# Support on Extraction of PGM Metals



## Sanjay9188 (Jul 16, 2022)

Hi All,

Greetings!!!

We have 20 tonnes of ore in India, where we could find from the XRF reports that there are PGM metals such as Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium as well as Gold.

However, we are unable to extract these metals since they are mostly in oxidised form and making the recovery harder.

We understood from a source that the Plasma Arc Melting method is the best process to extract the same. However, would like to know if there in an expert here who can help with the recovery of these PGM metals and Gold, so that we can collaborate for the same.

Thank you.

Warm Regards,
Sanjay


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## Yggdrasil (Jul 16, 2022)

Sanjay9188 said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Greetings!!!
> 
> ...


Do not trust XRF, They are only as good as the Machine/Libraries/user in combination. Even if the machine is properly calibrated with the right libraries the user can screw it up.
Iridium and Rhodium are typically ghosts if not done properly.

Get a proper assay first.


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## orvi (Jul 16, 2022)

I assume you just shot random rock with XRF and it shown some PGMs. As it is tempting to trust those results , I simply wouldn´t. 
First of all, if you do not have any precious metals in the sample, XRF tend to find some in it, even if they aren´t present. Second, do not shot rock/ore samples on precious metals/metal alloys mode. From my experience it tend to screw up the results and make numerous fiction "findings".
For ore sample XRF, you need geochemical mode, with properly callibrated PGMs in it (not all guns read for example Rh or Pd on geochem). And only then results can be at least qualitatively trusted.

Best you can do is to perform a small smelt of for example 1-2 kg of ore with clean collector metal like bismuth (relatively OK solubility of PGMs). You will obtain metal dore, which could be analysed with XRF much more reliably than rock sample. If there your properly callibrated XRF show some PGMs or gold, there is high chance they are really present. If you can´t do it on your own, let someone perform proper fire assay on the ore. Or ICP-OES.


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