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The AARL gold fingerprinting technology

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Abstract

Gold fingerprinting, as its name suggests, is a technique which provides gold profiles unique to a given source. The procedure adopts a qualitative approach based on the singular patterns produced by the minor and trace element impurities present in gold. The generation of a Gold Bullion Databank, GBD, has provided an effective means of ascertaining gold provenance in cases where the origin is unknown. The AARL fingerprinting technique is described, in particular the role of Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) in profile generation, together with the use of the AARL unique statistical model specifically designed to provide % similarity information between an unknown and members of the GBD.

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References

  1. A. I. Barzev, A. E. Leins and J. de Bruyn, ‘Gold Fingerprinting by Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry’, AARL Project No. R/93/143, Report No. 1, October 1993

  2. A. I. Barzev and W. Smith, ‘LA-ICP-MS Analysis of Gold Grains and Data Interpretation’, AARL Project No. R/94/208, Report No. 1, June 1995

  3. A. I. Barzev, P. A. Winterburn and W. Smith, ‘Analysis of Pathfinder Elements in Soils by LAICP-MS’, AARL Project No. R/94/163, Report No. 1, February 1995

  4. W. Smith, ‘Report on the Fingerprinting of Gold Artefacts from Bosutswe, Mapungubwe and Thulamela Archaeological Sites’, AARL Report, March 1997

  5. B. Grigorova, W. Smith, K. Stülpner, J. A. Tumilty and D. Miller,Gold Bull., to be published

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anglo American Research Laboratories (Pty) Ltd, P. O. Box 106, 2025, Crown Mines, South Africa

    B Grigorova, S Anderson, J de Bruyn, W Smith, K Stülpner & A Barzev

Authors
  1. B Grigorova
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  2. S Anderson
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  3. J de Bruyn
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  4. W Smith
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  5. K Stülpner
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  6. A Barzev
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Additional information

Dara Grigorova is the Manager Research of the AARL. Dr Stan Anderson, Jan de Bruyn, Wyatt Smith and Katherine Stülpner are all members of the LA-ICP-MS research team which is headed by Alex Barzev.

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Grigorova, B., Anderson, S., de Bruyn, J. et al. The AARL gold fingerprinting technology. Gold Bull 31, 26–29 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03215472

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03215472

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