ASTM International

Standard Practices for Extraction of Elements from Ores and Related Metallurgical Materials by Acid Digestion
 N E2941

Annotation

These practices cover the digestion of ores and related metallurgical materials, such as mine soil, waste rock and tailings, for subsequent determination of acid-extractable contents of certain elements by such solution analytical techniques as atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), (see Test Method D1976), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) (see Test Method D5673).

Contents of aluminum, antimony, arsenic, barium, beryllium, bismuth, boron, cadmium, calcium, chromium, cobalt, copper, gallium, iron, lead, lithium, magnesium, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, phosphorus, potassium, scandium, selenium, silver, sodium, strontium, thallium, tin, titanium, vanadium and zinc can be extracted from ores and related metallurgical materials for determination by analytical methods for elements in solution. Other elements may be determined from extracts produced using this practice.

Actual element quantification in digested solutions can be accomplished by following the various test methods under other appropriate ASTM standards for element(s) of interest in solution.

The detection limit and linear content range for each element is dependent on the atomic absorption, mass spectrometry or emission spectrometric technique employed and may be found in the manual accompanying the instrument used or ASTM standard method for analysis of the solutions. Take into account the dilution factor in content calculations due to digestion and dilution of solid samples.

The extent of extraction of elements from ores and related metallurgical materials by these practices is dependent upon the physical and mineralogical characteristics of the prepared sample and the digestion practice used.