Abstract
Ten kimberlites from various localities in South Africa have been analysed for all of the platinum-group elements (PGEs) and gold using a nickel sulphide fire-assay preconcentration followed by neutron activation analysis (NAA). Problems encountered during the analysis of these samples prompted a radio tracer study to test the recovery of the precious metals during firing, and then the subsequent dissolution of the assay button. The results of this study suggest solutions to the potential problems of incomplete melting of MgO-rich and CO 2-rich during fire-assay, and minimising losses of Pt, Pd and Au during dissolution. Furthermore, this improved procedure offers lower limits of detection than previous methods which combined fire-assay and NAA. The concentrations of PGEs determined in this study of South African kimberlites are compared with previous partial analyses from the literature, indicating that earlier analyses may have seriously overestimated the concentrations of the some PGEs in kimberlites.
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