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world's largest Pt producer [7] and mining activities might be an additional source
of Pt. Mining occurs in the Bushveld Igneous Complex, a 65,000 km 2 mafic intrusion
containing approximately 75% of the world's Pt resources [8] . Platinum emissions
from the mines has until now not been quantified.
The study presented here aims at determining current Pb and Pt levels in road
dust in South Africa and at assessing the relative importance of automobile and
mining emissions. Road dust is an attractive medium for urban pollution studies
and it is important to determine current Pb and Pt concentrations in road dust, as Pb
concentrations are still high and expected to decrease in the near future, and Pt
emissions by automobile traffic are still limited.
Methodology
Road dust samples were collected at several locations in Cape Town (2.9 million
inhabitants), Pretoria (1.8 million), Port Elizabeth (1.0 million) and Rustenburg
(0.4 million) in October-November 2007. Selected cities are shown in Fig. 1 .
Rustenburg was selected for its vicinity to the Bushveld Igneous Complex where Pt
is mined, while other cities are important urban areas with high traffic volumes.
Rustenburg
Pretoria
Port Elizabeth
Cape Town
Fig. 1 Map of South Africa with cities selected for road dust sampling
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