Platinum Extraction and Fabrication on the American Continents
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“A History of Platinum and its Allied Metals”, by Donald McDonald and Leslie B. Hunt 20 Platinum Extraction and Fabrication on the American Continents “The applications of platinum have steadily increased, and never so rapidly as in the last two decades. For many purposes no substitute for platinum has been found. " PROFESSOR JAMES LEW IS II OW K. I 900 The platinum industry, in so far as refining and manufacturing are concerned, took far longer to establish itself in the Americas than in Europe although, as related earlier, the original supplies of the native metal came from there, the principal source being New Granada, later securing its independence as the Republic of Colombia late in 1819. Shortly afterwards the new government decided to prohibit the export of platinum and to build up stocks with the idea of a platinum coinage in mind. In the following year, however, the Colombian Vice-President Francisco Antonio Zea (1766-1822) arrived in Europe with two objectives, to contract a loan of up to £5 million sterling and to seek the recogni tion by European powers of the newly established republic. In London Zea met Justus Erich Bollmann, by then a manufacturing chemist whose activities in the fabrication of platinum in the United States will be described a little later, who was instrumental in securing an advance of £20,000 towards a projected loan of £2 million that Zea eventually contracted in 1822. One half of this advance was contributed by Bollmann himself, and as a guarantee Zea, apparently unaware of the intention to mint a coinage, signed an agreement with him whereby 40,000 pounds of platinum (an impossibly large amount) supposedly held in the Colombian Mint in Santa Fé de Bogotá, would be released for sale in London, no doubt for use by Bollmann himself and by Wollaston, whose supplies had virtually ceased by this time. Zea’s authority to contract a loan was revoked in August 1821 by the Colom bian governing council although news of this did not reach London until the October of the following year by which time Bollmann, who had visited Colombia in connection with the proposed shipment of platinum, had died in Jamaica on his way home, while Zea himself died only a month later. The government declined to honour the agreement made between these two 365 © 1982 Johnson Matthey “A History of Platinum and its Allied Metals”, by Donald McDonald and Leslie B. Hunt \fter two centuries of hand operation by natives in the Choco district of Colombia, mechanical equipment was brought in by the Compania Minera Choco Pacifico in 1915. This is one of several dredges in operation in the main platinum-bearing area men for the supply of platinum, no doubt because of their intention to mint a platinum coinage, authorised in September 1821 but never put in hand. These events, recently uncovered by Dr. J. A. Chaldecott and to be described by him in more detail in a forthcoming paper in Platinum Metals Review, were undoubtedly responsible for the statement by the unknown translator in his footnote to Baruel’s paper in The Philosophical Magazine of 1822 referred to on page 190: “This valuable memoir derives particular interest from the large importation of the above ore, daily expected from South America, in consequence of the negotiation between M. Zea and some London merchants.” (1). This consignment never of course arrived, but its supposed existence has often been referred to, even by Sir Edward Thorpe, who wrote quite erroneously in his “Essays in Historical Chemistry”: “Whole cargoes of the native metal are said to have lain unpurchased for years in London as it could not be turned to account. ” (2) The possibility of minting a platinum coinage in Colombia arose again in 1829, prompted by the Russian moves in this direction, and Humboldt was con sulted by Simon Bolivar, but with the resignation of the Liberator in 1830, and his death very soon afterwards, nothing more was heard of the idea. 366 © 1982 Johnson Matthey “A History of Platinum and its Allied Metals”, by Donald McDonald and Leslie B. Hunt Later Production in South America Production of platinum in Colombia remained at a low level for many years, confined to the activities of native workers. In 1879, however, a small refining and assaying establishment was set up in Medellin by the Gutiérrez family. A younger member was sent over to Johnson Matthey in London to gain experience and the Fundición Gutiérrez is still active at the present time. In 1911 the Anglo-Colombian Development Company was formed jointly by Consolidated Gold Fields and Johnson Matthey to work the platinum deposits of the Chocó and dredging operations were begun, output beginning to increase by 1914. Later this company was taken over by the South American Gold and Platinum Company, formed in the United States with a subsidiary operat ing company, Compañía Minera Chocó Pacifico. This organisation put a second dredge into service in 1920, a third in 1923 and a fourth in 1932 (3). Production of platinum thus increased considerably, reaching 30,000 ounces a year by 1920 but now representing a smaller part of world production. The Fabrication of Platinum in the United States Although as was said at the beginning of this chapter America was late in enter ing the platinum industry, there was one quite remarkable exception. In 1796 there arrived in New York the German physician and adventurer Justus Erich Bollmann already mentioned in his later dealing’s with Zea. He had been imprisoned after two attempts to release Lafayette from his confinement by the Austrians and then expelled from the country. For his efforts on behalf of Lafayette he was given a warm welcome by George Washington and he established a merchanting business in Philadelphia. This proved to be unsuccessful, however, and he decided to take up practical chemistry, devoting his efforts to the production of malleable platinum and the development of its industrial uses. No details of Bollmann’s process have survived, but he could well have been aware of the publications of Richard Knight in 1880 and of Thomas Cock in 1807 referred to in Chapter 8. Cock had not attempted to remove the other platinum metals, although their discovery had been reported by Wollaston and Tennant between 1802 and 1804, but as a member of the American Philoso phical Society since 1800 Bollmann could have learnt something from a paper read there in 1809, although not published until 1818, by Joseph Cloud of the Philadelphia Mint (4). This described the separation of palladium and rhodium from native platinum, and possibly he adopted this procedure. The first announcement of his success came in a note from Professor Thomas Cooper of Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, the editor of the Emporium of Arts and Sciences, in 1813(5). This prompted a letter from Bollmann, part of which is reproduced here, in which he claimed to be the first to render platinum malleable in America “by means of a process which admits being executed on a large scale”, going on to say that he had made sheets of thirteen inches square and that he 367 © 1982 Johnson Matthey “A History of Platinum and its Allied Metals”, by Donald McDonald and Leslie B. Hunt Justus Erich Rollmann 1769-1821 German physician. adventurer, merchant, economist, author and manufacturing chemist. liollmann arrived in Neu York from Kngland in 1796. after acquiring a knowledge of chemistry in Paris. He lived for most of the ensuing twenty years in Philadelphia where he became a member of the American Philosophical Society. He was the first to prepare malleable platinum on a commercial scale in the United States, and was responsible for providing the first platinum boiler used in America for concentrating the weak sulphuric acid produced by the lead chamber process had in preparation platinum vessels that would hold from twenty to thirty gallons (6). In a letter to the Governor of Pennsylvania, Simon Snyder, in 1814 (recently discovered by Dr. J. A. Chaldecott, to whom the present writer is indebted for these details) in the State Archives of Pennsylvania (7) Bollmann wrote: “There has been a Boiler made here, of rolled Platina, for the Condensation of Oil of Vitriol, which holds 25 gallons and is the largest vessel of Platina, probably, in existence. ” As the article stands it gives the impression, that I only do what Pari of Bollmann’s letter of Mr. Cloud did before, but better. The fact however is, that Mr. 16 June 1813 to Professor Cloud, whose merits I well know and fully acknowledge— does Thomas Cooper wherein he not seem to have intended more than to produce a cabinet piece of gives some information about the greatest possible purity and specific gravity, and he has done his own production and use so: but I have first rendered platina malleable in this country,by of malleable platinum. He means of a process, which admits being executed on a large scale, also expressed the hope that and which, I hope, will become beneficial to the arts, and to soci his process would become ety.— Pieces have been made of the weight of two pounds, and up beneficial to the arts, and to wards. Sheets have been rolled of thirteen inchcs square, and society. Cooper published the vessels o f platina are now m aking, and ¡it preparation, which will letter in August 1813 in his “Emporium of Arts and hold from twenty to thirty gallons. Sciences" 368 © 1982 Johnson Matthey “A History of Platinum and its Allied Metals”, by Donald McDonald and Leslie B.