed, on account of its great hardness, for tipping the nibs of gold pens. " For this purpose it is necessary that it should be in the form of natural grains, and these are very carefully selected, the requirements being that they should be solid, compact and the proper size and shape.' This was not however found to >>e the case with the grains present in the platinum from Granite creek. SECTION OF MINKS I i PLitinum has very rarely been discovered in veins or otherwise in I'latimm. iU original matrix In Russia, whence the greatest quantities are Oi'currencfa. obtained, it is almost always found as in the cases above cited in association with gold-bearing alluvions, although it has been noted ill a few places with little or no accompanying gold. It appears to be derived from rocks consisting of serpentine and peridotite with taloose and chloritic schists and chromite. While there is a notable abundance of greenish chloritic and hornblendio schists and diabase rocks (resulting from the metomorphism of old volcanic rocks) in the Tulameen and upper Similkameen region of British Columbia, and chromite and magnetite are here found in the workings iu association with the platinum and gold, no peridotite or serpentine is actually known to occur. The circumstances in connection with the jcourrence of the ' coarse ' platinum appear to point to the vicinity of an important mass of intrusive diorite as its point of origin. A great part of the associated magnetite is certainly derived from veins in this rock and it seems not improbable that the platinum, and possibly also a great part of the gold of this district, may occur in scattered grains in this intrusive mass. Very little vein-stuflf occurs in the gravels with which the platinum and gold of this region are associated. (Geol. Surv. Rep. 87-88 part R.) Later investigations however have led to a modification of the views expressed as above by Dr. Dawson in 1888. The following statement by Mr. R. W. Brock was published in the Summary Report of the Geological Survey of Canada for 1901 p. 67 : "It (platinum) has been found in the Similkameen district and is known to occur at many points in the western United States. When found in place it has generally been confined to serpentine, and when found in .sands it is usually in the neighborhood of serpentine. Consequently streams draining masses of serpentine in particular should be pras- pected for platinum. Serpentine, as above noted, occurs at a number of points in the district examined this summer, as on July creek. Hardy mountain and Central Camp. It also occurs on the range east of the Cascade." A very interesting investigation on a sample of platinum from Granite creek was conducted by Dr. O. C. Hoffmann of the Geological Survey. The original sample weighed 18.266 grams, of which .372 consisted of rock matter, pyrite and gold. The sample was submitted to magnetic separation, and divided into two parts, which on analysis g;ive the following results : PtATINlM. Oociirrenc*". JQ .iEOLO«iICAL 90KVKY OK CANADA Non Vltgnrtic. Magnetic. Weight 11 115 gram, 6-779 «^-- fiq-if)"' 78-43 ' Platinnm 63 i ' ' Palladium ^-e 009 Rhodium ^lO -.0 1.01 1.0* Indium ^'""^"'° VoO 3'89 f"^^' 7-87 9-7'< Iron _, .J — . . ,. 14-62 J ' ' Osmindium " 1-95 l-< (Jangue ^^^^ 100-29 ^"-'■97 Thi. determination shows, therefore, a P^P^'t^"^*'*!^?!!^! platinum in the 17 894 grams of material analysed. For the purple ^f comparison, platinum content, of samples of Pl**-- ^^^ ,„aterialfn>m diflferent parU of the world are given : The ana^«« are by Messrs. DeviUe and Debray ; Oregon, 51-4.5 7 ; ^"f^'""' ', ^h Slifomia. 85-50; Choco, C!ol»mbia, 86-20; Nischne Tagdsk. Urals, 76-40. The following Ls a list of Canadian localities at which th« -u-nce of platinum has been noticed. With the exception of th»t*t Sud- bury, Ont.. all the finds have been made m the alluvial deposits, usually while working for gold. Ri^er,- du Loup, and Riviere de» Mantes, province of Quebec. (See note above.) Sudbury, Ontorio.-This occurrence is one of the very ^- j |»!; world wWe platinum is found " in situ."-In th.s case the meUl ,s round in comWtion with arsenic and associate with the mckehferou. pyrrhotite deponits. The arsenical platinum nuneral wa, named Jirr^lite by H. A. Wells who described it, and found .t to consist on a^all of ! Platinum 52. 