Determination of platinum group elements and gold in geological samples with ICP-MS using a sodium peroxide fusion and tellurium co-precipitation

A reliable and rapid method with inductively coupled plasma mass spectromet ry is developed for the determination of Ru, Rh, Pd, Ir, Pt and Au in geolo gical samples. After fusion of the sample with sodium peroxide, the digeste d solution is dried to convert silica to an insoluble form to discard SiO2. The platinum group elements are pre-concentrated and separated from a larg e amount of matrix elements by Te co-precipitation. The detection limit of this method is 1-9 pg g(-1) when 10 g of sample are weighed and 10 mL is th e final volume used. Results obtained for the reference materials, WGB1,SAR M7 and GBW07288-GBW07294, are in agreement with the certified values.