Intersibgeochem99 Virtual Special Issue

This collection of nine articles and a guest editorial, first published as a Special Issue Section in Volume 24 (No. 2), originated from the "Intersibgeochem99" conference held in Novosibirsk, Siberia in June 1999. This meeting brought together Russian and western scientists with mutual research interests in geochemistry and geoanalysis.

Several articles in this virtual collection have a unifying theme involving geoanalytical research into the determination of gold, silver and the platinum-group elements. A number of innovative chemical methods and other analytical techniques were exploited, including fluoroxidant attack. Other topics include the analysis of sedimentary (lake core and other) samples, Cenozoic basalts, coals and mine tailings using techniques such as synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and ICP-MS.

Guest Editorial
D. Conrad Grégoire, Valentin N. Mitkin and Philip J. Potts

Original Articles

Gold and Platinum-Group Element Analysis of Geochemical and Platinum Reference Materials Using Fluoroxidation Decomposition
Valentin N. Mitkin

Observations on New Approaches for the Determination of Platinum-Group Elements, Gold and Silver in Different Geochemical Samples from Siberia and the Far East
Valentina G. Tsimbalist, Gennady N. Anoshin, Valentin N. Mitkin, Ljudmila I. Razvorotneva and Nadezhda P. Golovanova

Techniques for the Determination of Cyanide in a Process Environment: A Review
Deon E. Barnes, Peter J. Wright, Sandra M. Graham and Elaine A. Jones-Watson

Y/Ho Ratios in the Late Cenozoic Basalts from the Eastern Tuva, Russia: An ICP-MS Study with Enhanced Data Quality
Alexei V. Ivanov, Sergei V. Rasskazov, Evgeny P. Chebykin, Margarita E. Markova and Elena V. Saranina

Comparison of Synchrotron Radiation X-Ray Fluorescence with Conventional Techniques for the Analysis of Sedimentary Samples
Michael A. Phedorin, Vladislav A. Bobrov, Evgeny P. Chebykin, Evgeny L. Goldberg, Michael S. Melgunov, Svetlana V. Filippova and Konstantin V. Zolotarev

Multi-Wavelength Synchrotron Radiation XRF Determination of U and Th in Sedimentary Cores from Lake Baikal
Michael A. Phedorin, Evgeny L. Goldberg, Vladislav A. Bobrov, Oleg M. Khlystov and Michael A. Grachev

Some Observations on the Determination of Gold and the Platinum-Group Elements in Black Shales
Valentin N. Mitkin, Alexander A. Galizky and Tamara M. Korda

Uranium Concentration in Altered Brown Coals Located under Burnt Rocks from the Kansk-Achinsk Basin, West Siberia
Vsevolod M. Gavshin and Leonid V. Miroshnichenko

Arsenic Speciation in a Contaminated Gold Processing Tailings Dam
Olga V. Shuvaeva, Svetlana B. Bortnikova, Tamara M. Korda and Elena V. Lazareva