ANALYSIS: Finding platinum and other precious metals requires educated guessing

Click on map for larger image

If there is platinum and other precious metals buried deep below Decorah, mining those minerals will take at least a 2,000 foot deep mine shaft.  That's expensive, so mineral companies take several steps before committing their financial resources.

First they rely on surveys by the U.S. Geological Survey to spot areas with the potential for precious metals.  Such deposits are found in areas with distinctive footprints that show up when specially-fitted airplanes go on mapping flights with a variety of expensive equipment.

In the map above, provided to decorahnews.com by retired USGS official Dr. Ray Anderson, you can see the horseshoe imprint around the Decorah area that gives researchers optimism that a platinum deposit has been found.

But that's just the first step.  Mining companies then decided whether they want to pay for exploratory drillings in the potential areas.  Since the platinum would be found 2,000 feet below the surface, the exploratory wells would have to be--you guessed it--at least 2,000 feet deep.  A number of deep drillings are needed in order to get a good idea of the area.

Dr. Anderson says all that process takes time as well as money, so any mining would be years and years--and perhaps decades and decades--away.  But he's hoping there will be enough interest in the preliminary results to encourage more studying.  "Let's find out what's down there and then figure out what to do," he says.