The Mineral Science Laboratory of the Government Chemical Laboratories has recently investigated various procedures for the analysis of the platinum group metals (PGMs)._x000D_
This investigation covered a number of methods for the extraction and preconcentration'of the PGMs from a wide range of geological materials._x000D_
The nickel sulphide extraction technique proved to be overall the most applicable procedure. Flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS), electrothermal atomisation atomic absorption spectroscopy (ETA-AAS), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) were examined for their suitability in analysing platinum group metals in solution. ETA-AAS and ICP-MS proved to be the instruments of choice due to their low detection limits.