Gold Refining Forum Sponsored Contest

[Richard36]

Churning apparatus given to me by a client.


Battery charger, blue-bowl setup, and cementing buckets. I use the blue bowl for black sands, as well as amalgamation assays. It's far easier to blow out sand so that I can recover the amalgam than it is to pan it out.


A better view.


Cementing. Bottom right still contains copper, top right is cemented copper, with a rubber hose for stirring.
Top left is precipitated iron sludge, bottom left is water with some iron, yet to be treated with sodium Hydroxide, (Lye) to drop as much more metal as possible, then to be discarded.


Another view, with a glass plate out of a microwave to cover the active cementing bucket.

 

[Richard36]

Well, here it is, my rock mill. It works well for crushing rock, and CPU's.


Another view.


Another view of my filter set-up.


Secondary A/P system made out of a porch light globe resting on a hot air popper that I use to heat up various solutions.

 

[Richard36]

Filters.


Assay and testing supplies, Binoculars, UV lamp, comparator, gps, etc. Never mind the cat, lol.


My scale. accurate to 1/100 of a gram, I wish it would measure 1/1000 of a gram though.


Assay and incineration equipment. Crucibles, cupels, and scorification dishes are used, and only for visual effect.


Another View.

 

[Richard36]

Gold precipitated with Potassium Metabisulfite, yes, the potassium version.
This was from some glassware that I stripped with the Acid/Clorox method.


Same as above.


Sediment that I filtered from my A/P tank after I had let it set idle for a week.


Foils from a small batch of gold plated scrap that I ran in my A/P tank.


Precipitate that I recovered from de-plating items in my Sulfuric Stripping cell.

 

[Richard36]

Samples of scrap that I have ran, and some of the beads that I have recovered.


Well, there you have it.
I don't know for sure how much I have invested in all of this.
Not cheap though, that's for sure. It all adds up quick.

Hopefully my photos will help give others some ideas on how to go about putting together their lab,
though my lab is used for assays, as well as refining.

Sincerely, Rick. "The Rock Man".

 

[Noxx]

Your propane furnace looks a lot like mine...

 

[goldenchild]

My fume hood so far. Constructed out of a Rubbermaid HDPE (#2) tote. Waiting for my blower to come in and then the real fun starts :mrgreen:

 

[glondor]

Nice Idea. I like the simple easy methods of doing things that are revealing themselves in this thread. Looking forward to see the finished product in action.

 

[samuel-a]

Nice Mario

Keep the axles oiled so not to rust.

 

[Dirtdiggaler]

I really needed a small mill to grind samples and I could not afford one so I built one with parts from harbor freight. The motor was on sale for around $170.00 and you can get a box of carbide tipped cutters for $20.00. I had the steel in my scrap pile. I am going to add one more set of cutters offset to the other's. It grinds my samples without adding lot's of iron so I can get a good sample to test. I mill quarts all the time and the cutters are holding up great. You could mill electronics scrap with this and turn it into powder in no time. It took me about 2 days to build.

 

[Dirtdiggaler]

Got the gold wheel for free, I had to epoxy the base.
The base it made from salvaged beam brackets and the motor is off an old conveyor.
I made the adapter on my lathe and milling machine.
Here is my hood area. I got a water tank out of a motor home. A small water heater at a garage sale for $10.00. I got a 110v water pump with a pressure switch for $20 dollars. I wanted to have water for emergencies and to wash my hands and beakers . The hood is from lows and I used a 6 inch duct for maximum air flow.
This is my panning tub and my 20-40 power stereo microscope with a halogen lamp for visual assays to see if its worth a fire assay.

 

[Dirtdiggaler]

This is my concentrating table. It work's great for placer and hard rock concentrating. Global mining told me they ran testing on ground circuit boards, and then the company bought 10 tables. I am going to try it and I will post my results.


Here is some fine placer gold that I just recovered with my table.

 

[Dirtdiggaler]

This is my jaw crusher- rod- ball mill combo.

This is the feed conveyor and top of the small crusher.

The jaw drop's the oar into a ore bin and the ball mill has a scoop to scoop the water and oar into the rod- ball mill.

I use this as a pilot test mill.

 

[4metals]

Nice setup, a good amount of your equipment not only services your needs in the quest for gold in it's natural state but it would function well in the processing of incinerated e-scrap as well.

 

[Joeforbes]

Has a deadline for entries been decided? I would have posted my lab already, but I'm still doing small things to get it finished.

 

[4metals]

A deadline has not been discussed as of yet so new entries are welcomed!

 

[4metals]

Consider this the last bump of this thread, last chance for new entries and updates. Entries will be accepted until 11:59 on December 31st from whatever time zone you post from.

Time for all of you procrastinators to show your stuff.

 

[Photobacterium]

How about a contest for smallest Gold Bead of the Month ? I think I could win that ! 8)

 

[HAuCl4]

Consider this the last bump of this thread, last chance for new entries and updates. Entries will be accepted until 11:59 on December 31st from whatever time zone you post from.

Time for all of you procrastinators to show your stuff.

At the insistence of 4metals...here's my reluctant entry: :shock: :lol:

If I win I'll post the exact procedure, supplies and other equipment needed. I think it all costs less than $100 retail (costed me $0), except for the torch/furnace that can be borrowed from the client-jeweller.

 

[publius]

I'd win! It weighs 0.000000000000 pwts. Well, I an still reading, after all. :roll: