NOVEL APPLICATIONS OF LASER ABLATION-INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY IN INORGANIC ANALYTICAL-CHEMISTRY

Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry has been a pplied to the characterization of the trace element composition (finge rprint) of selected gold, diamond and indicator mineral samples from a round the world, Preliminary results indicate that specific elemental associations can be used to identify the provenance of gold, Spectral fingerprints of diamonds have also indicated the potential of the tech nique to identify the source of diamonds and to provide fingerprints o f indicator minerals for use in diamond exploration initiatives.