Abstract: A method of separating gold from palladium or at least one of gold and palladium from solutions containing the chloride complexes of at least the relevant ones of these metals together with other platinum group metals and wherein base metals may be present in the solution said method comprising contacting the solution for a sufficient length of time to result in extracting of substantially all the required gold and for palladium values present therein, with a suitable quantity of a water insoluble non-volatile solvent extractant in an organic phase and having functional groups of the formula R.sup.1 --S--R wherein R.sup.1 and R may be the same or different and have a carbon atom thereof joined directly to the sulphur atom; R.sup.1 and R being chosen so that neither of them have active functional groups capable of acting as ion exchangers or complexing groups and thereafter separating the two phases and recovering the extracted gold and palladium.