Newbie

Gold Refining Forum

Help Support Gold Refining Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

goldnuts

Member
Joined
May 27, 2016
Messages
6
Hello guys I’ve been collecting for a few months now and got 9.2lbs of what I think is 24k plated springs. I test with 22k test solutions. What would be the best way to process this much volume? I’ve read and watch lots of material but still not confidently what I need to do. I have a litter of nitric acid, a hot plate, glass beakers, respirator and a few other things I gather that one may need to process gold. So where do I start. How do I calculate how much gold I will end up with? I have soaked the springs I n gas to remove any oil and grease. Any help would be much appreciated!!!!! I have lots of other gold plated items but we can get to them later. IMG_8196.jpgIMG_8187.jpgIMG_8190.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
What did these springs come from? Seems like an odd item to plate in gold. Do you know what kind of metal is inside them?
 
OK, so firstly, put away the Nitric acid, this is not the right type of material for dissolving unless it is only for a small sample to check the yield.

Respirators are a waste of time when refining. Best case scenario is a fume hood with a good scrubber, worst case scenario is working outside in a decent cross wind. Doing anything indoors is a terrible idea since the acid fumes will attack everything in their surrounding area.

I would be inclined to confirm that the plating is actually Gold before proceeding.

The process you want to investigate is called a Sulfuric Acid deplating cell. Which carries a lot of it's own danger (Sulfuric acid reacts very badly with water and your body is mostly water)

The nice-ish thing with reverse plating is that you create very little chemical waste, there is almost no issue with acid fumes and the Sulfuric acid will likely not react with the base metal under the Gold.
 
I am also thinking sulfuric cell but want to know what kind of metal is under the "plating". Plus these would take a lot of acid to dissolve.
 
I would go with a sulfuric cell also, depending on the base metals under the gold.

A thought to keep in mind here is the effect of nitric acid fumes on rubber. Strong nitric will (for a lack of better understanding) melt rubber. This will effectively cause severe failure in many respirator type masks over time.
 
bigpagoda said:
What did these springs come from? Seems like an odd item to plate in gold. Do you know what kind of metal is inside them?


That's the most pertinent point so far. 8) 8)

No answer either so far it seems.
 
bigpagoda said:
What did these springs come from? Seems like an odd item to plate in gold. Do you know what kind of metal is inside them?

They come from oilfield equipment, spring make electrical connection between two pipes to drill oil wells miles under ground. Sorry it took so long to respond. I don’t know what is inside. How do I test this?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
goldnuts said:
bigpagoda said:
What did these springs come from? Seems like an odd item to plate in gold. Do you know what kind of metal is inside them?

They come from oilfield equipment, spring make electrical connection between two pipes to drill oil wells miles under ground. Sorry it took so long to respond. I don’t know what is inside. How do I test this?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Personally I would firstly ask your mate in the industry, and secondly I would find someone with an XRF gun.

Jon
 
Awesome should be able to test it next week. I’ll keep you posted!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Ok I had a guy check it with a gun and it throw a code he never seen before. he also never used that gun for gold testing. I brought it to a local jeweler and she said she thinks it’s gold plated. I would like to test it in ar. How much hci do I need to do a test piece? 3.5 to 1


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Ok so I dissolved a piece in AR. Here is my test results!!! What you think?
f0e3975dd554838858468492d70015cb.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks Dave

So is there a flaw in my process or is my material not good?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I can't really comment on whether there is a flaw in your process. You simply said you dissolved a piece in AR.

In general, gold plated material doesn't yield much gold. The larger the item is, the lower the percentage of gold. I wouldn't say that your material is not good, just that you're not going to end up with ounces of gold from it.

Dave
 
Back
Top