DETERMINATION OF GOLD IN GEOLOGICAL SAMPLES AND ANODE SLIMES BY ATOMIC-ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY AFTER PRECONCENTRATION WITH AMBERLITE XAD-16RESIN

A method was developed for the determination of trace levels of gold i n geological materials and anode slimes involving the adsorption of go ld on Amberlite XAD-16 resin followed by FAAS determination after elut ion. The adsorption behaviour of the chloro complex of gold from hydro chloric acid solution was also investigated and the recovery of gold w as found to be 95.48 +/- 0.04% at the 95% confidence level. The degree of preconcentration ranges from 10- to 75-fold for different sample v olumes. The detection limit of gold was 0.046 mg l(-1). The adsorption isotherm and adsorption capacity of XAD-16 resin were investigated fo r gold. The adsorption isotherm was found to be of the Langmuir type a nd the adsorption capacity of the resin was 0.55 mmol g(-1) (108 mg g( -1)). The influence of geological matrix elements on the adsorption of gold was also evaluated. The gold contents of anode slime and a refer ence standard ore were determined by applying the proposed method.