It has been suggested that in NGC 2024 star forming processes are still going on, and dense cores found by 1.3 mm continuum observations are identified as possible protostellar condensations. To trace the molecular gas of high density, we observed the CS (J=7-6) line using the 30 m IRAM MRT for the first time at submillimetre frequencies (spat, resol. 8.5”). These and complementary observations of lower J CS/C34S transitions as well as the temperature probing NH3(1,1) and (2,2) non-metastable lines enable us to determine temperature and density of 3 selected cores, their kinematics and their masses. These parameters are compared with what is expected for protostellar condensations.