Is Placer Platinum Magnetic?

[tuffdetector]

I read somewhere that there is a magnetic & non-magnetic placer platinum. Is this true?

Pic is placer gold & platinum

[whats4supper]

it can be. do a google on Platinum Group Metals. these metals are in more or less combination mix whenever one type of platinum is found. some of the group are lighter or heavier than the others, and command variable prices.

Like gold, a little goes a long way in chemical compostion and metallurgical mix

Naturally occurring platinum and platinum-rich alloys have been known for a long time. Though the metal was used by pre-Columbian peoples, the first European reference to platinum appears in 1557 in the writings of the Italian humanist Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484-1558) as a description of a mysterious metal found in Central American mines between Darién (Panama) and Mexico ("up until now impossible to melt by any of the Spanish arts").

The Spaniards named the metal platina ("little silver") when they first encountered it in Colombia. They regarded platinum as an unwanted impurity in the silver they were mining.

[edit] Properties

The platinum metals have outstanding catalytic properties. They are highly resistant to wear and tarnish, making platinum, in particular, well suited for fine jewelry. Other distinctive properties include resistance to chemical attack, excellent high-temperature characteristics, and stable electrical properties. All these properties have been exploited for industrial applications.

[edit] Applications

Platinum, platinum alloys, and iridium are used as crucible materials for the growth of single crystals, especially oxides. The chemical industry uses a significant amount of either platinum or a platinum-rhodium alloy catalyst in the form of gauze to catalyze the partial oxidation of ammonia to yield nitric oxide, which is the raw material for fertilizers, explosives, and nitric acid.

In recent years, a number of platinum-group metals have become important as catalysts in synthetic organic chemistry. Ruthenium dioxide is used as coatings on dimensionally stable titanium anodes used in the production of chlorine and sodium hydroxide.

Platinum supported catalysts are used in the refining of crude oil, reforming, and other processes used in the production of high-octane gasoline and aromatic compounds for the petrochemical industry. Since 1979, the automotive industry has emerged as the principal consumer of platinum-group metals. Palladium, platinum, and rhodium have been used as oxidation catalyst in catalytic converters to treat automobile exhaust emissions. A wide range of platinum-group metal alloy compositions are used in low-voltage and low-energy contacts, thick- and thin-film circuits, thermocouples and furnace components, and electrodes.

[edit] Sources

Platinum

Sperrylite (platinum arsenide, PtAs2) ore is a major source of this metal. A naturally occurring platinum-iridium alloy, platiniridium, is found in the mineral cooperite (platinum sulfide, PtS). Platinum in a native state, often accompanied by small amounts of other platinum metals, is found in alluvial and placer deposits in Colombia, Ontario, the Ural Mountains, and in certain western American states. Platinum is also produced commercially as a by-product of nickel ore processing. The huge quantities of nickel ore processed makes up for the fact that platinum makes up only two parts per million of the ore. South Africa, with vast platinum ore deposits in the Merensky Reef of the Bushveld complex, is the world's largest producer of platinum, followed by Russia.

Osmium

Iridiosmium is a naturally occurring alloy of iridium and osmium found in platinum-bearing river sands in the Ural Mountains and in North and South America. Trace amounts of osmium also exist in nickel-bearing ores found in the Sudbury, Ontario region along with other platinum group metals. Even though the quantity of platinum metals found in these ores is small, the large volume of nickel ores processed makes commercial recovery possible.

Iridium

Metallic iridium is found with platinum and other platinum group metals in alluvial deposits. Naturally occurring iridium alloys include osmiridium and iridiosmium, both of which are mixtures of iridium and osmium. It is recovered commercially as a by-product from nickel mining and processing.

Ruthenium

Ruthenium is generally found in ores with the other platinum group metals in the Ural Mountains and in North and South America. Small but commercially important quantities are also found in pentlandite extracted from Sudbury, Ontario and in pyroxenite deposits in South Africa. Ruthenium is commercially isolated through a complex chemical process in which hydrogen is used to reduce ammonium ruthenium chloride yielding a powder. The powder is then consolidated by powder metallurgy techniques or by argon-arc welding.

Rhodium

The industrial extraction of rhodium is complex as the metal occurs in ores mixed with other metals such as palladium, silver, platinum, and gold. It is found in platinum ores and obtained free as a white inert metal which is very difficult to fuse. Principal sources of this element are located in river sands of the Ural Mountains, in North and South America and also in the copper-nickel sulfide mining area of the Sudbury Basin region. Although the quantity at Sudbury is very small, the large amount of nickel ore processed makes rhodium recovery cost effective. However, the annual world production of this element is only 7 or 8 tons and there are very few rhodium minerals.

Palladium

Palladium is found as a free metal and alloyed with platinum and gold with platinum group metals in placer deposits of the Ural Mountains, Australia, Ethiopia, South and North America. However it is commercially produced from nickel-copper deposits found in South Africa and Ontario. The huge volume of nickel-copper ore processed makes this extraction profitable in spite of its low concentration in these ores.

[Reno Chris]

Platinum metal, like gold is not magnetic.