57 per cent; Rhodium 0.72 ; Antimony .50 : Arsenic 40.98 ; Iron 0.07 ; Tin oxide 4.(.2. At Sudbury the ore bodies consist of chalcopyrite and nickeliferous pyrrhotite, which are primarily worked for t»'f--''«\;"J ^keT Intents, and yield a large proportion of the world's supply of m kel The ore undergoes a first treatment at the mines, where it .8 smelted the low grade matte first made containing approximately 15 per cent of ■ ke, an'd about the same proportion of copper and the Bessemenzed „,.tte from 35 to 40 p.c. of nickel. Thi« is shipped u. the refinery m New I SECTION or M1HB8 11 i rt Jereey where it is tinally treated. According to a reliable authority 1"i-atiniii. this matte holds 1.25 or. of the platinum metals per ton of nickel < )ocurrenc«.. contents of the matte, and of this some 80 per cent is extracted. In 1900 the matte shipped from Sudbury, contained approximately 4,594 tons of nickel. The platinum metals would thtrefore, on that basis have amounted to 5,742 oz. This however is not included in the table of production, as returns of platinum from this source are not sent in to the Mines Section. North Saskatchewan, N. W.T. Native platinum has been found in aci:iirreno««. niferiu* depoaitH of El Choco. They frequently contain diorite boul- ders, and it seems possible that the platinum will eventually be found disHeminated in this rock. The true gravel deposits of El Choco are newer than the " caliche' beds and in part derived from them. The largest deposits of the kind are situated along the Tamana, Iro, and •San Juan rivers. These are from 6 to 20 feet deep and have been extensively worked by the natives. (Min. Ind. Vol. I.) Although the "caliche " beds cannot be said to contain platinum in situ, yet the occurrence differs from the ordinary alluvial deposits. The annual production of Columbia has varied for the last few years between 10,000 and 1 '2,000 ot iVntv South W(Ue». — In New South Wales platinum is said to have been detected in felsite and granite at Broken Hill. It is, of course, very sparsely disseminated. It has also been found .n small quantities in washings for gold at several places, and since 1894 there is a pro dnction recorded, which is rery irregular and varies between 500 and 2,000 on. annually. Brazil. —In Brazil platinum is found a..30ciated with gold in quartz lenses intercalated in gneiss and schists. United States.— A» to the United States, Mr. David T. Day in a paper read before the American Institute of Mining Engineers in February 1900 makes the following statement : " Messrs. William K Hidden and J. H. Pratt have found sperrylite- platinum arsenide in placers at several points in the Cowee valley of North Carolina. The conditions favour the belief that the source of this mineral is a ledge of impure rhodonite and biotite, containing much disseminated iron sulphides, conditions much like thoee at Sudbury, Canada. " There have been unsubstantiated reports of the occurrence of plati- num in place in certain localities of the Catskills in New York, in !?ranite near Hiiladriphia, and again near Port Deposit, Maryland." As to alluvion deposits he says ; " Platinum has been found at many places on the Pacific beach, from as far south as San Bernardino county, northward to the month of the Columbia. Indefinite rf oort.x have been made of its occurrence further north on the Washington beach ; but its amount is certainly not great. The principal beaches where platinum has been reported, beginning at the south, are ; Santa Barbira, Lampoc, the beaches of San Luis, 14 OBOLOOICAL 8UBTIV Or OAKADA FlATINUH. Ooairreiu«i. Obiapo county ; SanU Crui, and oocsuomilly between 8«»t» Cruz and the Golden Okte. In acoordftnce with Blake'i sUtement, the rioheet beMhea »r* further north, in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. The beMh mines of Gold Blufif north of Areata, Big Lagoon, Stone Lagoon, Little River, Crescent City, Cal., and Gold Beach and Port Orford, in Curry county Oregon, have all yielded platinum in commercially appreciable quantities. Still further north, platinum is found at Yaquina beach, Oregon, but the oands there are poor." Ruuia. — The metal ii founl in the Ural mountains sparsely dissemi- nated in peridotite and serpentine masses. The