uisite diamonds. Additional large deposits are located in the Sudbury deposit of Ontario, Canada, and the Norilsk-Talnakh deposit of Siberia in the former USSR. Montana’s Stillwater Complex is the major U.S. excavator of platinum-based metals, however, in comparison, U.S. production is miniscule compared to the aforementioned countries.Three individual layered reefs of the Bushveld Complex in South Africa--the Merensky Reef, the UG2 Chromite Layer, and the Platreef--produce the country’s most significant amounts of platinum group metals (PGM). The PGM occur as alloyed native metals, as platinoid minerals, and in copper, nickel, cobalt, and iron sulfide minerals. (Hilliard FFF4) South Africa produced roughly 174,000 kilograms of PGM in 1998, a 2 percent increase from 1997 figures. In 1998, the Krasnoyarsk nonferrous metals plant produced 95 percent of all Russian PGM and most likely exported every ounce of the total 100, 000 kilograms that were recovered. (Hilliard FFF4) The Krasnoyarsk plant reportedly struck a deal with Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., a South African based mining company, to ship platinum ores to be refined in Russia and then exported as pure metal beginning in 1999. Supposedly the deal would increase Krasnoyarsk plant operating capacity 5 percent to a total of 35 percent. (Hilliard FFF4) Canadian PGM output was much smaller in comparison to Russia and South Africa, coming in a distant third at 7,570 kilograms for 1998 production. The United States rounded out the top four with 1998 annual production at 3,240 kilograms of PGM. (Hilliard Table 2)Mineral reserves are defined as “known and identified deposits of earth materials that can be extracted legally with economic efficiency, by using existing technology.” It is estimated that world reserves of platinum group metals in mineral concentrations presently or potentially economic to mine are in excess of 100 million kilograms. (Hilliard 127) Sout...