However, there are a few gold nuggets out there that are wrapped around magnetite and as a result the whole piece can be picked up with a magnet. I would imagine there are nuggets of platinum that are the same way.

Chris

[nuggethunting]

Hello Tuff,

Platinium is a metal that is non-ferrous, such as copper, silver, lead, tin, gold, and their alloys. Like Chris R. mentioned, if iron is present with the Platinium then it could be magnetic or picked up with a strong magnet.

Hope this helps,

Rob Allison

[whats4supper]

clarification: while some pure platinum group metals are not magnetic, common ore alloys involving cobalt, nickel, iron, and others make some platinum residues magnetic, and susceptible to mill reduction or recovery by using magnetic separators in the flow. This involves platinum in a pre-refined state. as well as content in some sulphide ores.

The Stillwater, MT platinum mine involves a lot of relatively complex methods to sort ore and concentrate platinum, as do most other platinum milling or recovery systems.

After refining, platinum and related group metals are routinely made into magnetic alloys used in permanent magnets, or in catalytic converters that also produce magnetic fields as part of the chemical conversion and manipulation. A magnetically strong alloy of Platinum and Cobalt, make up the surface coating on most computer hard drives, and some investigation os now being made to recover the platinum off old drives.

Check also Platinum Group Metals;

milling or recovery of platinum;

Platinum mining;

PGM;

etc.

[dutch john]

Howdy All... this is an old post that I was directed to by someone who read it while surfing the net

while on what is knowm as "facebook."

It seems that there has been confusion regarding gold sometimes being magnetic and platinum

sometimes being magnetic...

whatsforsupper has posted very exellent posts over the past years... but allas not recently. I believe

he lived in Caliente Nevada but other than tis tidbit of information I'm at a loss... Maybe he will post

again on the forums!

Anorther point of contention not addressd in this thread: but I will try to quote, and any typos in the

quote are mine. It is regards to the exploration of placer gold by geomagnetic surveys but it now

said also of shallow surface detecting for midrange eluvial placers while using a gold detector

in the desert regions within the North American cordillera...

.... 'we have not encountered any pay gravels that did not have any measurable concentrations

of magnetite in the black sands. It is common to find gravel deposits with high concentrations

of magnetite and no gold values whatsoever...... but our experience and history have shown that

gold values rarely occur without associated magnetic black sands; although the concentrates of

of magnetite do vary tremendously.'

It is important to be within a metallogenetic area to find gold values associated with magnetite.

You can use a metal detector to seek concentrations of magnetic black sand that is associated

with gold because of their specific gravity. Early day electronic prospectors using VLF's learned

to offset the ground balance or increase the sensitvity to listen for ground noise that was

associated with concentations of magnetic black sand to drywash... Crude but it did work,

Today there are a growing number of VLF gold machines that "follow the black streak" such as

beginning back in the late 1970's it was found that by using a VLF it could "follow the drywashers".

Best... jim straight

[AZNuggetBob]

I agree Jim

That point gave rise to the old saying "you almost always find black sand with placer gold but don't always find gold in black sand".

Gold often forms in iron or magnetite rich deposits and being so malleable its not uncommon for placer gold to encapsulate some of its host rock or even pick up and or even absorb black sand by its proximity in gravity concentration during its alluvial journey.

I think the same applies to Platinum nuggets as well. Platinum nuggets dont start out round and smooth either. JMO AzNuggetBob

[nvchris]

The little black cube is magnetic.

[FlakMagnet]

Whats4supper is one of the finest posters on this or any forum on the subject

of prospecting in the southwest.

Was that a quote of his - those two posts above - or was that him?

All the best,

Flak

[dutch john]

Flak.... this is an old thread dating back to July 2008... My post was just a day or so ago and the following

just today or yesterday... It was originally brought to my attention by someone on "facebook" as I understand(?)

they are able to quickly use google or other search engines. Old posts and other stuff.

nvchris... is your "specie epithermal gold associated with schist? The "iron" could be weatherd magnetic pyrite...

Just a wild guess... . Looks familiar, but my memory not as it once was... But it is a "WOW," and I really enjoy

reading your posts... best to all who has read or will read this thread

[nvchris]

Jim ,

I think it's a thermal vent, perhaps a palo hot spring, the country rock is a granitic.

This is a find from my 2012 summer adventure in the Mother Load country.

I also found lots of quartz magnetite specimens. Some were quite "hot" on the detector.

I

[dutch john]

nvchris... I yeild to your greater knowledge. My memory is slipping away. I agree that

it could be a hot spring thermal event. Am I correct in assuming geothermal areas are

considered to be capable of transporting gold to the surface as a soluable ion?... I

believe I may have read this in one of my newer textbooks, but did not fully under

stand it... I guess what I'm trying to say is that geothermal hotsprings can be another

source of epithermal gold....

You are sure enjoying being in the Pershing-Humboldt county areas in Nevada.

Good for you... As I remember we lived at 475 13th street in Lovelock.

Gosh this was over 55 years ago. Thanks... jim