platiniferous alluvial deposiU are also characterized by the presence of 1 oulders of olivinite and serpentine, which both contain chromite. Thus the source may be said to have been placed, the matrix being beyond doubt the aerpentin- tized olivinite. It is even reported that a streak or zone of this rock some six feet wide in a massive olivinite, was actually worked for some time for its contents of platinum, but at a depth of about 36 feet it was no longer workable. It doe* not seem certain that platinum has been found in the perfectly freah igneous rock which had not yet under- gone ser^ ^ntinization, hence there is a jxissibility that the same agencies that brought about the conversion of the olivine into serpentine also introduced the platinum into the rock. (Min. Ind. Vol. VI. Abstract) Over 90 per cent of the world's production of platinum is derived from the placer deposits of the Urals in Russia. The whole of the platinum producing portion of these mountains is contained within a length of 100 miles along the 60" meridian E. of Greenwich, between latitudes 67.30' and 59° and is all included within the govern- ment of Perm. Within this area there are two chief di&.ricts, Gorobla- godatsk in the north and Nishni Tagilsk in the south. The platinum placers occupy the valley bottoms of a number of streamlets and their branches, the alluvions of the larger streams being rarely rich enough for working. In the Ooroblagodatsk district, which lies wholly on the Asiatic side of the Urals, the placers are found on the river system of tht Isk and its tributaries which, in its turn, dis- charges into the Tourna. The total length of the Iss and its affluents s about 60 miles. In the southern district the main producing area lies on the Euro- pean side of the Ural watershed in the river systems of the Vissine and the Martian. On these 18 placers are being worked. On the Asiatic side there are three fields of operation on the Chomaia and its tributary, the Cbonge. SECTION OK HINK8 15 •a »■ ■*- The platiniferoui alluvion U very variable in thicknen and in rich- I'l'ATiNtii. new, but always shallow, the placers being undoubtedly of quaternary Occurnnctw. age. These placers carry gold in addition to the platinum, but these metals did not occur together in primary deposits, and their presence together is due to the fact that the stream which formed the alluvial deposit, received the product * disintegration of rocks containing gold and of rocks containing platinum, the source of gold being traceable to (|ua.'tz veins or to rocks of an acid type, whereas the platinum is derived from basic rocks. The ihirknessess of the respective layers of overburden and platini feroos alluvion are also recorded, and are as follows : Overburden average 16 feet (maximum 63 feet, minimum 2J feet), pay gravel, average 3^ feet (maximum 6 feet, minimum 1 foot). The average richness of these pay-sands being at present about 2 dwt., crude, to the ton. The yield of platinum to the ton of gravel washed was at first much higher, but has decreased considerably within recent years. According to private records the sands of the Gorablagodatsk district in 1870 yielded 1 oz per ton, in 1M82 thifl fell to 9 dwt., in 1886 to 4^ dwt. and in 1895 it was 1} dwt. In the Nishni Tagilsk district, the same decreaMe is noticeable. This progressive impoverishment is due to the fact that at first only thft small shallow and rich placers at the headwaters of the smaller streams were worked ; and as these were exhausted, gradually poorer and poorer deposits further down stream had to be attacked, till now there is nothing left but the more exten- sive low grade placers in the large valleys and the tailings of earlier washings. Crude platinum, as obtained by washing of the gravels, is in the form of fine particles, grains and scales, of about the size of the finest gunpowder ; its colour varying from light to very dark grey. Nuggets are occasionally met with, the largest found in the Gorablagodatsk district was 73^ ozs, and in the Nishni Tagilsk 310 ozs. Afethods of Workiiig. — The method of working the placer gravels is almost everywhere identical. There are two different labour systems in force in all the alluvial workings of Russia. The men are either day labourers receiving regular wages, or they are 'starateli' or free labourers. These latte.