gold Foil Recovery( Need Response ASAP)

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Joined
Oct 3, 2019
Messages
11
Location
Castries
I need immediate help, What I soaked in AP solution was CPUs, PCBs and gold plated pins. I let it set there for two months occasional stirring. When I filter the scrap it was stuck together so I put it in a new bath the filtered, the filter paper was filled with gray sludge mixed with foils which I believe is plastic and copper, I passed a magnetic through the sludge and barely got anything magnetic. I don't know what to do next. When I mix the foils with acid bleach solution will it dissolve the copper? If it does when I put SMB will it only drop the gold dust. Someone Respond ASAP I need to finish the process.
 
I don't want to get involved at all, because you have made several mistakes already, and I stopped processing years ago.
However you want someone to help you as soon as possible, so here is the best advice that you can recieve at this time, relax. That is niether a metaphor, nor am I being humorous. You need to stop right where you are, put a lid on everything, until you know exactly what you must do to complete this process. At this time you are on a dangerous path, that could very easily get you hurt, or worse, hurt someone else.
I am not going to sit here and berate you, and list what you've done wrong. More than likely someone else will though, so if you don't have tough skin, I'd highly suggest you get some quick. It's not that anyone here is making fun of you, it's that you have made some mistakes, and mistakes are not a luxury that people working with chemicals have. I do not have the time to itemize everything you need to know to complete what you've started.
But I strongly urge you to heed my advice to a tee! Cover up all the chemicals that you have that are open, an relax, calm down, chill out(as the kids say), go have some coffee, watch tv, or whatever you need to do to take your mind off of that material for now! That gold is not going anywhere!
You can trust me when I tell you that you will get the help you need. However it's not going to be in your time. There are quite a few contributing members (from around the world) here that I am sure will give you some assistance, but you can not expect them to do it on your clock.
On that note I do have to head out, but I'll check in later tonight. Best of luck.
P.S. You can help out some of our very anal members (like me), by answering these questions.
Where exactly are you doing this process? Are you inside or outside? Are you near other buildings, structures, people? What EXACTLY do you have for safety equipment?
There will be other questions, from other members, but if you'll answer these first, it will help get the ball rolling for the others that will step in to help.
Thank you,
Johnny
 
Have you tried soaking the material that is left over in fresh HCL?
It sounds like that the gray "stuff" may be tin. A picture of the
remaining material may help.
 
Don't know what the gray sludge is, doubt it is either plastic or copper. AP dissolves copper, that's how you get gold foils floating around. The copper the gold is plated to is dissolved out from underneath it. That you have some gold foils you can see indicates the copper was dissolved.

What was the CPU's? You did remove the heat sinks first right?

In addition, how much "stuff" are we talking about here? A few ounces, pounds, tons?
 
Welcome to the forum. Your nickname and the remark about your dad's recycling buisiness tells me this is your first attempt and you have thrown in way more you can handle. Stop what your doing and learn first about the best ways to handle different types of scrap. As said, some pictures would help alot.
Dont expect a quick fix to solve this serious problem.
I have no experience with the AP process, but have studied it.
The gray slime could be tin paste, but tin paste forms after contact with nitric i believe.
Wait for more experienced members to explain the exact chemistry behind it. Lots of patience, learning and thick skin will be needed.
A good start is hoke's book. I hope you will put in the time to learn and deal with the waste reponsibly.
E scrap refining is not as easy as youtube makes us believe.
Be safe.
 
CuCl white will dissolve in HCl.

PbCl2 white to clear often needle-like crystals fairly insoluble in cold water becomes much more soluble in very hot water.

NaCl is soluble in water (about the same hot or cold).

AgCl white fluffy takes time to settle, will (darken when rinsed of excess acids) and in light,
Insoluble in acid or water cold or hot.
 
I just want to know where you got your information from, because it was not here.

This is important. Knowing where bad information comes from helps Forum members teach others where not to go. Example: YouTube is rife with misinformation. Most is from ignorance, some is deliberate.

I have never done what you did, so I can not help you recover from your mess.

Time for more coffee.
 
What you have made is a classical mess, take a whole bunch of different gold containing object, dunk it in acid and expect to get something consistent out of it.

Dissolved tin will sooner or later turn into metastannic acid, that is a grey goo that is hard to filter and something most refiners try to avoid. It will not dissolve in more HCl, so once you made some it is almost impossible to get rid of it. Search the forum and you will find a lot of information here.

If this is what you have made then you just have to deal with it. There are a couple of workarounds though.

Göran
 
Here are the pictures.

