Platinum Group Element Exploration

The platinum-group elements (PGE) include platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium. They are currently receiving world-wide attention as an attractive exploration target because they offer the dual attraction of rare, high value precious metals as well as major industrial applications. Platinum has aesthetic qualities, combined with a permanent lustre, which encourage its use in the manufacture of jewellery and, like gold, it also finds an investment role. Platinum, rhodium and palladium have important applications as catalysts, enabling petroleum and other fuels and chemicals to be produced efficiently from crude oil. This book gives a practical set of guidelines for implementing a programme of PGE exploration, detecting subtle indications of mineralization and assessing the economic potential of a group of mafic or ultramafic rocks. Background material is given on the economic and geological framework of the PGE in the first chapter, while theoretical aspects of magma chemistry are covered in the next three. Chapters 5 and 6 review current world-wide exploration activity within the context of available reserves of PGE, and in Chapter 7 factors which need to be considered in exploration for new deposits are outlined. The last chapter discusses evaluation guidelines. As the PGE are both costly and almost indestructible they are normally recycled; nevertheless, a substantial annual input of new metal is needed to replace process losses, to permit increases in capacity in the dependent industries and to provide for new uses. For example, a major new market for platinum will be created if the European Community countries are required to fit catalytic converters to new cars. At present, South Africa and the USSR are the sources of most of the western world's newly mined PGE, with virtually all the South African production derived from the Bushveld Complex. Much of the material presented in this book is based on the author's experience of these rocks, and emphasis is given to the dominant role played by magmatic sulphides as potent collectors of PGE. Consumers of minerals and metals, however, prefer to have a diversity of supply and a new PGE producer is therefore likely to attract a ready market. Not only does the book provide a wealth of practical information for mining geologists, it also contains much of interest to those in natural resource management and investment.

As the importance and dependence of specific mineral commodities increase, so does concern about their supply. The United States is currently 100 percent reliant on foreign sources for 20 mineral commodities and imports the majority of its supply of more than 50 mineral commodities. Mineral commodities that have important uses and face potential supply disruption are critical to American economic and national security. However, a mineral commodity's importance and the nature of its supply chain can change with time; a mineral commodity that may not have been considered critical 25 years ago may be critical today, and one considered critical today may not be so in the future. The U.S. Geological Survey has produced this volume to describe a select group of mineral commodities currently critical to our economy and security. For each mineral commodity covered, the authors provide a comprehensive look at (1) the commodity's use; (2) the geology and global distribution of the mineral deposit types that account for the present and possible future supply of the commodity; (3) the current status of production, reserves, and resources in the United States and globally; and (4) environmental considerations related to the commodity's production from different types of mineral deposits. The volume describes U.S. critical mineral resources in a global context, for no country can be self-sufficient for all its mineral commodity needs, and the United States will always rely on global mineral commodity supply chains. This volume provides the scientific understanding of critical mineral resources required for informed decisionmaking by those responsible for ensuring that the United States has a secure and sustainable supply of mineral commodities.

The Geo-Platinum 87 Symposium, held at the Open University during April 1987, was designed as a forum for presentation of new research results on the occurrence, genesis, geochemistry, mineralogy and analysis of the platinum-group elements (PGE). With the support of the Open University and the Mineral Industry Research Organisation, the symposium was attended by 115 representatives of university departments, research institutions and members of the mining and mineral exploration industries. An introduction to the symposium was provided by two invited papers from C. J. Morrissey (Riofinex North) and C. R. N. Clark (Johnson Matthey) which were designed to give perspective to the goals of PGE research work. The first of these papers gave a provocative insight into the aims and objectives of an exploration manager, examining the influence of supply, demand and perceived world reserves on exploration strategy. The second invited paper gave a valuable view of the industrial uses, market trends and predicted changes in the commercial value of the platinum-group elements from the standpoint of a refining company and supplier. These invited papers are reproduced in this volume and are followed by twenty four full papers and twenty abstracts that reflect the wide range of research topics presented at the symposium.

This edited work contains the most recent advances related to the study of layered intrusions and cumulate rocks formation. The first part of this book presents reviews and new views of processes producing the textural, mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of layered igneous rocks. The second part summarizes progress in the study of selected layered intrusions and their ore deposits from different parts of the world including Canada, Southwest China, Greenland and South Africa. Thirty experts have contributed to this update on recent research on Layered Intrusions. This highly informative book will provide insight for researchers with an interest in geology, igneous petrology, geochemistry and mineral resources.