- are what the Cornish miner would call * tributers ' ; they are allowed to work certain portions, in some cases the whole of a placer, practically as they please, and are in turn bound to sell the platinum they produce, to the individual or company owning the placer, at a fixed price, which is usually less than half its value. These men are said to be able to work gravels too poor to be worked by day wages. 16 OIOLOCIICAL SURVBT Or CANADA I'LATiNUM. The method of working adopted liy the ' »t«r»teli ' is simple in the t >c<'\irrvn<')w. extreme; they eatablish a short sluice-box or 'torn' in tome posi- tion where they ran run a stream of water into the head of the box. One of the most usual types of sluice used in the Urals consists of a box about 2 feet wide, into which the gravel is dropped, and thiough which a current of water is run. The strttam of gravel and water is curried into the sluice proper, which consists of a box, some two feet wide by 30 feet long, inclined at a low angle (about S*). The far end ix opened and terminates in a chute under which a cart can stand to receive the boulders and large pebbles. On the bottom of this sluice, at intervals of about 7 feet, there are three openings which are 9 inches by two feet (the width of the box). These openings are gmted with bars of iron xet ^ inch apart, and through these, practically all the finer sand and water drop, whereas the larger stones continue on to the chute. Beneath e«ch grating runs a transverse box to receive the sand aod water which drop through the gratings. These boxes are also inclined at a low angle and deliver into a trough which lies at a steeper angle ; this trough carries the sands, which are now con- sidered worthless, into a settling box, whereas the water runs off into the ditch. The sands are shovelled from the settling box into carts for removal The bottoms of the main sluice of tL^; transverse boxes, and of part of the trough are covered with riffles and coarse matting, forming interstioee for catching the heavy sand. As will be seen, this sluice is really the hydraulic miners sluice, undercurrent and grizzly ill miniature. In some places this sluice in combined with a simple machine for disintegrating clayey graveb. When the work is done on an extended scjile either by a large company of starateli or by mine owners, washing; machines are built and the pay gravels are brought to them in small carts drawn by one horse. The machines are usually driven by steam. One type of washing machine consists of a cylindrical tub, the bottom of which is a circular cast iron pan 15 inches deep, pierced with ^ inch holes ; around the top of the pan runs an annular oast iron pipe, perforated so as to allow water in small jets to play into the pan. In the centre is a vertical shaft carrying a six-armed spider, from each of the arms of which hang a couple of iron bars that almost touch the bottom of the pan. The shaft is rev(Jved at about 'J5 revolu- tions per minute, and the gravel is fed in continuously. The large stones which remain after the disintegration are removed from time to time, while the sands and clayey matter suspended in water pass through the perforated bottom and fall upon a sloping board covered with stout sheet iron which discharges into a largt box, the front of which is closed by a strong wooden grating kept always padlocked lEonoH or MUfu 17 1 while the machine i« in operation. The bottom of the box is inclined Platinum. at an angle of about 1S°. It is eight feet wide and the bottom is OcourroDun. covered by stojt basa mate, which are held in place by stout piece* of wood about 3 inches deep, which are kept in their places by wedges, and act as rifRes. The sands drop through the grating into a transverse shallow trough, then over a table some 18 feet long and furnished with wooden riffles and one or two more troughs. At the Iwttom of the table tlifi sands drop into a wooden chute which is at such a height above the ground that tlieno SHndx can be carried by the stream of water to a low dump, some 100 yards away from the machine. It is evident that any coarse pieces of platinum or nuggets whicli are the most liable t.o be stolen, will be retained in the padlocked section of tlio table, while