Determination of indium in its mineral resources by comparator neutron activation analysis

Ab ract. The application of comparator in rumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) was considered to determine indium by the short-lived radionuclide 116m In it its mineral resources such as different types of polymetallic ore, copper, lead-zinc, tin, tin-tung en ores, and similar. Cu and Zn contents of the samples eter RLP-21T, Kazakh an. If Cu mass fraction exceeded 0.4–0.5% or that of Zn exceeded 3% (that is often characteri ic of polymetallic, copper, and lead-zinc ores), then their contents were used in comparator INAA as the internal andards measured by an independent method. If none of the conditions were met, then the andard addition method was applied using a 10 mg addition of reagent ZnO to each sample. A to verify accuracy of the method. The proposed variant of comparator INAA was shown to insure accuracy precision according to the indu rial andard O 41-08-221-04 (Russian Federation). The method was tried out for several dozens of ore samples presenting various indium mineral resources including the ones from the gold-polymetallic deposit Maikain in North-Ea ern Kazakh an.