NICKEL SULFIDE FIRE ASSAY FOR THE COLLECTION OF THE PLATINUM GROUP ELEMENTS AND GOLD FROM CHROMITITES USING REDUCED BEAD SIZE

Fire assay is a classical method for the separation of the platinum group elements and gold (PGE + Au). In nickel sulphide fire assay nickel and sulphur are used for the preconcentration of PGE + Au. In the past the authors have successfully reduced the weight of the collectors used without affecting the recovery of the elements from silicate material and eliminated the reagent blank problem. In this work the authors have applied the small bead size to chromitites. Chromitites can be difficult to fuse, and the authors have applied their modified technique to improve the dissolution of chromitites. This paper describes the application of the reduced bead size to the preconcentration of the PGE + Au from chromitites, by using only 0.5 g of nickel compared to the 10 g used by other fire assay workers. © 1990 Springer-Verlag.