Per cent.
Platinum 75·90
Iridium 1·30
Rhodium 1·30
Palladium trace
Osmiridium 9·30
Iron 10·15
Silica 1·12
[42] p. 14.
Platinum is frequently found in beach sand deposits on the coastal
border between Queensland and New South Wales, notably at Ballina, close
to the mouth of the Richmond River; at Evans Head, further south; and at
Currumbin, near the mouth of the Tweed River. In this locality black
sands containing platinum, associated with gold, cassiterite, monazite
and osmiridium, accumulate on the beaches during stormy weather. At
Ballina and Evans Head, the platinum predominates over the gold, but at
Currumbin, further south, the gold is in the greater quantity[4] p. 557.
The minerals are present in a very finely-divided state, and separation
of the valuable metals is a matter of considerable difficulty. The
problem does not appear to have been satisfactorily solved up to the
present time, although promising experiments have recently been carried
out with screening and magnetic treatment. The deposits are,
unfortunately, very low grade.
The sources of the metals are uncertain. The platinum and osmiridium
appear to have been derived from the western edge of the Clarence coal
measures, which now exist only as fragmentary outcrops. The gold, tin
and monazite may have their origin in granite and other rocks of the New
England tableland. Chromite is present in some of the Currumbin sands,
which suggests serpentine as the probable source of platinum[4] p. 557.
Other associations are zircon, garnet, tourmaline, ilmenite, magnetite
and sapphire.
In the Broken Hill district, principally at Little Darling and Mulga
Springs Creek, platinum has been proved to extend over a considerable
area in a copper-nickel gossan, closely associated with gabbro,
decomposed gneisses and schists. In addition to platinum, the amounts of
which vary from a trace to 16 dwt. per ton, gold, silver, iridium and
palladium are also present[43]. The deposits bear some resemblance to
the nickel deposits of Sudbury, Ontario, and it is thought that here,
too, the platinum occurs combined with arsenic, as sperrylite.
_Queensland._—In addition to the beach deposits between Southport and
Currumbin, described above, platinum has been found in Coopooroo and
Wairamba Creeks on the Russell Goldfield, near Innisfail; also in the
Lucknow and Alma “reefs” of the Gympie Goldfield, where it is present in
quartz lodes with native gold, and arsenopyrite, the accompanying rocks
consisting of slates, alternating with volcanic tuffs and conglomerates;
the metal also exists in the neighbouring gold-bearing alluvial deposits
of Brickfield Gully.
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