most of the finer platinum sands are olso caught in the mats ; the lower table is caid to catch very little, but this however is no proof that the tailings are clean, for all the arran- gements now in use are obviously unsuitable for catching flour plati. num. The machine referred to above can treat about 100 tons in 12 hour.", tlie volume of water required being from 5 to 10 times that of the gravel. The cleanUip of the dilTi'rent appliances usually takes place every 12 hours at 5 p.m. and a.m. The sands resulting from the clean up are then further concentrated in another very simple sluict!, consisting of an upper portion in the shape of a box lined with sheet inm and o lower portion which consists of a narrow box about 15 feet long which is laid with well washed peats forming shallow riffle-. The sands are thrown in small quantities into the box and then worked about with a hoe or a narrow shovel in a carefully regu- lated current, of water ; the bulk of the platinum is retaim d in the t>ox, the rest being caught in the riffles and most of the lighter mate, rial is cirrietl away. The rich concentrates thus obtained, seem to consist of crude platinum, chropiite and a few of the heavier minerals. They are finally cleaned on a small flat table or wash-board. This consists of two tables separated by a drop of two inches. Above the upper one is a small box which delivers a regular shallow stream of water over the whole breadth of the table, the force of the current being just sufficient to move the avenge-size particles of platinum. The breadth of the board is about 3 feet. The concentrated sands from the sluice are thrown on the upper table and aro continually pushed upward against the current by means of a little wooden hoe. On this table the concentration is finished ; the .sands are workeacumHici«. oient meroury to diiMulve any gold th*t may be prMent. The pktiDuin left behind is now ready for the market. In iti crude state it usually oontaini from 7S tu 89 per cent of pure metal. It it then ready to Iw »o!d to the reflneriri. The bulk of the produoe of Ruesia i« exported in the crude state. Id Colombia, which is the platinum producer next in importance tu KuHsin, the oietal is also recovered by very simple methods. The greater proportion is obtained from the working nf the " cnliche " beds which are usually ground-sluiced. River bars and bed** are worked in even a more primitive way; women diving for the black sand and washing it in pans. Source and uaociated mineralB. Since the foregoing notes were coiupiled and printed in the Report of the Section of Mines f'inf. — In some British Columbia nuggets, olivine acts as an enve- lope to the core of platinum. This would point to a peritlotito as the mother rock of tliexe platinum nuggets. Russian nuggets have l>een found with serpentine attached, which certainly was derived from olivine. PyroxKHt. —In British Columbia, some nuggets have been found with attached crystals of augite, near occurrences of pyroxenite, sug- gesting this rock as the probable source. The Russian platinum mines of Tagilsk are located along rivers which rLsc in the muunlains of Soloviev, and thin sugcested the advis- ability of senrohing in the mountains for the original source. The coun- try rock is 11 tine grained variety of peridotite consisting of colourless olivine, which predominates, bound together by serpentine in which is disseminatel chromic iron ; the serpentine being probably an altera- tion of the olivine. At a place where an excavation had been made, prol'ably in search of platinum, a sort of pocket, a foot or so in dia- meter, was observed in the country rock. It consisted principally of angular grains of chromic iron, and in the interstices were serpentine anH a little dolomite acting as a cement. An as-say of this rock gave 0.0107 per cent of platinum or aliout 3 ounces per ton. Platinum hiis been observed to be a constituent of some copper ores, in tefr.ihedrile and liournonite, at Val du Drac in France, at Guadiil ■aeci»ny aiwwiatpd with copi«r .how that the ro.-ul i* not necessarily conflne.1 to olivine rockn, or .