PLATINUM Documentary: Mining, Science and History

As one of the lesser-known but nonetheless vital  precious metals, platinum has a long history of being used for jewelry and ornamentation,  reaching back to the ancient Egyptian empire, having been discovered on a coffin unearthed in  Thebes estimated to be from the 7th century BC. Platinum is a metal that  represents power, prestige, and a sense of great accomplishment. It has come  to symbolize a high level of status in society, as evidenced by top tier credit cards  and membership programs u

sing its name, but platinum is so much more than just a status  symbol. Modern day uses of platinum include being a key element in catalytic converters for  vehicles, as it converts car exhaust gases into less harmful substances, as a catalyst in  the chemical industry, and even in the creation of life-saving anti-cancer drugs. But that's  just scratching the surface. On today's episode, we explore this exclusive metal that befuddled  miners and scientists alike when it was first discovered. Dub

bed platina, or 'little silver',  by the Spanish conquistadors, the truth is it's so much more than meets the eye. Time  to dig into platinum, on Commodity Culture. Platinum is a gray-white precious metal and  one of a group of six elements known as the platinum group metals. The other metals in the  group are iridium, osmium, palladium, rhodium, and ruthenium. Platinum is the most common of  the group and sees the most use. Platinum's atomic number is 78, it has an atomic mass of 195  units, a

melting point of 1768 degrees celsius, and is resistant to corrosion,  stable at high temperatures, and has stable electrical properties. The name  platinum comes from the spanish word platina, basically translating to little silver. This  somewhat derogatory word was coined by Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century as they  had no idea of platinum's uses or true value and considered it an annoyance that interfered  with their attempts to mine gold. In those times, it was widely believed that

platina was young  gold and that given time, it would turn yellow as it matured but until then, better to toss it  aside and get back to mining for the real thing. Platinum is rarely found on its own. It  is often deposited alongside gold, copper, iron nickel, and of course the other platinum  group metals. When discovered, platinum can be quite inconspicuous at first glance, with nuggets  having a dull gray or black hue. One thing that can help identify it is its incredible heft when  held and

if iron is also present in the alloy, it will be slightly magnetic. Some of the first  known platinum jewelry was crafted by the ancient indigenous peoples of Ecuador, with estimates  placing their culture several centuries before the Spanish conquest of South America in 1492.  It was particularly in the province of Esmeraldas where some of the most striking pieces were found,  leading anthropologist William Farabee to declare: "The native Indian workers of Esmeraldas  were metallurgists of mar

ked ability. They were the only people who manufactured  platinum jewelry." Considering platinum is far more difficult to forge and manipulate than  say, gold or silver, the method these ancient peoples used to work such a problematic metal  was nothing short of incredible and a testament to their dedication to their craft. Platinum  fragments were coated with gold dust then heated by blowpipe on pieces of wood charcoal. The  molten gold then caused the platinum to sinter, meaning coalesce into

a porous mass through  heating, which then allowed it to be forged. Being the rarest of all the precious metals, along with  its incredible strength as the hardest among them, has led platinum to being one of the preferred  forms of jewelry throughout the ages. In addition, it is highly resistant to scratches and other  blemishes and does not wear away easily. Platinum, along with the other platinum group metals  has strong catalytic properties, meaning it can accelerate or trigger a chemical pr

ocess  without becoming permanently changed or consumed. For this reason, it is employed widely in  the manufacturing of catalytic converters for use in exhaust systems in internal combustion  vehicles. Platinum present in exhaust systems helps curb vehicle pollution and contributes  to enhanced air quality. Catalytic converters represent a whopping 50 percent of platinum  demand each year. Due to its high melting point, platinum is indispensable in chemical laboratories  for electrodes and for

crucibles and dishes in which materials can be heated to high  temperatures. In addition, platinum is used in the chemicals industry as a catalyst to produce nitric  acid, benzene, and silicone. It is also used as a catalyst to improve the efficiency of fuel cells  and for electrical contacts and sparking points, as it resists both the high temperatures and  chemical attack of electric arcs. Platinum finds use in the electronics sector in the manufacturing  of computer hard disks and thermocoupl

