Towards the analysis of platinum group elements at low levels in insulating materials

The operating parameters for a high current caesium sputter source have been modified so that stable beams of anions can be obtained from natural non-conducting samples. This technique has been applied to the analysis of gold and platinum group elements in silicate matrices, particularly olivines. The handling of interferences resulting from the large number of molecular ions produced in such a target, and the effect of differences in the matrices of reference materials are discussed.