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 spectrometry is developed for the determination of Ru, Rh, Pd, Ir, Pt and Au in geological samples. After fusion of the sample with sodium peroxide, the digested solution is dried to convert silica to an insoluble form to discard SiO2. The platinum group elements are pre-concentrated and separated from a large 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 the final volume used. Results obtained for the reference materials, WGB1,SARM7 and GBW07288-GBW07294, are in agreement with the certified values.