es, is used to make optical fibers and LCD screens,  turbine blades, spark plugs, pacemakers, and like other precious metals, is used widely in dentistry  crowns, bridges, pins, and other dental equipment, as well as fillings, all employ platinum as a key  component. But one of its most impactful uses to humanity is in the creation of chemotherapy drugs  used to treat cancer, of which platinum compounds are an important building block. I'm willing  to bet you didn't think platinum was such an es

sential element to our day-to-day lives but the  truth is, it's a metal that is as practical as it is prestigious. Next up, let's explore the mining  methods used to extract platinum from the earth. Being one of the rarest metals on earth,  platinum is almost never found on its own but is generally found alongside platinum group  metals, nickel, iron, gold, and other metals. Although pure platinum deposits have  been discovered, they are the exception rather than the rule. One of the earliest  p

latinum mining methods is placer mining. Like gold, platinum particles can accumulate  in alluvial sands in rivers and streams. Placer deposits are concentrated sand and gravel  beds in streams and rivers created when old rock is eroded from its source and further ground into  pieces as it is washed away by the water. Most of the world's placer platinum is found in Russia  and back in the 19th century, alluvial deposits located in the Ural mountains were heavily  mined by both small-scale family

operations and more official mining operations. Placer mining  for platinum was also common in South America, especially in the Rio de la Plata, or the river  of silver, located between Argentina and Uruguay. Placer mining involves using dredges to scoop  platinum-bearing sand or gravel from river beds and washing it until platinum grains or nuggets  are captured and separated from the surrounding material. In today's world, the vast majority  of platinum deposits are located underground and th

is is mined very similarly to gold,  silver, and other underground metal deposits, namely, with strategically placed explosives.  Miners drill holes into the mine walls and pack explosives into them before detonating the rock,  blasting it into small pieces and hauling it up to the surface to be loaded onto trucks, which  then take it to a facility to be processed. Most platinum mining in the modern era is done  in South Africa, which accounts for a whopping 80 percent of world platinum producti

on. The story  of the man who first identified platinum and began to make it known to the greater world is no less  fantastic than the element itself, involving an adventure across continents, a capture and  daring escape on the high seas, and a scientific discovery that would begin platinum's journey to  becoming the dynamic metal we know it as today. Antonio de Uloa of Spain was only 19 years  of age when he was promoted to the rank of Frigate Lieutenant and sent on what would be a  life-alter

ing expedition to Quito in Ecuador, led by French geographers Charles Marie  de la Condamine and Pierre Bouguer. Antonio departed Spain in May of 1735, not knowing  he wouldn't see his motherland again for more than a decade. The mission was a monumental one,  to help determine whether the earth was flat, as was popularly believed throughout most of  human history up to that point or whether it was a sphere, as suggested by Sir Isaac Newton.  To this end, it was necessary to measure the length o

f a degree of longitude at the equator,  of which Quito was the closest city, and again it's somewhere as near as possible to one of the  poles. An expedition to the far north of Sweden was also dispatched for this purpose but our story  shall leave that journey to the pages of history. As Antonio accompanied the geographers in Ecuador,  their task proved epic indeed and with great struggle, they finally completed their work around  1745. Over the course of this decade, Antonio had plenty of tim

e to explore the territory and the  people there, recording his more interesting observations in various papers he carried with  him. As the expedition finally departed back to Spain, their mission accomplished, Antonio  must have been filled with strong emotions, as he was at long last headed home. Fate  however, had other plans in store for him. As they made their way, sailing around Cape  Horn, they were chased down north of the Azores by an English privateer, and their ship was  captured. Ho

wever, they managed an escape and as luck seemed to be on their side, they evaded  their captors and seemed to leave danger behind. But God seemed intent to test their wills and  as they'd reached Louisburg in Nova Scotia, their vessel was once again captured, this  time by a British naval vessel and escape was out of the question. Antonio and his companions  were taken to London and imprisoned, while the admiralty confiscated nearly a decade's worth  of notes from Antonio's time spent in Ecuado

