In the Rio Abaeté, Minas Geraes, platinum—very different in appearance
and chemical composition from that of the Serra do Espinhaço—occurs in
placer deposits, associated with gold, diamonds and the following
minerals: rolled pieces of a hydro-phosphate of barium and aluminium
(_gorceixite_ = “marumbé” of miners), garnet, almandite, pyrope,
ashy-blue oxide of titanium (_bagageira_—regarded as a good indicator
for diamonds), magnetite, chromite and calcium-titanate (_perovskite_).
Pyroxene-olivine rock, a typical picrite-porphyry, rich in perovskite,
and granular magnetite rocks, rich in titanium, have been observed by
Oliveira in the vicinity. Hence it is highly probable that the platinum,
as in the Urals, came from olivine rocks. The platinum occurs in thin
laminæ, strongly rolled, and, rarely, in cubical crystals with the edges
visibly rounded. It is strongly magnetic and contains no palladium.
Minute crystals of osmiridium may occur with those of platinum, and in
the platinum particles are found regular inclusions of osmiridium, as at
Nizhne Turinsk, in the Urals, the platinum of which locality it
resembles in chemical composition, magnetic properties and crystalline
structure. The following analysis shows the percentage and composition
of a general sample: insoluble residue, 7·57; iron, 9·62; palladium,
trace; copper, trace; platinum metals, 82·81.
The auriferous alluvial of the Cuyabá and Coxim rivers in the southern
part of the State of Matto-Grosso, also contain some platinum. According
to Luiz Caetano Ferraz[79], platinum occurs in the River Coxipó-Mirim,
where golddredging is carried on, combined with palladium, iron, osmium
and iridium in small spherical grains, flattened on one side, of a
brilliant white colour and strongly magnetic. It is found in alluvial
deposits, associated with various kinds of quartz and oxides of iron,
marcasite, arsenopyrite, rutile, anatase, almandine, garnet, black
tourmaline, monazite, staurolite, white topaz, sphene, cassiterite,
wolfram, graphite, galena and native silver.
In the State of Bahia, platinum has been found in Ituassú, Feira de S.
Anna and Serra do Assuruá, and it is said to occur at Sâo Bartholomeu,
and in the Serras do Pitango and Macahubes[80].
Platinum also occurs in Brazil as rare disseminations in the
gold-bearing _jacutinga_, intercalated in the itabirites (e.g. at Gongo
Socco Mine, long since abandoned). The jacutinga occurs as narrow bands
and nuclei in the itabirites, containing a high percentage of gold, with
much talc, clay and pulverulent pyrolusite. As accessory minerals
zircon, rutile, cassiterite and tourmaline occur. Hussak thinks that the
gold-bearing jacutinga has been derived from altered pegmatite veins.
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