PLATINIUM[Pt]

Listing description:

Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River."^[1] It is in Group 10 of the periodic table of elements. A dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal, platinum is resistant to corrosion and occurs in some nickel and copper ores along with some native deposits. Platinum is used in jewelry, laboratory equipment, electrical contacts and electrodes, platinum resistance thermometers, dentistry equipment, and catalytic converters. Some of its compounds are used in chemotherapy for cancer patients.^[2]

Detailed description:

Characteristics

As a pure metal, platinum is silvery-white in appearance, lustrous, ductile, and malleable.^[3] It does not oxidize at any temperature, although it is corroded by halogens, cyanides, sulfur, and caustic alkalis. Platinum is insoluble in hydrochloric and nitric acid, but dissolves in aqua regia to form chloroplatinic acid, H₂PtCl₆.^[4]

Platinum's resistance to wear and tarnish is well suited for making fine jewelry. The metal has an excellent resistance to corrosion and high temperatures and has stable electrical properties. All of these characteristics have been exploited for industrial applications.

Occurrence

Platinum output in 2005

Platinum is an extremely rare metal,^[17] occurring as only 0.003 ppb in the Earth's crust. It is sometimes mistaken for silver (Ag).

Platinum is often found chemically uncombined as native platinum and alloyed with iridium as platiniridium. Most often the native platinum is found in secondary deposits; platinum is combined with the other platinum group metals in alluvial deposits. The alluvial deposits used by pre-Columbian people in the Chocó Department, Colombia are still a source for platinum group metals. Another large alluvial deposit was found in the Ural Mountains, Russia, which is still mined.

In nickel and copper deposits platinum group metals occur as sulfides (i.e., (Pt,Pd)S)), tellurides (i.e., PtBiTe), antimonides (PdSb), and arsenides (i.e., PtAs₂), and as end alloys with nickel or copper. Platinum arsenide, sperrylite (PtAs₂), is a major source of platinum associated with nickel ores in the Sudbury Basin deposit in Ontario, Canada. The rare sulfide mineral cooperite, (Pt,Pd,Ni)S, contains platinum along with palladium and nickel. Cooperite occurs in the Merensky Reef within the Bushveld complex, Gauteng, South Africa.^[18]

In 1865 chromites were identified in the Bushveld region of South Africa followed by the discovery of platinum in 1906.^[19] The largest known primary reserves are in the Bushveld complex in South Africa.^[20] The large copper–nickel deposits near Norilsk in Russia, and the Sudbury Basin, Canada, are the two other large deposits. In the Sudbury Basin the huge quantities of nickel ore processed makes up for the fact that platinum is present as only 0.5 ppm in the ore. Smaller reserves can be found in the United States,^[20] for example in the Absaroka Range in Montana.^[21] In 2005, South Africa was the top producer of platinum with an almost 80% share followed by Russia and Canada.^[

Platinum exists in higher abundances on the Moon and in meteorites. Correspondingly, platinum is found in slightly higher abundances at sites of bolide impact on the Earth that are associated with resulting post-impact volcanism, and can be mined economically; the Sudbury Basin is one such example.

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