r. Things looked grim for our Frigate Lieutenant as  he sat in a cell, awaiting his fate. But when God closes a door, he is known to open a window, and  good fortune came in the form of the president of the Royal Society, Martin Folkes, who came to  know Antonio and his story, and befriended him. The Royal Society were a group of  natural philosophers and physicians and not only did Martin free Antonio from his  chains, he got all his papers returned to him and even made him a fellow of the Roya

l Society  in 1746. He was then allowed to return to Spain. Finally back after his long mission, he set to  work compiling an account of his adventures which he published in 1748, first in Spanish and then  had it translated into several other languages.For the purposes of our subject today, one passage in  particular stands out: "In the district of choco are many mines of lavadero, or wash gold. Several  of the mines have been abandoned on account of the platina, a substance of such resistance

that  when struck on an anvil of steel, it is not easy to be separated nor is it calcinable, so that  the metal enclosed within this obdurate body could only be extracted with infinite labor  and charge." Shortly after releasing his book, Antonio was tasked with a new mission by the  king of Spain himself, King Ferdinand VI, to travel throughout Europe and study scientific  developments across the continent. His travels brought him to Sweden in the autumn of 1751 and he  was welcomed with open a

rms by Swedish scientists. Shortly after his arrival, he was duly elected  to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in October of the same year. During his time  there, he met with mathematician and chemist H.T. Scheffer. Scheffer was a former mine and  metal works manager, as well as an assayer at the mint, and so had quite a vested interest  in metals. There is no official record of what exactly was said in that meeting, but shortly  thereafter in November of 1751, Scheffer produced a paper ti

tled "The White Gold, or Seventh  Metal, Called in Spain Platina del Pinto, Little Silver of Pinto, its Nature Described,"  and submitted it to the academy. Scheffer was already familiar with platinum before encountering  Antonio as he himself had received samples of it just a year earlier in 1750, from the West  Indies, but his time with Antonio undoubtedly influenced his writing. In the paper, he came  to the following conclusions about platinum: "That this is a metal hard but malleable,  but

of the hardness of malleable iron. That it is a precious metal of durability, like  gold and silver. That it is not any of the six old metals since first, it is wholly and entirely a  precious metal, containing nothing of copper, tin, lead, or iron, because it allows nothing to be  taken from it. It is not silver, nor is it gold, but it is a seventh metal among those which are  known up till now in all lands." In addition, he recommended a potential practical application for  platinum when he wr

ote: "This metal is the most suitable of all to make telescope mirrors, because  it resists as well as gold the vapors of the air. It is very heavy, very dense, colorless and much  heavier than ordinary gold, which is rendered unsuitable for this particular use by lacking  these two latter properties." Although attempts were made in the years that followed, platinum  never found its place in telescopes of the era, although Scheffer would be delighted to  know the metal did eventually find use in

the construction of X-ray telescopes  centuries later. Nonetheless, his paper sparked the imaginations of scientists across the world  and a flurry of research into platinum began, leading it to be established as the multi-faceted  metal that we know in the modern era. Although the recent trend towards electrifying  vehicles seemingly puts platinum's use in traditional gasoline-powered catalytic converters  at risk, we need to step back and look at the bigger picture. In the coming years, auto-

catalyst  demand for platinum is actually likely to rise, as recent legislation to curb pollution from  gasoline and diesel engines is boosting the demand for cleaner emissions, which is platinum's forte.  Either way, platinum will have a role to play in a carbon neutral future as it is needed for  hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles. These use a propulsion system similar to that of  electric vehicles, where energy stored as hydrogen is converted to electricity by the fuel cell, and  th

ese vehicles are already becoming available in California and a few other places. Platinum is  also playing a role in the greater energy economy, as platinum-based fuel cells are a cost-effective,  clean, and reliable off-grid power source that is currently seeing use in some remote areas  such as rural South Africa. These fuel cells can help provide greater energy access to communities  who might not normally be able to get a steady source of electricity. This includes electricity  for schools,

improving the quality of education, and provides the ability to pump water for  irrigation, facilitating agriculture. Its other myriad of uses also aren't going away and for this  reason, platinum will remain an essential metal to our modern civilization for as long  as we can extract it from the earth. Commodity Culture is a series that covers the  history and culture surrounding commodities and natural resources. If you enjoyed this  episode and want to see more, please subscribe and hit the

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