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Platinum  (Native)
Current inventory:  0 gems
 

  
Platinum is named from the Spanish word platina, diminutive of plata, meaning silver, for the new metal found in large placer deposits during the sixteenth-century Spanish conquest of South America that was called "platina del Pinto" after the Rio Pinto, Columbia.

Discovered in 1748;   IMA status: Valid (pre-IMA; Grandfathered)

Chemistry

Chemical Formula:

Pt

Platinum (Elemental Platinum)

Molecular Weight:

195.08 gm

Composition: 

Classification

Mineral Classification:

Elements

Strunz 8th Ed. ID:

1/A.14-70

Nickel-Strunz 10th Ed. ID:

1.AF.10

1 : ELEMENTS (Metals and intermetallic alloys; metalloids and nonmetals; carbides, silicides, nitrides, phosphides)
A : Metals and Intermetallic Alloys
F : Platinum group elements

Related to:

Platinum Group elements

Varieties:

Avaite, Ferroan Platinum, Palladian Platinum, Rhodic Platinum

Synonyms:

Native Platinum, Polyplatinum

Crystal Data

Crystallography:

Isometric - Hexoctahedral

Crystal Habit:

Cubic crystals, typically distorted, to 1.5 cm; commonly as grains or scales, rarely as nuggets or lumps up to 30 kg.

Twinning:

On {111}, as interpenetrant contact twins.

Physical Properties

Cleavage:

None

Fracture:

Hackly

Tenacity:

Malleable and Ductile

Moh's Hardness:

4.0 - 4.5

Density:

14.0 - 19.0 (g/cm³)

Luminescence:

None

Radioactivity:

Not Radioactive

Other:

Nonmagnetic to distinctly magnetic when rich in iron.

Optical Properties

Color:

Whitish Steel Gray, Steel Gray, Dark Gray

Transparency:

Opaque

Luster:

Metallic

Refractive Index:

R: (400) 60.5, (420) 62.3, (440) 63.8, (460) 65.1, (480) 66.3, (500) 67.5, (520) 68.6, (540) 69.5, (560) 70.2, (580) 70.7, (600) 71.2, (620) 71.6, (640) 71.8, (660) 72.1, (680) 72.4, (700) 72.8

Birefringence:

0.00 (Opaque)

Occurances

Geological Setting:

Chiefly in placer deposits, or in mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks; rarely in hydrothermal quartz veins or contact metamorphic deposits.

Common Associations:

Chalcopyrite, Chromite, Magnetite, Pt–Fe alloys

Common Impurities:

Fe, Ir, Os, Rh, Pd, Au, Cu

Type Locality:

Pinto River, San Juan River Basin, Papayan, Cauca, Chocó Department, Colombia

Year Discovered:

1748

View mineral photos:

Platinum Mineral Photos and Locations

More Information

Mindat.org
Webmineral.com

Platinum is an exotic and expensive mineral that is rarely found as well formed crystals. It is typically found as placer nuggets, grains or as veins in host rock. Pure platinum is unknown in nature as it usually is alloyed with other metals such as Iron, Copper, Gold, Nickel, Iridium, Palladium, Rhodium, Ruthenium and Osmium. The presence of Iron can result in slight magnetism in the Platinum nuggets. The most common source of Platinum is placer deposits where the Platinum has weathered out of igneous rocks and tumbled down streams and rivers over many years. Placer deposits form in streams and rivers behind rocks where the heavier materials such as Platinum and Gold are deposited and are too heavy to be washed downstream.

Platinum is more rare than gold and is typically more expensive by weight than Gold. Chemically, Platinum is very non-reactive and can facilitate many chemical reactions without being altered in the process. It is used in many anti-pollution devices, especially catalytic converters. For this reason, it has been nick named the "Environmental Metal".

Platinum is found in many deposits world-wide. In the Pinto River, near Papayan, in the Department of Chocó, Cauca, Colombia (the Type Locality). In the USA, from Platinum Creek, Goodnews Bay, Alaska; in California, in a number of placers, as in Trinity County; and at Oroville, Butte County In Oregon, at Cape Blanco, Port Orford, Curry County In Canada, at Rivière-du-Loup and Rivière des Plantes, Beauce County, Quebec; in British Columbia, in the Kamloops district, on the Fraser and Tranquille Rivers, and in the Similkameen district, on Granite, Cedar, and Olivine Creeks, tributaries to the Tulameen River; in Alberta, near Edmonton. In Russia, in the Ural Mountains, in a large district surrounding Nizhni Tagil; good crystals from the Konder massif, Aldan Shield, Sakha. In South Africa, at a number of deposits along the Merensky Reef of the Bushveld complex, Transvaal.
 

  
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