# Electroleaching



## SilverNitrate (Mar 17, 2008)

For lack of a better set words I thought of calling it electro-extraction or electro-grinding. Well anyways it is my own personal brainchild in which I wanted to find a way to dissolve karat jewelry rings and bracelets that have small diamonds which I 'd like to recover.
But upon doing so I found that I could purify the gold leaving it as so.

The set up is fairly simple: have your self a tub which could hold the diluted nitric acid. Have 2 graphite leads, the + which the jewelry rests upon, and the - at the opposite end, turn on your rectifier (battery charger) and this should run for hour per ounce. 

This does make a great deal of smoke, so I do this in the lab under a vent. 

Your gold Jewelry will actually become pure, and thus break down into tiny dusts, the diamonds are loose among it. Your acid bath solution is going to turn a cloudy white (silver nitrate) at first then to a solid blue (copper nitrate) as the reaction furthers along. At times you will see a fluff of copper and silver grow on the cathode plate, but then this moves off the cathode it re-dissolves itself. 
I find this to work greatly on 10k & 14k gold; 18k or higher and teeth tend to less likely breakdown. 

[img:500:382]http://www.gholar.com/images/electroleach.jpg[/img]

Below are some images of the silver fluff floating in the bath. the blue bath solution is drained off then set aside for later silver recovery. 
The granuels of fine gold are rinsed off from the bath solution and then dissolved in aqua regia. Karat Jewelry dissolved in AR will always make a dark green solution, Doing this electroleaching, the AR remains a dark yellow, showing the absence of copper. 

[img:600:236]http://www.gholar.com/images/electroleach1.jpg[/img]

Keep in mind that this AR is not of pure gold. To some extent there are traces of silver present. However when the granuels are dissolved in AR, generally the only thing left behind are the stones and perhaps tiny steel springs from clasps.


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## Noxx (Mar 17, 2008)

Nice job !

Would you mind me moving this post into the Tutorial section ?

Also, could you tell me: How do you «attach» the jewelry to your graphite anode ?

Will this only work for 14kt jewelry and lower karats gold ?

Finally does you graphite anode and cathode erodes after some time ? 


Thanks !


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## SilverNitrate (Mar 17, 2008)

With this gold AR solution, one of my thechiques is (THOUGH NOT RECCOMMENDED) is to add in 1/4 vol of keytone, MEK I use then place it in a beaker and let stand. eventually after much elapse time this will react with the free available acids and begain to boil. This gas acts as an acylchloride (mild mustard gas) and will give you teary-eyes, so ventilation is a must. 
After this reaction appeared to have ceased, add in an ample amount of NaOH solution, then globules of gold will form which only need be rinsed off and dried.
Keep in mind, my objective is not to create ultra pure gold metal, but to recover as much silver from the gold as possible and have nice high karat gold too! The refiners don't pay for silver that's locked in with jewelry.


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## SilverNitrate (Mar 17, 2008)

Noxx said:


> Nice job !
> 
> Would you mind me moving this post into the Tutorial section ?
> 
> ...



---Is ok with me I guess?
I simply lay the scrap atop the graphite, 
better than 18k may be alot more difficult because theres less base metal to be extracted, thus less porus gold surface. 
The graphite visible seems unaffected, however I don't use this technique much unless I want to remove tiny stones, I simply sand down a fresh surface on the graphite once ready to begin.


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## Baja Bob (Mar 18, 2008)

Silver nitrate,

could you post a note on how you made the 5 mol HNO3 solution?
thanks Baja Bob


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## SilverNitrate (Mar 18, 2008)

Baja Bob said:


> Silver nitrate,
> 
> could you post a note on how you made the 5 mol HNO3 solution?
> thanks Baja Bob



Conc HNO3 is 68% or 16mol, that should be diluted with 4 parts water or more. 
Because I have did this only a couple times, I'm sure it could be done with a lot less acid possible .5mol to 2 mol. However once the acid bath is used it can be filtered and store for later electroleaching _being re-useable, _then ultimately silver recovery.


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## Arcani (Mar 18, 2008)

good idea


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## SilverNitrate (Mar 19, 2008)

I might add that no chlorine (halogen) should be in the bath as this will create silver chloride. Silver Chloride forms a protective layer which fails the contact with the scraps and the carbon cathode. This should work greatly with 'rolled gold' and gold filled scraps. (still in the experimenting phase, and don't know if this will dissolve steel,) but am sure if you have rolled gold over steel, the gold should fall from that steel surface.


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## draftinu (Mar 20, 2008)

Silver, Sweet setup


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