title: The analysis of high-purity noble metals and their salts by ICP-MS.
abstract: Ongoing work is being carried out at Mintek to establish methods for the determination of trace levels of impurities in high-purity noble metals and their salts. The sample-preparation methods are outlined, and the optimum instrumental parameters that were established are tabulated. Spectral interferences arising from the presence of a matrix element at high concentration levels, including abundance sensitivity overlap and the formation of noble-metal oxides, are discussed. Accuracy was established by the comparison of the results with those obtained by a DC-arc method, and by spike recovery tests. The precision of measurement was found to vary from 0.72 to 49% S(r) for concentrations of between 15 and 0.5 gmg/g, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Mintek, Randburg 2125, South Africa.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: R V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Robért