Eco-goldex CYANIDE Leach

[Platdigger]

So it looks to me a guy would be better off to just use cyanide straight up.
At least one would know what he was up against.
And if I understand a post Deano just made to another thread, cyanide at 2 percent concentration would not have to be monitored for the level of ph.

 

[patnor1011]

Sure, but not everyone do have access to cyanide, this method then looks far better than AP, sulfuric cell, crockpot... mainly cost and time wise.

 

[patnor1011]

In their literature, it mentions using SMB to reclaim the gold. Anyone tried it?

I tried SMB, it was my first try and nothing happened just some fizzing. Potential use of SMB was clarified recently by owner of eco-goldex but I would not go in details here as that may give people wrong ideas which may result in fatal accident.

I do believe that zinc and/or activated carbon should be explored by anyone wishing to use eco-goldex leach. Forget SMB.

 

[ettran]

In their literature, it mentions using SMB to reclaim the gold. Anyone tried it?

I tried SMB, it was my first try and nothing happened just some fizzing. Potential use of SMB was clarified recently by owner of eco-goldex but I would not go in details here as that may give people wrong ideas which may result in fatal accident.

I do believe that zinc and/or activated carbon should be explored by anyone wishing to use eco-goldex leach. Forget SMB.

hi, I guess this process is more difficult than AP.the add said to drop the gold with SMB , but you say it did not work. I guess it is another snake oil salesman , ed.

 

[patnor1011]

In their literature, it mentions using SMB to reclaim the gold. Anyone tried it?

I tried SMB, it was my first try and nothing happened just some fizzing. Potential use of SMB was clarified recently by owner of eco-goldex but I would not go in details here as that may give people wrong ideas which may result in fatal accident.

I do believe that zinc and/or activated carbon should be explored by anyone wishing to use eco-goldex leach. Forget SMB.

hi, I guess this process is more difficult than AP.the add said to drop the gold with SMB , but you say it did not work. I guess it is another snake oil salesman , ed.

Nope, you are wrong. It is working but SMB require one more step which should not be done without proper equipment under any circumstances. Many people will disregard this warning and proceed anyway so I decided to not disclose how to do it. As I said above forget SMB. Use zinc or activated carbon. Simple.

 

[patnor1011]

Is there any sort of measure for use of activated carbon? Like how many grams of it is needed for 1l of leach-ate?

 

[upcyclist]

Is there any sort of measure for use of activated carbon? Like how many grams of it is needed for 1l of leach-ate?

Is one gram of 1 micron activated carbon particles just as effective as one gram of 100 micron carbon? In other words, is granulation or surface area a factor?

I know for metal, it's a factor for speed of reaction, but not for consumption/dissolution (at least in an idealized situation). But I thought carbon was more about adherence at a more-than-atomic level?

 

[Deano]

Assuming that the carbon particles have been activated by similar processing from similar starting material then you would expect similar metal loadings for both coarse and fine carbon particles.

The finer particles will load more quickly but with long term contact similar loadings will occur.

The exception to this is gold chloride where the gold chloride is reduced to gold metal on the carbon.

This often causes blockage of the pores in coarser particles of carbon and prevents further loading of gold in these pores, thus lowering the total loading level.

One of the disadvantages of carbon is its relative softness.

If high levels of carbon are stirred in a liquor you will generate large quantities of carbon fines.

If you are working with a clean liquor then you can, with a lot of muttering, filter these fines out for recovery.

You are then pretty much reduced to having to ash these fines for metal recovery, wet chemical ashing is really not a viable option.

If you are working with an ore then the fines will be lost to tailings.

Really unfortunate is that the highest gold loadings are on the outer surface of the carbon so any carbon losses will also lose the highest amounts of gold.

Carbon is usually pre-attritioned before use so as to minimise losses.

A carbon level around 5 grams per litre is used as a compromise between maximum adsortion rate and minimum attrition rate.

Agitation is kept to the minimum possible for whatever processing is involved.

Deano

 

[patnor1011]

Thank you Deano it really helped me. I am moving close to finish this test and will report outcome. Thanks again.

 

[patnor1011]

...

You are then pretty much reduced to having to ash these fines for metal recovery,

...
Deano

What is the best way to ash carbon which should be loaded with cold from Cn leach? I guess mapp torch is not good idea as gas flow from tip at pressure and ash can be blown away. (seems that happened to me).

Can I dissolve excess of zinc from zinc method with nitric acid or strictly sulfuric should be used (a lot of references about using sulfuric in this step)?

Is there way to test for gold presence in alkali solution?

 

[Grelko]

Is there way to test for gold presence in alkali solution?

Closest I could find. http://refinementofpreciousmetals.com/cmhoke/CHAPTER%209.pdf (4/15 pdf) Page 91

"The test with copperas works only in acid solutions; it will not
work at all in alkaline or cyanide solutions until the alkalinity is
destroyed.

