Buzz off. I don’t need your lectures. Very unhelpful. Henceforth, Ignorage.
Accomplished nothing so far
- Thread starter Edwin Price
- Start date
Help Support Gold Refining Forum:
Comments in boldYes indeed. Still way too much nitric even though it was probably closer to 10:1 ratio.
Every positive solution I have for gold tests crimson red with litmus paper. Litmus paper are used to test pH not for Gold.
I tried diluting with water and adding more sulphamic acid with no change. Why are you diluting?
Still tests blood red. It will still be acidic so it should still be red.
There is no fizzing and it’s hard to dissolve the sulphamic crystals too.
Did you do as we said when using Sulfamic acid? Close to boiling and just a few crystals at the time?
Should I continue to add sulphamic acid and dilute further. Get the solution close to boiling and add a pinch at the time, wait until the reaction stops.
Should I boil off some of the acid? No need, but if you have diluted too much you could evaporate off some of the water.
I know sodium bicarbonate and hydroxide are alkaline. Might it help to add any of either? That is for waste treatment.
I’m including pics of the ph paper scale and my actual results. I’m going about this issue slow and methodically. I don’t want to ruin my first four gold positive test solutions at this point. Thank you all for continuing to advise.
Comments in bold.
It is good that you want to correct your errors.
You can start by reading and understanding the advice given.
You have learned to use less Nitric, but you start off wrong again by not processing things separately and not correctly.
Did you read our advice on how to use the Sulfamic acid?
His advice in bold was good Edwin
Why are you diluting the HCl?
Edwin the fact you are worried that your solution is acidic proves you have not understood the basics of this chemistry , you really need to stop and step back and start reading and studying , I have no doubt you can do this but you need to do the reading to be able to understand the advice been given and know what to expect.
“too acidic…” my study of this process revealed a ph of 2-4 is the desired range to drop gold. ty
Maybe you have misunderstood a bit. It is important that it do not get higher than that for some operations, but there is no reason to do much about acidity usually.
Lower than 1 or higher than 2 might be less than ideal but otherwise ok.
What we worry about is that the pH get too high, especially for SMB.
Got it. Another member advised that he used litmus paper to check the ph. After being de-noxed with sulphalmic (yes, I know to heat and dissolve and diluted with water I didn’t expect the reading to be off scale acidic. I was shooting for ph in the 2-4 range.
I may still have used too much nitric, but it’s a fraction of what I initially used. And, I continue to cut back. I’ve basically watched Sreetips videos several times. He uses tiny quantities of nitric.
As far as source material, on electrical/computer parts, I have begun trimming and removing undesirable material with surgical precision. I’ve also added some small gold pickers that I acquired from years of panning and gem hunting.
I made a major mistake reusing the contaminated HCL this time. Won’t happen again.
I’m currently using ferrous sulfate instead of SMB. I understand that zinc and citric acid will also precipitate gold.
I’ve also decided not to spend time trying to recover tiny amounts of gold from my waste. Just neutralizing, evaporating and will incinerate solids. ty
I may still have used too much nitric, but it’s a fraction of what I initially used. And, I continue to cut back. I’ve basically watched Sreetips videos several times. He uses tiny quantities of nitric.
As far as source material, on electrical/computer parts, I have begun trimming and removing undesirable material with surgical precision. I’ve also added some small gold pickers that I acquired from years of panning and gem hunting.
I made a major mistake reusing the contaminated HCL this time. Won’t happen again.
I’m currently using ferrous sulfate instead of SMB. I understand that zinc and citric acid will also precipitate gold.
I’ve also decided not to spend time trying to recover tiny amounts of gold from my waste. Just neutralizing, evaporating and will incinerate solids. ty
Comments in bold again!Got it.
Another member advised that he used litmus paper to check the ph. Yes, sometimes it is good to check the pH, but your current operation do not need that.
After being de-noxed with sulphalmic (yes, I know to heat and dissolve and diluted with water I didn’t expect the reading to be off scale acidic. I was shooting for ph in the 2-4 range.
You heat the whole solution to almost boiling, no need to dissolve the Sulfamic, and diluting now is counter effective, you want the solution fairly concentrated.
After the solution is free of Nitric and Cold, add some ice cubes and dilute it before filtering it crystal clear.
I may still have used too much nitric, but it’s a fraction of what I initially used. And, I continue to cut back. I’ve basically watched Sreetips videos several times.
He uses tiny quantities of nitric. Yes and so should you
As far as source material, on electrical/computer parts, I have begun trimming and removing undesirable material with surgical precision. I’ve also added some small gold pickers that I acquired from years of panning and gem hunting.
DO NOT MIX material, keep magnetic and non magnetic apart. No PCB parts is supposed to be contacted by AR.
Trim close to "fingers" plated PCB bodies are very thin so no need to bother with it.
You can put them in a Cupric Chloride etch and keep it bubbling for months if you wish, they need no maintenance.
When they are clean flush them thoroughly and process the sludge.
I made a major mistake reusing the contaminated HCL this time. Won’t happen again.
I’m currently using ferrous sulfate instead of SMB.
I understand that zinc and citric acid will also precipitate gold.
Zinc will not precipitate Gold it will cement all less reactive metals in solution including Iron, Copper and what not.
Citric acid I have not heard that can be used for precipitation, but Oxalic acid, Acetylic acid among others can.
I’ve also decided not to spend time trying to recover tiny amounts of gold from my waste.
Just neutralizing, evaporating and will incinerate solids. Follow the dealing with waste thread and you will be good.
ty
How does one make or find copper chloride etch? ty
It is what sometimes is called AP.
Just put some corroded Copper in HCl and start bubbling air through it.
It works with plain Copper too but takes more time to start.
In the process of cleaning up your waste the use of copper to cement remains values is the time to recover any residual values. This typically the first step in the over all process. Many saves these separately and often refer to it as their retirement plan. I used mine the first time to buy better quality equipment. While doing a little at a time isn’t all bad, it most often is not profitable. It is a good way to learn without breaking the bank account.
I had a 5 gal and 2 gal bucket under a cover that were evaporating nicely. As several mentioned it would, the stench from Sulfur gradually subsided. Unfortunately, I had my house pressure washed and gutters cleaned. The guy moved my buckets out in the side yard. Yes, it rained the next day. So now there’s additional rainwater to evaporate. 
Martijn
Well-known member
If 'the guy' can reach your toxic chemical waste, and there were no warning labels or other physical barriers to hold unwanted guests back, they were not stored properly.I had a 5 gal and 2 gal bucket under a cover that were evaporating nicely. As several mentioned it would, the stench from Sulfur gradually subsided. Unfortunately, I had my house pressure washed and gutters cleaned. The guy moved my buckets out in the side yard. Yes, it rained the next day. So now there’s additional rainwater to evaporate.
I'm sure you came to this conclusion yourself, but i must stress:
Animals and kids don't read warnings and adults are usually too lazy to do so.
Please keep this in mind.. 'the guy' could have dumped it in the yard, rain gutter or sewer.
All these worst case scenarios are your responsibility and can be avoided by proper storage.
A thirsty thief with rich family and big law firm...you never know.
Be safe.
Your points are well taken. Even though I have neutralized the acidity and have a large chunk of land with this area fenced, I can do an even better job as I have another available area with more barriers. This worker also had permission to be on the property and was informed of the waste. I think he simply forgot to move them back under the cover. Since my projects have so far been small, the bulk of the waste is water, and it’s evaporating again. Once the liquid level is low enough. I’ll incinerate the solids.
Have you treated them according to the protocols in our waste treatment thread?
