New ICP‐MS Results for Trace Elements in Five Iron‐Formation Reference Materials

Abstract

Iron formations (IFs) typically contain low mass fractions of most trace elements, including the rare earth elements (REE), and few publications describe analytical methods dedicated to this matrix. In this study, we used bomb and table‐top acid dissolution procedures and ICP‐MS to determine the mass fractions of trace elements in IF reference materials FER‐1, FER‐2, FER‐3, FER‐4 and IF‐G. The full digestion of the IF samples with the bomb procedure required the addition of a small amount of water together with the acids. The results obtained by this method mostly agreed statistically with published values. The most remarkable exception was the higher values obtained for the heavy REE in FER‐3. The recoveries of the REE obtained with the table‐top procedure were slightly higher than those of the bomb digestion, except for the values of the heavy REE in FER‐3 and FER‐4, which were up to 30% lower than published values. Sintering of the samples with sodium peroxide was performed to determine the REE, but the results tended to be lower than those derived following acid digestion. On the whole, the recoveries showed dependence on the conditions of digestion, but subtle differences in trace mineral composition between samples also exerted influence on the analytical results for trace elements.

Determination of Trace Elements in Bauxite Using Laser Ablation‐Inductively Coupled Plasma‐Mass Spectrometry on Lithium Borate Glass Beads

“…In general, our results compare well with solution ICP-MS data that cover a more complete set of trace elements than the INAA data. With the exception of a few elements, there is excellent correspondence with the solution ICP-MS data for NIST SRM 69b and NIST SRM 696 (Zhang et al 2016) and for FeR-2 (Yu et al 2003, Sampaio andEnzweiler 2015). Only for NIST SRM 698 (Zhang et al 2016), our results are consistently ca.…”

“…) and FeR‐2 (Yu et al . , Sampaio and Enzweiler ) and INAA data for BX‐N (Bédard and Barnes ), NIST SRM 69b (Korotev ), NIST SRM 696 and NIST SRM 698 (Grant et al . ).…”

“…For FeR-2, we also used a set of compilation values that were certified or provisionally recommended by the Canadian Certified Reference Materials Project (CCRMP) under the auspices of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). Additional literature data included for comparison are solution ICP-MS values reported for the three NIST RMs (Wang et al 2013) and FeR-2 (Yu et al 2003, Sampaio andEnzweiler 2015) and INAA data for BX-N (B edard and Barnes 2002), NIST SRM 69b (Korotev 1996), NIST SRM 696 and NIST SRM 698 (Grant et al 2005). All reference data were extracted from the GeoReM database.…”

Investigation of Thulium and Other Rare Earth Element Mass Fractions in NIST SRM 1632a Bituminous Coal Reference Material by Quadrupole ICP‐MS

“…Inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) is a common method for trace element determination due to its accuracy, multi‐element capabilities and low levels of detection (Sampaio and Enzweiler , Schudel et al . ).…”

“…Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is a common method for trace element determination due to its accuracy, multi-element capabilities and low levels of detection (Sampaio andEnzweiler 2015, Schudel et al 2015). Compared with instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), ICP-MS offers comparable detection limits and immediate results; however, geological sample preparation can be time-consuming (Pinte et al 1998, Kin et al 1999.…”