Concentrate Nitric Acid ?

Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
xelexo
Advertise with us
Gold Refining Forum

Help Support Gold Refining Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Has anyone heard of this? Sodium sulfate is the salt left over after making Nitric acid from Sulferic acid.

From Wikipedia:
"Lately, sodium sulfate has been found effective in dissolving very finely electroplated micron gold that is found in gold electroplated hardware on electronic products such as pins, and other connectors and switches. It is safer and cheaper than other reagents used for gold recovery, with little concern for adverse reactions or health effects."
 
All,

Here is the link to a NO DISTILLATION nitirc acid.


Nitric Recipe

It's been fully tested and works. The acid is approximately 50% HNO3 which is suitable for all refining needs.

Steve
 
Last edited:
Sodium sulfate doesn't sound right to me. In order to dissolve gold, it would have to form a compound or complex with the chemical. There is no such thing as gold sulfate. It might form a sodium gold sulfate complex but I've never heard of one. The statement may be incomplete. There may be some other chemical involved. Wikipedia gives no details or references. I looked for other internet references but could find none. If such a thing exists, it could be very important.

Maybe they're confusing it with sodium sulfite. This will form a sodium gold sulfite complex but it involves several stages and you have to start with a gold cyanide complex. Not very suitable for gold stripping.
 
Mako,

The information is you are referencing was already mentioned in this post :

Recycling the by product

GSP,

Here are the google results I found for gold and sodium sulfate:

Sodium Sulfate and gold

A few actually mention sodium sulfate in the process, but typically in addition to other chemicals. Some deal with precipitation from AuCl3 complexes, while others discuss dissolution. Much more research would be required on this subject to have any hopes of coming up with a usable method.

Steve
 
I went though at least 10 google pages without much luck. The only place it really says that sodium sulfate dissolves gold is in the Wikipedia article on sodium sulfate. Maybe, somehow, the author could be contacted. Chemically, it doesn't seem possible unless a chemical that was capable of forming a compound or a complex with gold was added. This short list includes the halogens (chlorides, iodides, bromides), cyanides, and thiosulfate.
 
goldsilverpro said:
I went though at least 10 google pages without much luck. The only place it really says that sodium sulfate dissolves gold is in the Wikipedia article on sodium sulfate. Maybe, somehow, the author could be contacted. Chemically, it doesn't seem possible unless a chemical that was capable of forming a compound or a complex with gold was added. This short list includes the halogens (chlorides, iodides, bromides), cyanides, and thiosulfate.
Click to expand...

The thiosulfates dissolve gold? Do you know how? I have easy access to lots of Ammonium Thiosulfate.
Thanks,
Kory
 
I've never used thiosulfate. There are lots of mining methods using thiosulfate. Do a search. We have only touched on it in the forum. With research, it could be a very important method, since it is very safe.
 
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6632264.html
Abstract
"Processes for recovering gold from copper-gold ores thiosulfate leaching or gold ores copper catalyzed thiosulfate leaching using ion exchange technology are disclosed. The processes include subjecting the gold-bearing and copper-bearing thiosulfate solution to a pH and/or temperature adjustment to reduce tetrathionate concentration in the thiosulfate solution prior to contacting with an ion exchange resin. The ion exchange resin once loaded with gold and optionally copper is eluted with a mixture of sodium tetrathionate, ammonium thiosulfate and sodium sulfite. Gold and optionally copper are recovered from the eluate by electrowinning or precipitation."

I may have to investigate this further...
Cheers,
Kory
 
I was thinking of thiourea with the CLS.
Has anyone else tried using CLS from action mining,
or tried leaching with electro-precipitation?
The CLS manual also shows a zinc precipitation unit,
and ion exchange resins that look interesting.
And in his dvd he shows an activated carbon filter
that traps the metals, I was thinking if you would be
able to make something like that from a pool filter?
 
lazersteve said:
Here's a very interesting tidbit I just noticed on wiki while reviewing the sodium sulfate salt produced by the above reaction:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_sulfate#Other_applications

Pay very close attention to the last paragraph of this section (Other Applications). We may have an excellent processing cycle in the works here. One that may even allow us to recycle the by products for reuse. :idea:

Steve
Click to expand...

Steve,

I am doubtful there is any chemical affinity for gold in sodium sulfate as it is quite inert. Maybe in an electrolytic process but what is formed? I heard THIOSULFATES and SULFITES are use in gold plating baths. You still have to oxidize gold though and halogens and aqua regia are the only means.
 
I know most of you now have your sources of getting the chemicals either through connections or through websites.

My main question is how do you ask to get sodium nitrate, sulfuric acid, and other chemicals at a local hardware/farm and feed/lawn care store without the employees thinking you are going to make bombs with it?

I tried to ask for the sodium metabisulfite at a local store and explained to them it was used for sanitation purposes. His first call was to a manager and asked if that was a bomb making chemical. Needless to say I tried to get things back on track, but soon left because I had "people" following me.

thanks

dennis
 
Steve,

Thank you again for giving me a guiding light. I also appologize if I hijacked the thread. My mind is a slight scattered so I thank you all for putting up with my random thoughts and posts. My post wasnt really directed at the SMB in particular, it was just an example and how uncomfortable it made me feel asking for something so specific to a stranger that didnt know my intent.

thanks

dennis
 
@ Never evil- It usually does not help to explain your intent anyways. Most people expect that whatever you say you are lying. Seattle Pottery supply has sodium nitrate and many other chems fairly cheaply. Pottery chemicals may need purification but that usually is easy.
 
Swimming pool supply outlets are a good source for cheap chemicals. Sodium bisulfate is usually labeled as Ph reducer and sold in 5kg containers. You can get HCL for a lot cheaper than you can at a hardware store. Ammonium chloride is usually labeled as Pool scrubber or cleaner etc.
The contents are generally printed on the labels somewhere.
 
Have you tried using calcium nitrate for making nitric acid? I believe that
calcium sulfate is pretty much insoluble.

Jim
 

Latest posts

Back
Top