As mentioned above, about 25 per cent. of the Russian output of platinum before the war was refined in Germany, and it is known that German capital was helping to finance the pre-war platinum operations of that country[2]. _Imports_ The following is a summary of imports into Germany of crude, manufactured and scrap platinum in kilograms (42·87 troy oz.) for the years 1910–13: ─────┬────────┬───────┬────────────────┬───────┬───────┬──────────┬─────── From │ United │France.│Austria-Hungary.│Russia.│United │ Other │Total. Year.│Kingdom.│ │ │ │States.│countries.│ ─────┼────────┼───────┼────────────────┼───────┼───────┼──────────┼─────── 1910 │ 419│ 846│ 265│ 278│ 127│ 216│ 2,151 1911 │ 292│ 895│ 451│ 190│ 255│ 239│ 2,322 1912 │ 458│ 642│ 554│ 272│ 48│ 307│ 2,281 1913 │ 191│ 683│ 233│ 451│ 236│ 230│ 2,024 ─────┴────────┴───────┴────────────────┴───────┴───────┴──────────┴─────── RUSSIA Up to the year 1914, Russia produced about 93 per cent. of the total world’s supply of platinum, the metal being derived from extensive deposits of alluvial sands in the Ural Mountains. The platiniferous area extends approximately 80 miles along the central part of the chain of mountains in the Government of Perm, and along the eastern slope, the principal centre of the placers being at Goroblagodat, and on the western side at Nizhni-Tagilsk. Platinum was first discovered in the Urals in 1823, and exploitation commenced in the following year. In 1828 the Russian Government instituted platinum coinage, which consisted of 3–rouble, 6–rouble and 12–rouble pieces, the coins containing about 2 per cent. iridium. A 3–rouble piece weighed 10·31 gm., and the price paid by the Government to the producers was 16_s._ 10_d._ per oz.; but owing to the subsequent rise in value of platinum, the coinage was discontinued in 1845[48] p. 606. The platinum industry began to develop in 1869, the price at that time being under £5 per lb.[49], but from that year onwards the value, although subject to considerable fluctuations, has steadily increased. It has been estimated that since the beginning of the industry in Russia, about 6,000,000 oz. of platinum have been recovered from 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 c. yd. of gravel. As was explained in Chapter I, the official statistics of the Russian output of crude platinum are considered to be low. In the following table, the estimated and official figures of production are given for the years 1910–17: