Two Refineries App Note

Fire assay is an established and proven method for testing the purity of gold jewelry and other objects. Nevertheless, it is a destructive and time-consuming process requiring the use of hazardous chemicals. X-ray fluorescence has emerged as a non-destructive alternative to the fire assay method, with comparable accuracy in just minutes. XRF instrumentation is now available in portable units ideally suited for countertop use in retail environments for accurate testing of any precious metal. In a test against two different refineries using fire assay to evaluate two gold ingots from the same melt, an XRF analyzer provided results just as accurate as one refinery, and even more accurate than the second refinery. The test results provided in this article were performed using the Thermo Scientific? Niton? DXL Precious Metal Analyzer. 尼通（NITON）XL5手持式合金分析仪