Platinum abundance

Since detailed chemical structure information is not usually required from isotope ratio measurements, it is possible to vaporize samples by simply pyrolyzing them. For this purpose, the sample can be placed on a tungsten, rhenium, or platinum wire and heated strongly in vacuum by passing an electric current through the wire. This is thermal or surface ionization (TI). Alternatively, a small electric furnace can be used when removal of solvent from a dilute solution is desirable before vaporization of residual solute. Again, a wide variety of mass analyzers can be used to measure m/z values of atomic ions and their relative abundances. 

None of the three elements is particularly abundant in the earth s crust though several minerals contain them as major constituents. As can be seen from Table 13.1, arsenic occurs about halfway down the elements in order of abundance, grouped with several others near 2 ppm. Antimony has only one-tenth of this abundance and Bi, down by a further factor of 20 or more, is about as unabundant as several of the commoner platinum metals and gold. In common with all the post-transition-element metals. As, Sb and Bi are chalcophiles, i.e. they occur in association with the chalcogens S, Se and Te rather than as oxides and silicates. 

Ruthenium and osmium are generally found in the metallic state along with the other platinum metals and the coinage metals. The major source of the platinum metals are the nickel-copper sulfide ores found in South Africa and Sudbury (Canada), and in the river sands of the Urals in Russia. They are rare elements, ruthenium particularly so, their estimated abundances in the earth s crustal rocks being but O.OOOl (Ru) and 0.005 (Os) ppm. However, as in Group 7, there is a marked contrast between the abundances of the two heavier elements and that of the first. 

Although estimates of their abundances vary considerably, Pd and Pt (approximately 0.015 and 0.01 ppm respectively) are much rarer than Ni. They are generally associated with the other platinum metals and occur either native in placer (i.e. alluvial) deposits or as sulfides or arsenides in Ni, Cu and Fe sulfide ores. Until the 1820s all platinum metals came from South America, but in 1819 the first of a series of rich placer deposits which were to make Russia the chief source of the metals for the next century, was discovered in the Urals. More recently however, the copper-nickel ores in South Africa and Russia (where the Noril sk-Talnakh deposits are well inside the Arctic Circle) have become the major sources, supplemented by supplies from Sudbury. 

Palladium and platinum are the longest known and most studied of the six platinum metals [1-11], a reflection of their abundance and consequent availability. Platinum occurs naturally as the element, generally with small amounts of the other platinum metals. It was used as a silver substitute by Colombian Indians and first observed there by Ulloa (1736), who called it platina del Pinto ( little silver of the Pinto river ) but the first sample was actually brought to Europe in 1741 by Charles Wood, Assay Master of Jamaica. Palladium was isolated in 1803 by W.H. Wollaston, who was studying the aqua regia-soluble portion of platinum ores (he announced his discovery by an anonymous leaflet advertising its sale through a shop in Soho) and named it after the newly discovered asteroid Pallas [12],... 

Six of the transition metals—Ru, Os, Rh, Ir, Pd, and Pt—are known as the platinum metals. The group is named for the most familiar and most abundant of the six. These elements are usually found mingled together in ore deposits, and they share many common features. Although they are rare (total annual production is only about 200 tons), the platinum metals play important roles in modem society. 

Platinum-195 is the only magnetically active isotope of platinum, the natural abundance being 33.8%. The shift of a saturated solution of K2PtCl6 is in D20 defined as zero ppm. The total chemical shift range is huge, about 13,000 ppm (from -6000 to +7000 ppm ). 

Because of their low intrinsic electronegativities, neutral late transition metals (bearing an abundance of lone pairs) can serve as good donors in nM— ctah interactions of the form (5.69a). Furthermore, transition-metal-hydride bonds (Section 4.4.1) often display sufficient covalency or polar-covalency (particularly in transition-metal cations) to serve as good acceptors in ns— ctmh interactions of the form (5.69b). In the present section we shall briefly examine the simple example of platinum dihydride (PtH2) as a water-mimic in binary H-bonded complexes with H20,... 

Cheng, H.X., Xie, X.J., Yan, G.S. 1998. Platinum and palladium abundances in floodplain sediments and their geochemical provinces. Chinese journal of Geochemistry, 27, 101-106. 

Ruthenium is a rare element that makes up about 0.01 ppm in the Earth s crust. Even so, it is considered the 74th most abundant element found on Earth. It is usually found in amounts up to 2% in platinum ores and is recovered when the ore is refined. It is difficult to separate from the leftover residue of refined platinum ore. 

Rhodium is rare, but not as rare as ruthenium. It makes up only 1 part in 20 milhon of the elements found in the Earths crust. Even so, it is considered the 79th most abundant element and is found mixed with platinum ore, and to a lesser extent, it is found with copper and nickel ores. It is found in Siberia, South Africa, and Ontario, Canada. 

Osmium is the 80th most abundant element on Earth. As a metal, it is not found free in nature and is considered a companion metal with iridium. It is also found mixed with platinum- and nickel-bearing ores. It is recovered by treating the concentrated residue of these ores with aqua regia (a mixture of 75% HCl and 25% HNO). The high cost of refining osmium is made economically feasible by also recovering marketable amounts of platinum and nickel. 

Iridium is the 83rd most abundant element and is found mixed with platinum, osmium, and nickel ores. The minerals containing iridium are found in Russia, South Africa, Canada, and Alaska. 

Platinum is the 75th most abundant element and, unlike many elements, is found in its pure elemental form in nature, as are deposits of silver and gold. Platinum is widely distributed over the Earth and is mined mainly in the Ural Mountains in Russia and in South Africa, Alaska, the western United States, Columbia in South America, and Ontario in Canada. When found in the mineral sperryhte (PtAs ), it is dissolved with aqua regia to form a precipitate called sponge that is then converted into platinum metal. It is also recovered as a by-product of nickel mining, mainly in Ontario, Canada. 

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