^ven to igneou. rocks. However, in all ca««s of the dis- covery of the nieUl in titu, the amount is c mmercially v^ry small. The And* of platinum in gravels in the Chaudiere River district, province of Quebec, Canada, have U-eii mentioned in another part of this article. In connection with this, however, it is very interesting to note that some years ago a platinum nugget wa. found in glacial drift near Plattoburg. X.Y. This nugget weighed 104 grains, of which 46 p. c. was metallic pla'.inum and 64 ^. c. chroroite. As it was found in the drift it had undoubtedly l)cen brought from the north, very pn)bably from the great oreiis of serjentine which occur in the pro vince of Quebec, parte of which are workeake Cariboo, there are large areas of rusty diabase. At c j point where an excu/htion some six feet deep, has been made, the loosened rocks show some iron and copper pyrites, and pyrrhotite. The sulphides \ ■MTiox or MmM 31 \ (/ IL •hn« io iMBM •nd •triBg.r*. but do wall dcflr.Ml v«n i« f«po«»eti»l pemoD*! itudy on the pnrt of Profeiwor Kemp. lie HUt^s that the platinum Waiiiig ar«ridotitc ml th« pyroxenite. In the endeavour to trace the platinum back to its original loialion, tests were made of serpentine veins rich in chromite and of dykes of pyroxenite in the jH-ridolitfl. Assays of the serpentine gave amounts of platinum varying from a trace to nearly 2 ounces per ton, whilst assays of specimens of the pyroxenite showing an abundance of magnetite and remote from tho peridotite mass, gave only fiiint trace h or notiiing whatever. It can be concluded that tho platinum i< in extremely line scales, ami that large nuggets are rare and the woither ing and concentration of enormous n a.sses of rock must »« surmised in order to account for the existence of the platinum-Warint; gravels. Platinum is said to have been found in former years at the mouth of Siwash creek, which enters the Tulameen, three miles al)ove p:a^le creek. The country-rock here is a granite in which are evidences of lines ot dislocation. Along one of these where the granite is more or less decomposed and sUined green by chlorite assays of this maleri ,'. gave traces of platinum. The granite of Siwash creek, which is highly acidic, consists of quartz, orthoclase, plagioclase, l.iotite and a little epidot«. It could not be ascertained whether the platinum wa- 22 OIOLOOICAL 8URVBT OP CANADA ! 1 PtATINCli. Source and •■•ucUtrd Tninerftlti. confined to the lines of dislocation and brought there by solution or WBS an original constituent of the granite. However, the presence of platinum in connection with a highly acidic rock is interesting and important to note. Platinum is said to have been observed in Brazil in qu irtz veins cutting a syenite gneiss. 1 n reviewing the different deposits and mineraloj?ical associations of the platinum groups of nietala, Prof. Kemp divides them into three types as follows. /. I'larers — The source of the platinum of these deposits has been trac»>d mostly to poridotite and also in cases to pyroxenites, gabbros, metamorphosed gabbros and syenite. Ttiey are the result of the •veathoring und natural concentration of enormous masses of rock by processes which must have been in action for very long periods of time. //. Tein*. — Occurrences of platinum in vtiiis of different kinds have been recorded, "s at Tilkerode, Harz Alts. Germany where it is found, in irregular lodes in diabase associated with quartz, selenides of lend and of mercury, doloniitu and calcite ; at Minas (Jeraesin Brazil, in quartz veins ; iit Santa Ilo.sn, Colombia, and at Beresouk Russia. It has also been found associatjKl with complex anti itmial sulphides of copper and other metals (tetrahedrite and Imurnonite) at Gaudal- cagual Spain and Val du Drac France, as well as in the Rambler mine, Wyoming, where it ia found in the form of sperrylite in the covellite of the mine. ///. Dlnneininnted in eriiptiiv rockn. — In this c.ise the platinum oc- curs in two forms as arsenide and in the native state. In the first men- tioned condition it is associated with the copper-nickel ores of Sudbury, Canada, but appears in this ease to l>e more closely connected with the chalcopyrite than with the nickeliferous pyrrhotite. In the second form, that is in the native st^te, the platinum is found in basic eruptives, especially in peridotite, and it is intimately as.socinUnl with chromite. Chromite occurs, as a rule, in connection with serpentines, all the deposits i.f any extent