ICP-MS Determination of 16 Ionic Adsorptive Rare Earth Elements in Ionic Rare Earth Ores

ICP-MS was applied to the determination of 16 ionic adsorptive rare earth elements, i.e. Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu in ionic rare earth ores. The sample of ionic rare earth (RE) ore was leached with 40 g·L-1 (NH4)2SO4 solution by intermittent stirring. The leachate obtained was desalted twice by evaporation to dryness at high temperature. 103Rh was used as internal standard for Sc, Y, La and Ce, while 187Re was used as internal standard for the remainders in ICP-MS. Linear relationships between values of spectral intensity and mass concentration of the 16 RE elements were kept in definite ranges. Detection limits (3σ) found were in the range of 0.01-0.08 μg·g-1. The proposed method was used in the analysis of substantial ore sample, giving results in consistency with the values obtained by the GB method, and values of RSD′s (n=11) were found in the range of 0.80%-2.9%.