PROBABLE CHANGES IN KNOWN GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION IN THE NEAR FUTURE
At present the Russian platinum fields are practically idle. The dredges are for the most part not running and the industry is disorganized. It will require considerable expense and several months’ time to rehabilitate the Russian platinum industry. The known deposits of the Russian field are becoming exhausted, and the reserves of known platiniferous gravels are stated by Duparc to have a life of 12 years, based on the pre-war rate of production; or, stated differently, the known deposits are capable of producing between 3,000,000 and 3,600,000 ounces of platinum before they are exhausted.
Colombia seems to have large reserves of unworked platinum-bearing ground, though so little detailed information is available that it is unsafe to predict their future. It is safe, however, to point out that all reports indicate that careful prospecting in the Choco district will probably be repaid by the discovery of considerable areas of platinum-bearing ground.
The Canadian deposits hold some promise of future production. Several recent discoveries of platinum along the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia, from the Tulameen to the Stikeen, indicate that further search may be rewarded. If reports are true, there is a considerable area on the Tulameen, Willow and Peace rivers which can be dredged for the recovery of gold and platinum. The most important Canadian platinum reserves are in the Sudbury nickel deposits, but present metallurgical practice will have to be changed to obtain the maximum output of platinum and palladium from these ores.
In the United States there does not seem to be hope for a considerable increase in the output of platinum; in fact, it may be that the production will be materially less when the new refineries for the treatment of Sudbury ores are completed in Canada. The placer deposits carrying platinum are for the most part relatively small; many of those in northern California and Oregon can not be worked economically and few are available for dredging. As the gold-dredging field along the base of the Sierras becomes exhausted, the output of platinum in this country will decline in proportion, barring the discovery of new ground and deposits of gravel richer in platinum than those now known.
The various Australian platinum deposits do not seem particularly promising, as regards production, with the possible exception of the Bald Hill dredging field, in Tasmania. The Fifield deposits seem to be nearly exhausted and the beach deposits in New South Wales and Queensland are too low grade and the valuable minerals are too erratic in distribution to appear of much commercial interest.
The Spanish deposits have not yet been sufficiently explored to determine their extent, but published reports do not seem to indicate that they will prove very large or particularly rich.