having so far l)een found in this rock, and hence appear to owe their existence to the process resulting in the alteration of the original olivine. On the other hand chromite has been discovered also in basic eruptives which ar<' not at all altered to serpentine, so that it may also be looked upon aa an ori;, nal igneous mineral. Mr. Kemp concludes his bulletin with a few suggestions of practical value which are given in full as follows : — IICTION or MIlfBS 23 1. — ExperiencB thus far g.ined leads to the conclusion that plati. Viatiniii. num ia very sparsely distributed in its mother rock and that the chances Source . . ,» . n m. • •I'l mode of of finding it in quantities sufficient to rame are small. Ihere is never- occurrence. theless, a chance. If found, the recovery of the platinum by any means other than stacifiiig and washing remains to be solved, and as the metal may be in a very finely disseminated state, this problem is a serious feature of the situation. 2. I^rge and permanent placers are to lie looked for only in very old land areas which have been subjected to protracted degradation and concentration. 3, In the assay of antimonial, arsenical, and other copper ores, but especially of tetrahedrits (gray copper or fahlerz) it is worth while to look for small percentages of platinum. 4. — Deposits of uhromite deserve similar testing. Through the kindness of Mr. R. W. Brock, we are enabled to give an advanced statement, of the results of his investigation made for the Geological Survey in British Columbia during 1902 the details of which will appear in forthcoming reports of the Department. The paper is the result of his observations in the field and the assays of the sample, were made by Mr. Donald Ixx;ke in the labo- ratory of the Geological Survey. The occurrence in question is in the Burnt Basin region, Grand Forks Mining Division, British Columbia, on the ' Mother Lode' claim. On this claim two (|uart;: -. sins, two feet and six feet wide respectively and some 20 feet from "ach other, occur in greenstone between two large porphyry dykes. The quartz is somewhat milky and has small amounts of pyrite, galena, blende and a little chalcopyrite and molyb- denite, whilst in the oxidized surface ore, free gold and copper carbo. nates are found and native copper also is reported. The principal value is in gold with a little silver. The samples taken for assay for the platinum metals gave the fol- lowing results : — 1. — O'lO oz. platinum per ton, from lowest level on six feet vein. 2._005 " " " 3. — 006 " from six ft. vein from depth of about. 45 feet from surface. 4. — Nil From outcrop of two foot vein. From these and other reliable assays which gave results varying from nil to 1 ot per ton, it is evident that the platinum is very unevenly I 24 OIOLOOIOAL 8URTBT OF CANADA i I Platinum 3ourcr »iiU Mtucuktud minerkb. distributed throughout the vein matter ; in lome parte o! the vein it uiay be present in commercial quantities, while in others it is absent. It has not been determined in what form the metal occurs, but it is probably held by the sulphides. The distri.^t is one o! considerable geological complexity. It has been the scene of numerous igneous intrusions extending from proba- bly Palaeozoic to Tertiary times, and it has witnessed more than one mountain-building epoch. Consequently the older rocks are much disturbed, sheared, fractured and altered. The oldest rocks are limestones, argillites and grpenstonea, of which the latter are the most extensive. Agreatpaitof the district is however composed of later intrusions. The limestones are sometimes pun-, sometimes dolomitic. When comparatively unaltered they are dark ind carlwnaceous but are us . .ily metamorphosed toa white marble. The argillites are often altered to schists and hornfels. These rocks have been intruded by the greenstone, probably an augite porphyrite, though it is u.sually much sheared and altered. All the above rocks are cut by a coarse gray grano-diorite which sends dykes and apophyses into the older rocks. The greenstone on the " mother lode " is also cut by a basic gabbroidal rock which has some affinities to the non-basic monzon-tea. To the north is a large area of a still more recent hornblende granite, from which dykes are sent off into the older