EXTRACTION-ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRIC METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE PLATINUM-GROUP ELEMENTS AND GOLD IN COPPER-NICKEL ORES USINGAN AUTOCLAVE SAMPLE DECOMPOSITION TECHNIQUE

An ETAAS method was developed to determine the platinum group elements and gold in copper-nickel ores using a single sample.It is based on a n approach involving interconnected consideration of the main componen ts of analytical procedure (autoclave decomposition of sample; collect ive extractive preconcentration of metals with a mixture of alkylanili ne hydrochloride and petroleum sulfides; and atomic absorption spectro metric analysis of the extract), The concentrations of elements determ ined in standard reference materials (lode and impregnation copper-nic kel sulfide ores) were found to be in accordance with the certified va lues, within experimental error, The relative standard deviation varie d between 2 and 17% at 0.05-10 mg kg(-1) element concentrations. The d etermination limits were 0.001-0.06 mg kg(-1) for a 5 g sample and an extract volume of 5 ml.