the disruptions caused by World War I. The opening of the text introduces the reader to the Imperial Institute and its series of monographs on mineral resources. Lumb sets the stage for an in-depth investigation of the platinum group metals—platinum, palladium, iridium, osmium, ruthenium, and rhodium—highlighting their natural occurrences and production lineage. The narrative also addresses historical shifts in global production, particularly the effects of the war on resource availability, mainly focusing on findings from Russia and Colombia. The opening lays the groundwork for a deeper exploration of the methods used for the extraction and refinement of these minerals and their emerging uses in various industrial applications. (This is an automatically generated summary.)