rocks. To the east is a large area of syenite of Pulaskite (alkali syenite) and monzonite habit. This rock is of Ter- tiary age. Numerous dykes of syenite porphyry, some of them no doubt from the alkali-syenite cut all the older rock. The veins occur in the moie disturbed districts where the porphyry dykes are most, numer>.u8. On the ' Contact ' properties several <|uartz veins occur, but a little to the south are veins of zinc blende with a little galena. Mr. Brock gives his reasons for making the suggestions as to the prolMible occurrence of platinum in British Columbia, published in the summar;' report of the (Jeological Survey for 1901 as follows : — ' The special reasons for suspecting its occurrence in West Kootenuy and the Boundary Creek districts were the presence there of basic in' rusive rocks, often altereJ to serpentine, rocks in which platinum has Ijeen most frequently found when in place and the rocks which are the source of the Simiikamien platinum, and the fact that the chako- pyrite pyrrhotite ore-bodies of these districts bear a very marked resemblance to the platinum bearing copper-nickel deposits of Sudbury, RSCTION OF MINES 95 Msociatirni. Ontitrio. The subsequent discovery of platinum in the copper ore of Platinim. the Rambler mine, Wyoming, in the sanm form (sperrylite, the arsenide Source and of platinum) as at Sudbury, further emphasized this probability. ' The basic ignrous rocks in which platinum so often finds its home are not confined to southern British Columbia, but are known to occur all through the mountains at least to the Atlin distri<;t. The occur rences of ores possibly holding this metal are also similar over wide areas, so that the search for platinum must not he confined to the southern part of the Cordilleran belt in the province.* In connection with the work recently prosecuted in the Sudbury district by Dr. A. E. Barlow for the Geological Survey Department samples of the mattes obtained were collected and assayed by Mr. Don .d Locke of which we are enabled to give a resume l)elow : The fu; larticulars will be found in Dr. Barlow's report which will shortly be is.sued. One specimen of matte from the Mond Company's works yielded : copper, 37-37 per cent ; nickel, 4i-88 per cent ; iron, 107 per cent ; cobalt, 0-33 per cent ; silver, 487 ozs. per ton ; gold, 006C oz. per f n, while the platinum group of minerals amounted to 04 oz. per ton. In another sample of matte from the same place the gold and plai. num minerals were not separated and amounted together to 0'60 oz. per ton. In matte produc-ed by the Orford company the results of the analy- ses were : copper, 34-95 per cent , nickel, 40-37 per cent ; rron, 9-64 per cent ; cobalt, 078 per cent ; gold, 15 oz. per ton and the plati- num group 0-5 oz. per ton. Another sample from the. same p'ace was found to contain : silver, 2-50 ozs. per ton ; gold, 0-10 oz. per ton and the platinum group 0-44 oz. per ton. In corroboration of t he above may be mentioned the results given in a paper by L P. Silver, on " Sulphide ore-bodies of the Sudbury region " Vol. V Can. Minin({ Institute, of an analysis of a sample of Bessemer matte which was found to contain : nickel and cobalt, 39-64 percent; copper, 4275 percent: iron, 103 percent; sulphur, 1405 per cent ; silver, 6-30 ozs. per ton ; gold, 075 oz. per ton ; platinum group, 0-50 oz. per ton. * In thi' r»'port of tho Minister of Mines for Britiali Columbia for 11102, reference i» made to the occurrence if platinum acconipnnied by osmiridium in the black sanda of the t^ue.nnel Kiver, CaribiK) District Sv, far however it is not saved p— 3 9« OEOLOOICAL 8DBVBV OV CANADA Kibliogntphy . LITERATIKE AND REKKRENCja CONSULTED IN THK COMPILA- TION OF NOTES ON PLATINUM. Bl-LLMAN Cha8. The Mineral Induatry, Vol. I. Tlie PSatinuiii (in>ii|>of MeUli. Dawson, fJ. M. Ke|»rt of ProffreMa, (ieolo^cal Survey of Caiuula, 1877rt of the U;). Platinum in the Province of Quelwc. LoriM, Hk.vkv. Occurrence and treatment of platinum in Russi-. Mineral Indu.stiv, Vol. VI. Mineral iNinaTRv. Vol. VIII. VooT, .1. H. L. ProbleiiiK in the geology of f>re Dejwsits. Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Kng., Vol. .xxxi, 1902. White K. B. Oold and Platinum at Xo\ ita Vieja, Colombia. Engineering and Milling Journal. Feb. 20, It'WT.