Scrap Used
*CPU processors
*PCB trimmings
*Gold plated pins
1. I soaked the scrap in AP solution for 2mths because I didn't make it strong and didn't want to dissolve gold.
2. 2mths later the scrap struck together I broke it apart and made a new AP solution and agitated once for a few days.
3. I strained the scrap through kitchen strainers and set it aside.
4. I then filtered and got a grey sludge mixed with a lot of gold foils so I washed it in HCL a few times with the filters also, then with water, I tested it with stannous and it was negative. I still had some some grey muck mixed with foils so I thought it was the filter so I let it sit in HCL+ H2O2 to cut down on it.
5. I filtered again and just got grey muck with few gold particles I tested the water again and it was still negative . This is where I am right now.

What I wanna know
*How to get gold from all the muck
My stannous should be good because it was bought and and opened a few days later.

pictures are attached
 

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Scrap Used
*CPU processors
*PCB trimmings
*Gold plated pins
(Trash in trash out)


1. I soaked the scrap in AP solution for 2mths because I didn't make it strong and didn't want to dissolve gold.
2. 2mths later the scrap struck together I broke it apart and made a new AP solution and agitated once for a few days.
3. I strained the scrap through kitchen strainers and set it aside.

(Most of your gold could still be in the scrap).


4. I then filtered and got a grey sludge mixed with a lot of gold foils so I washed it in HCL a few times with the filters also, then with water, I tested it with stannous and it was negative.

I still had some grey muck mixed with foils so I thought it was the filter so I let it sit in HCL+ H2O2 to cut down on it.
(Which could now have put some gold in solution)

5. I filtered again and just got grey muck with few gold particles I tested the water again and it was still negative. This is where I am right now.

What I wanna know
*How to get gold from all the muck
My stannous should be good because it was bought and opened a few days later.


GoldrecoveryNoob,

Ok so you have made a mess, and want to know how to get gold out of this "Muck"
You also asked for some advice, I can only speak for myself, and how I would deal with this.
Well, I would put all of the "Muck" in one bucket along with a bar of clean copper, with a lid, store in a safe place away from children, pets....

I would not be very concerned about recovering the gold from this mess, although we can get to that point later.

How much time do you want to spend learning how to get gold from doing things you do not understand making a mess from mixing acids and metals, working with dangers you do not understand?

Is this tiny amount of gold in the trash "Muck" worth the health of your family? How much time would you spend chasing your tail after it?

That time would be better spent educating yourself, Gaining an understanding and learning a skill, and learning how to recover and even refine these precious metals.

Now I would start with learning to deal with waste, basically, the toxic trash like you have in your bucket.

Study, dealing with waste in the safety section, while your safely stored bucket of Muck is doing its chemistry. The time spent in this study will help you gain an understanding of the chemistry we will use to recover your gold foils, and learn how to deal with the toxic solution...

I gave you the first step, I would take on a long journey of learning this skill, if you decide to follow my footsteps, then after you catch up, we can discuss more steps along the journey...

You can take pictures and we can then discuss further steps that we can take...

I would put away the acids and chemicals, for the time being, we have a lot of things we need to do, to begin preparing for this long journey, we do not want to buy anything we do not need, we can collect scrap but we must learn more of how to prepare it for recovery, we do not want to buy anything including scrap we do not know the value of, we will probably at first try and collect a scrap material like memory fingers we can begin to learn with, which we can save up for use later in the journey.

Get a copy of Hoke's book we will need to refer to it as we learn more.
 
Good Day,
My father just wants to know how he will be able to get the gold from the muck. I'll tell him to heat up the solution to chase off the chlorine gas and then test it. We have safety equipment like gloves, respirators, and boots if the chemicals spill.
 
So you are not interested in spending your time learning to recover and refine gold, and only interested in chasing the gold around in the muck?

I do not have time to help chase gold around in the muck, I will spend my time learning to refine and recover gold and learning from and helping others with the same interests.
 
butcher said:
CuCl white will dissolve in HCl.

PbCl2 white to clear often needle-like crystals fairly insoluble in cold water becomes much more soluble in very hot water.

NaCl is soluble in water (about the same hot or cold).

AgCl white fluffy takes time to settle, will (darken when rinsed of excess acids) and in light,
Insoluble in acid or water cold or hot.


Thank you Butcher for this. It’s the kind of useful information that someone looking for answers can build on. A beginning point for research. We all say, “Stop! Do your research”

Those of us who are new to these processes don’t know what we are possibly dealing with to know what we are to research. It’s why we come here. For guidance and to be pointed in a direction that builds upon what went wrong.