Thus, suppose you have an old cyanide gilding solution, and
wonder if it might contain dissolved gold. Take about five drops
of the suspected liquid in a small test tube or tiny beaker, stand
near a window or an exhaust fan, and add four or five drops of
hydrochloric acid. The fumes evolved are extremely poisonous
hence the need for working near an exhaust. Bring the mixture
cautiously to a boil; this drives off the cyanide. Let it cool, and
you can now test with copperas as usual."

You might be able to find something in here that'll work. It doesn't show what most of them are used for :roll: , just how to make them.
http://www.pharmacopeia.cn/v29240/usp29nf24s0_ris1s126.html#usp29nf24s0_ris1s208

 

[Deano]

I have always ashed carbon in porcelain dishes in an electric furnace.

By having the door of the furnace cracked open you can get enough oxygen to the carbon without disturbing the ash.

Usually run overnight.

Nitric acid is not used for zinc dissolution for two reasons.

Generally it is more expensive than sulfuric acid.

Nitric acid must be run fairly dilute to prevent the formation of oxidation product layers on the zinc, this leads to long leaching times.

I just run the solution through an AA to see what gold levels are present.

Deano

 

[justinhcase]

Has anyone tried to build a small Gasification cell for carbonaceous materials?
The clean efficiency with which it turns carbon into carbon monoxide, hydrogen and carbon dioxide is very good as filtering any solid from a gas is quite easy.
But as you need to react the material at high temperatures (>700 °C), without combustion, with a controlled amount of oxygen and H2O under pressure.
The resulting syngas this produces is itself a fuel which can be used to help run the process once up an running.
I think some of the larger carbon processors from the mining industry use it but I have not seen a small scale set up.
I only ask as I had some graphite/silver material that did not separate cleanly without loss by conventional means.

 

[Rmwatson78]

Okay I bought my eco-goldex sample kits and they arrived today. I have an enormous amount of material, (at least to me), that this stuff seems like it will be perfect to use for processing but my samples didn't come with instructions and the videos i found seemed rather vague.

I planned to start with 2 1/2 gallons of distilled water and use NaOH to adjust the pH to around 10.5 before adding the eco-goldex e-series. Since the eco-goldex reagent has optimum results at .08% of the solution, would i just multiply my total volume of H2O adjusted pH solution by .08% to get the right amount of eco-goldex to dissolve in my solution?

And as far as the e-waste leaching catalyst I haven't found any pertinent information and hope that isn't the eco-goldex gold precipitant, but maybe i do since i didn't get anything with a label for that.

 

[Rmwatson78]

Ok my bad. I see that I should be adjusting my pH with CaOH, not NaOH.

 

[Rmwatson78]

I could only find something called "hydrated lime" at the hardware store and it seems to have a lot more than CaOH, so I'm thinking it won't work.

 

[lg701]

You DO NOT have to adjust the ph if you received the (E) series reagent. Got my
order last Thursday also with no directions and no clue what the leaching catalyst
was used for. Turns out it is to make the process go faster. I had to email
Mr Guo for the directions and he emailed them within a few hours, much better
than the website or the videos.
I'm still waiting on Pat's results and opinions, but it does work awesome on a fishnet full
of pins. Tried three samples and all three were stripped in 30-45 minutes with only
slight agitation at the beginning and end of the test.
Hope this helps

 

[patnor1011]

I do not have much to say. For me it will be the most preferred method for pins and plated material. Speed and cost wise it is probably the best thing for hobbyist out there. I would rather work with this than hot sulfuric and generally acids are cost prohibitive over here to even consider dissolving such material. As for recovery either zinc or carbon, you will find what suit you the best.

 

[patnor1011]

Oh yeah and dont adjust ph with e series product, it is already prepared so it will have required ph. In case you doubt then check it with strips and fine tune it yourself if needed. I used sodium hydroxide without any issues.

 

[Rmwatson78]

Well I watched the videos for the prior formula and ended up making a super alkaline mix of hydrated lime and eco-goldex e-series. Thank goodness I found directions for the current formula shortly thereafter. I would have to say that this method is the most effective way I have ever used for quite a few different things. Gold pins, plated and gold filled jewelry, all gold plated computer scrap/boards, processors, ram, etc. I processed 30 lbs of gold plated chains in about 6 hours. I got sort of nuts when my liquid didn't test positive for gold with stannous chloride, but it dawned on me that stannous will probably only work on acid solutions. I have a giant bucket of some extremely dark amber colored solution, and I just don't like the idea of using an unspecified amount of activated carbon to recover the gold. And since using SMB would require a significant lowering of my solution's pH to be effective, I'm going to try and recover the gold using zinc powder. Would zinc in supplement form work if I crushed up the tablets?