Scientists from Novosibirsk and Irkutsk have created equipment for express analysis of geological samples, which is capable of detecting extremely low concentrations of precious metals - up to 10 mg per ton. The method has no peers.

      This was reported by Vladimir Labusov, the head of the Optical Information Systems Laboratory at the Automation and Electrometry Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

      "The equipment implements the method that makes it possible to reduce the detection threshold for precious metals - gold, silver, platinum, and palladium - by 100 times. Usually the detection threshold is 1 gram per ton, whilst we have made it 10 mg per ton," - he said.

      The functioning principle is based on the method of scintillation atomic-emission analysis. Its advantage lies in its speed and sensitivity.