DUSHANBE, September 13, 2010, Asia-Plus — Some seven kilograms of platinum have bee stolen from the Institute of Geology of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, according to the Ministry of Interior (MoI).
On September 10, the police department in Dushanbe’s Shohmansour district received application from Abdulhaq Fayzov, the director of the Institute of Geology, who said that 6.630 kilograms of platinum were stolen from safe in his office on the night of September 9-10, the source at a MoI said. The cost of the stolen precious metal is some 743,000 somoni.
Criminal proceedings have been instituted to investigate the theft and an investigation is under way.
Platinum is a chemical element. is derived from the Spanish term
platina del Pinto
, which is literally translated into “little silver of the Pinto River.” It is in group 10 of the periodic table of elements. A dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal, platinum is remarkable by its resistance to corrosion, even at high temperatures. With the average abundance of approximately 0.005 mg/kg, platinum is one of the rarest elements in the Earth”s crust. It occurs in some nickel and copper ores along with some native deposits, mostly in South Africa which accounts for 80% of the world production.
Platinum is used in catalytic converters, laboratory equipment, electrical contacts and electrodes, platinum resistance thermometers, dentistry equipment, and jewelry; it is also a major precious metal commodity. The price of platinum is more volatile than that of gold. In 2008, the price of platinum ranged from $774 to $2,252 per oz. D
uring periods of sustained economic stability and growth, the price of platinum tends to be as much as twice the price of gold, whereas during periods of economic uncertainty, the price of platinum tends to decrease due to reduced industrial demand, falling below the price of gold. Gold prices are more stable in slow economic times, as gold is considered a safe haven and gold demand is not driven by industrial uses.