Although well intentioned, “Stop what you’re doing and research” is frustrating because scouring the forum is part of the research. The ability to ask for help to understand what we are needing to learn is the beginning point of research.

Your response has given a very good starting point for someone to build upon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Johnny5 said:
Cover up all the chemicals that you have that are open, and relax,........ take your mind off of that material for now! That gold is not going anywhere!
it's not going to be in your time.
you can not expect them to do it on your clock.
Johnny
rickbb said:
In addition, how much "stuff" are we talking about here? A few ounces, pounds, tons?
Martijn said:
Stop what your doing and learn first about the best ways to handle different types of scrap.
Dont expect a quick fix to solve this serious problem.
A good start is hoke's book.
E scrap refining is not as easy as youtube makes us believe.
Be safe.
g_axelsson said:
What you have made is a classical mess,
Search the forum and you will find a lot of information here.
Göran
GoldrecoveryNoob said:
What I wanna know
*How to get gold from all the muck
butcher said:
Well, I would put all of the "Muck" in one bucket along with a bar of clean copper, with a lid, store in a safe place away from children, pets....

I would not be very concerned about recovering the gold from this mess

Is this tiny amount of gold in the trash "Muck" worth the health of your family? How much time would you spend chasing your tail after it?

That time would be better spent educating yourself, Gaining an understanding and learning a skill, and learning how to recover and even refine these precious metals.

Study, .......while your safely stored bucket of Muck is doing its chemistry. The time spent in this study will help you gain an understanding of the chemistry we will use to recover your gold foils

I gave you the first step,...... after you catch up, we can discuss more steps along the journey...

I would put away the acids and chemicals, for the time being, we have a lot of things we need to do, to begin preparing for this long journey

Get a copy of Hoke's book we will need to refer to it as we learn more.
GoldrecoveryNoob said:
Good Day,
My father just wants to know how he will be able to get the gold from the muck. I'll tell him to heat up the solution to chase off the chlorine gas and then test it. We have safety equipment like gloves, respirators, and boots if the chemicals spill.

Do you see a problem?!
I told you from the very beginning, to stop what you are doing. Others have told you to stop what you are doing. Others have asked you questions that you haven't answered. Others have given you some very solid advice, and you keep insisting that they give you what you want, now. That is a slap in the face, to those people trying to help you.
I know you are excited, and I know that you are eager. Allow me share some reality with you, It is entirely possible that you have no more than a few dollars worth of gold. In this field, it is VERY possible to spend hundreds of dollars, to extract $10 worth of gold.

As Galenrog pointed out
galenrog said:
YouTube is rife with misinformation.
And I have a suspicion, that is where you started.
As I stated in my first post, you can get the help you need here, and a lot of members will help you.
I purposely wrote this last part at the end, because I want it to be the last thing you read in my post.
There are some members of this forum that are more patient, and more forgiving, than others. We have one specific member that has very little of both, and will NOT be kind, if he sees that you are not listening to the advice that others have been offering you! Please take this as sincere request, stop messing with the gold scrap. Listen to everything that others are trying to teach you, and remember that they are trying to help you for free.
 
thepickerexchange,

I understand the frustration, but good advice is just that.
I have taught myself many different skills, and I find that studying and learning basic principles is always the best place to begin, and keep learning and gaining a better understanding of the principles as you continue to learn and gain more knowledge in the field of work.

I have taught myself for example electronics, I can repair or build almost any device I desire.
In the beginning, I did not even know the language or terminology used.
I subscribed to a magazine about electronics, I could barely understand the articles in the beginning, but I would keep reading them, and little at a time bit by bit I would begin to learn the language, understand the basics, learn on simple circuits, learn to read schematics, learn to calculate the complicated formulas, learn to build and repair most anything electrical or electronic related...

We all start somewhere, learning the basics is a good place to start.

So we have members who wish to learn electronics, they start by getting a high voltage power supply transformer and an Xray tube and begin to wire it up with what they think they have learned from some idea they got from some yahoo making a youtube video, after the sparks and the smoke clears from the light show and the experiment does not go the way it did in the video, they ask for help (ASAP), well my response would be for them to stop and put away the acids, and get back to the basics, study the basic principles.
 
GoldrecoveryNoob said:
I thank you guys for the help it just that we spent a ton of time with the process letting it sit there for 2 months before starting anything.
Very glad to hear this.
I know it disappointing, and I'm sure you and your dad must be very excited right now to finish this up, but if you do this right, you'll look back on this day, and be glad you waited. My first button of gold was less than 1 gram, since then I have recovered and refined many pounds of gold. And I owe almost all of my refining knowledge, to the members here. You'll get there. You are in the right place, and that is the most important thing.
 
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