 In 1741 , Charles Wood , a British metallurgist , found various samples of Colombian platinum in Jamaica , which he sent to William Brownrigg for further investigation . Antonio de Ulloa , also credited with the discovery of platinum , returned to Spain from the French <unk> Mission in 1746 after having been there for eight years . His historical account of the expedition included a description of platinum as being neither separable nor <unk> . Ulloa also anticipated the discovery of platinum mines . After publishing the report in 1748 , Ulloa did not continue to investigate the new metal . In 1758 , he was sent to superintend mercury mining operations in <unk> . 
