NAA of platinum group elements and gold in reference materials: A comparison of two methods

Two methods have been developed for the determination of platinum group ele ments (PGEs) and gold in four geological reference materials: one using rad iochemical neutron activation analysis and the other using nickel sulphide fire assay, followed by instrumental neutron activation analysis. The resul ts from ten multiplicate measurements have been discussed in terms of preci sion and accuracy. The average precision for both methods is about 5%. Comp aring the reported data with existing values in the literature, the accurac y of the proposed methods is good agreement in most cases. Detection limits in the range 0.001-0.015 ng have been derived for both methods under the o perational conditions.