RAM/CPU and filled recovery averages

Gold Refining Forum

Help Support Gold Refining Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jun 16, 2011
Messages
19
Hi all. Had some conflicting results and am curious as to the numbers and returns people are getting on average form ram and cpu's. From poor Ram, only gold fingers, rest all copper and misc. returned 2.5g ish on 100 sticks. My reaction where heavily faulted though, using sodium nitrate to react with sulfuric to distill nitric. Was then expecting perhaps 8- 10g per 200 with the Ram that has all gold throughout the exposed metals. I was only able to recover about a gram. I was trying that Subzero shor stuff... Its just sodium nitrate and no substitute for nitric... The subzero though dose not recommend a pre-nitric bath though like typical recovery. Trying to precipitate gold with such a heavily contaminated solution was a nightmare. I just ended up dropping 3 can of aluminum in and precipitating everything for a better recovery process in the future. A lye, then nitric batch, then regia to fix this one :)
But anyway per 100 sticks 3 - 5g a typical recovery rate you guys finding? or how about for CPU's?
Curious too from 100g filled you would expect 20g of 24k new. I'm sure not 1/20th is recovered. How much typical wear is being found? 10- 15 g return? Thanks I'll continue to post as I get more results..
 
As dtectr stated you seem to be pulling ideas from various sources, problem is that most make little sense!
Take my advice and read Hoke fully and understand what she teaches, take some time to read on here and use the search function to find answers to most questions that you come up with.
The content of your current posts is of dubious value at the very least and if you take the advice above you will see why, we are all men of science or try to be here on the forum and posting dubious beliefs and or processes causes problems for newbies who expect to be given simple factual advice that will produce a known or expected result.
If you insist on going with Shor I'm afraid you may well be on your own as from what I can gather their help is almost non existent.
Please take this advice in the way it's meant, I'm trying to point you in the right direction and into proven methods and procedures, it's a huge subject so start slowly and I'm sure it'll all make sense slowly, I'm still learning now and I'm sure I still will find new things till the day I die.
I wish you luck and hope you will find your way in this fascinating subject.
 
Thanks for the replies. My grandpa once taught me a wise man learn from his mistake, a wiser man learn from the mistakes of others. By no means do I insist on shor at all. i know the subzero is just sodium nitrate, or the storm precipitate is sodium metabisulfite. I saw some scattered resultsfor returns though. The method really is irrelevant. Science is built on repeatable results. Mine weren't conclusive. Was hoping to have a collective response on results. Like the first 100 I had recovered just over 2g from. More or less to get a weighted average. I think Harold is correct though. For E-waste the margins are as good doing scrap without the 10lbs of junk to process, just the bit of karat to refine. My process as is, is Lye, rinse, nitric, rinse, aqua regia, heat till almost dry 2 times and adding HCl, add 2X volume of h2o, filter, precipitate. Much like other methods just the pre-lye leach removes some other stuff, preserves/ prolongs acids. Also the heating method is another way to remove nitric. It has a lower boiling point then the gold solutions so it will evaporate first. When the water is added the silver nitrate will precipitate, filter, then much easier to precipitate 999 gold. I like this method because everything is separate. Ammonia can be added to remaining solution to precipitate any remaining platinum, then palladium will fall out after.
 
Why do you keep thinking silver nitrate will precipitate out? If you're using aqua regia, you're not going to have silver nitrate except transiently!!! Also, ammonia is NOT what you add to precipitate out the Pt and Pd...

Your process is not right.
 
Experience has shown me the silver nitrate precipitate out. I didn't imagine this method though was found reading forums and guides and Hookes book. Exactly what site to reference I'm not sure here. The majority of the silver will be in the first nitric bath. This just cause any remaining bit that might have got in to your regia out before you precipitate. I can find many place to reference the use of Ammonia Chloride to precipitate platinum. Here's a quick link if you want to check it out. http://nevada-outback-gems.com/Prospecting_Basics/gold_field_test.htm
Zinc powder I believe can also be used though I have no experience with that method.
After all the platinum has fallen out the palladium will follow.
Cheers happy refining!
 
Both right, excuse me. Thinking about it more, likely the chlorine in tap water that cause this precipitation. That's just a guess though. But I have seen it work without problems.
 
ArsenRefineries said:
Both right, excuse me. Thinking about it more, likely the chlorine in tap water that cause this precipitation. That's just a guess though. But I have seen it work without problems.
It might serve you, and everyone concerned, to clarify what you're trying to say.

Yes, it's known that some silver is precipitated from a chloride solution upon dilution (as well as upon cooling). However, the vast majority of silver will have been precipitated the moment you added a chloride ion to the mix.

The traces that precipitate upon dilution are likely not well understood----you find reference in Rose's book on how traces of silver behave as gold---so the phenomenon has been known for well over 100 years.

To suggest that, when dealing with a chloride solution, silver remains chiefly in the solution, in particular as silver nitrate, is not true.

Harold
 
ArsenRefineries said:
Experience has shown me the silver nitrate precipitate out.
To the best of my knowledge there is no way to “precipitate” silver nitrate. It is only formed by the saturation of silver in a nitric solution (yes, you can do simular in sulfuric acid) at an elevated temperature, then when the solution is allowed to cool a crystalline solid of silver nitrate will form.

I am open to anything someone may add to the contrary.

Precipitating, cementing, and crystallization due to saturation and temperature differences, are 3 very different things.
 
Ah that's what Harold was saying was wrong. You are right again. Beg your pardons guys. Its silver chloride not nitrate that precipitates. Kind of neat watching it turn colors.
 
Lou said:
What did Harold say that was so wrong?

Harold didn't say anything wrong, he was saying what WAS wrong with the way a process was explained....I think :|
 
Claudie said:
Lou said:
What did Harold say that was so wrong?

Harold didn't say anything wrong, he was saying what WAS wrong with the way a process was explained....I think :|
Yep! The way I read it, he now understands that he was wrong in assuming that the silver was present in the way of a nitrate.

Harold
 
just finishing up my first run. Using the AP method. 1200 g ram and finger card fingers only. yield of foils 3.9 grams. I do know I probably have lost at least 1/4 g to foil sticking to glass wear etc.

how does this compare to other first timers, am I on track? (still refining methods and equipment.

I am very nervous about going the next step. ( I'm 70 and a little nervous about senior moments during the process)

the fingers appear to be fairly clean.

what is the estimated kt value of processed fingers before the next step?

are these foils salable the way they are.

thanks in advance for your reply and patients. mcw
 
Are those trimmed fingers or did you run the entire cards or sticks? If you are running 1200 grams of clean fingers that's almost 3# I would expect to get between 5-7 grams depending on the majority of source material.

Tyler
 
Okay maybe our definition of clean might be a little different. Are they nice, close cut fingers? Have you made sure they are rinsed well and none of the foils are sticking in between the fingers.

Tyler
 
Back
Top