copper wire plated with gold and over the gold rhodium

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arthur kierski

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 10, 2008
Messages
1,090
Location
são paulo---brazil
Is it possible to recuperate the au and the rh with ---sodium cianide + oxidizer? I have 500kilos of this wire--i did a test with one kilo of this material ,with nitric acid----and resulted in 0,24grams of rhodium,and 0,16 grams of gold per kilo---------500kilos would yeald120grams of rhodium,and80grams of gold---- thanks for any advice and feedback--------Arthur Kierski
 
Arthur I don’t think cyanide will touch the rhodium but will happily attack the copper so I think perhaps using nitric or AP to remove the copper first might be the way to go and then after thorough rinsing try the cyanide to remove the gold leaving just rhodium.
Another thought is to melt it and run it in a copper sulphate cell as the copper percentage is so high then recover the gold and rhodium from the slimes plus you will have pure copper to sell.
 
Nickvc,the problem is that the rhodium is in the trird layer,the second layer is the gold,and the layer underneath is the copper wire----when i did the test with nitric ,that left the rh,and the gold flakes floating on the nitric solution----it took a long , long time for the reaction begin---and used a lot of hno3----to continue reacting-----that is why ,i am asking if a cianide solution could be used?---i thougt ,that i could dissolve in the cianide solution,the rh2cn3,naaucn2 and cucn,and then with zinc powder precipitate these 3 salts as metals---them make an ar solution to dissolve the gold and the cu ------leaving the rh flakes or powder in the solution----i did not calculate yet,but i have to spend a huge amount of money with the nitric---i have to find a way---it is a big client--although the quantity of gold and rhodium did not impress me--regards Arthur
 
Nick,i do not have an eletrolitic set up--- although in other times i did exactly what you described--cuso4 as the electrolite and used the melted wire as anode and a copper sheath to aglutinate pure copper in the cathode---and collect the slimes from the botton of the set up---unfortunatelly ,i cannot do it now
 
Arthur setting up a cell is fairly easy and if you have access to a rectifier or can source one cheaply its by far the easiest and chemically cheapest method, the only other way I can think of is to shred the wire into small pieces and try nitric again or AP which will be slow but a lot cheaper.
 
I will at the moment do one of your sugestions-----Shred the wires in small pieces,this leaves the end of the shredded wires more susceptible for nitric attack--i will use more nitric acid with less water--- i work now inside ,one the biggest chemical products distributers here----so acids (all),cianides ,and other chemicals,are not a problem to me---Thanks once again,for giving me alternate ways of doing the work--i will always , will let you know what happens with my work---either here in the forum,or by private messages----
Arthur
 
What's to stop you assaying it and selling it?

Would you make so much more by going through the whole process of dissolving 500Kg yourself?
 
Anachronism, i am associated to this industry--my job ,is to obtain precious metals from various itens---my profit is 33% of the PM obtained--- here in Brazil,there is no one to buy 500 kilos of scrap and pay for the precious metals on it---- regards
Arthur Kierski
 
arthur kierski said:
Anachronism, i am associated to this industry--my job ,is to obtain precious metals from various itens---my profit is 33% of the PM obtained--- here in Brazil,there is no one to buy 500 kilos of scrap and pay for the precious metals on it---- regards
Arthur Kierski

Thanks I see your point!
 
Rh does not dissolve in aqua regia readily. You can literally dissolve the gold and copper in AR and leave the Rh behind as a solid. The gold can be dropped from the contaminated solution with ferrous sulfate as a recovery and then refine the gold. The copper can be reclaimed by adding soft steel to the solution.
 
Soft steel is low carbon steel, such as structural steel. Steel that bends without breaking is soft steel. Any iron will work but there is some types that have undesirable effects such as contamination. Cast iron, for example will have some silica sand due to inclusions during the casting process. Stainless steel should be avoided for several reasons. It is less reactive and also contains heavy metals such as nickel, cobalt and chromium. The process is is an ionic exchange where the iron atoms go into solution and copper is removed from solution as a metal. The cemented copper is metal and can be rinsed and melted as is.
 
Thanks again ,Geo----Brazil has Iron mines and i can get iron powder without contamination of,carbon,cobalt or any other metals----the iron pellets that comes out of the mines,and is treated in a reverbatory furnace--of course,some carbon to liquifies this iron----i buy it as iron powder-------is cleaner then steel wool------regards from Arthur Kierski
 
Platdigger said:
If there is any carbon, as I am sure you know, that can cause you problems.

Even in copper recovery? I think that scrap steel and rebars are used in commercial copper recovery. A bit of carbon mixed in with the copper shouldn't pose any problem.

I use unpainted parts from old computer casings and rebars scrap to recover copper in my waste processing.

Göran
 
Was just thinking there would still be some possible pms in solute at this point.
I see your point about carbon in steel. High carbon steel can run I take it from .45 to 1.5 percent carbon.
Same source says mild steel is up to .25 percent carbon.
 
Platdigger,the solute was tested with stanous chloride,the solute was also tested for agcl with hcl---no ag and no other pms with stanous----so i deduced ,that low carbon content does not affect the process. regards from Arthur Kierski-------
 
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