# best way to precipitate gold from nitric wash ?



## diverwild (Jul 30, 2017)

Hi experts
I washed floor sweeps with concentrate nitric acid ، test for gold is positive، apparently there is a presence of chlorine ، so what is the best way to get my gold back ، I put SMB which gave huge amounts of orange clouds ، I thought to add HCL then denox but this will take long time because the nitric wash is about one liter ، I need a better advice thank you


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## FrugalRefiner (Jul 30, 2017)

My advice would be to not try to recover the gold yet. I would save the nitric and use it on future batches and in making AR when you dissolve gold in the future. You'll recover whatever gold may have been dissolved, not waste the nitric, and not create a lot of NOx trying to recover a tiny bit of gold.

You may have a problem because of the SMB you added if it was a lot. You can test that by using a small sample to dissolve some more base metals or in a small, sample batch of AR.

Dave


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## nickvc (Jul 30, 2017)

As Dave said use the nitric to dissolve the rest of your gold in the sweeps you have by adding Hcl first and then small increments of the used nitric, in this case I would advise to actually boil your AR but keep the sweeps well stirred to avoid hot spots and possible beaker failure, use a watch glass in between stirring.


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## diverwild (Jul 30, 2017)

the problem is these sweeps are for one of my customers I will give him his gold after tomorrow


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## Geo (Jul 31, 2017)

1L of solution. You said it was positive for gold. Take a small sample, lets say 100ml, and neutralize the nitric acid. Drop the gold in this sample and weight it. That is 1/10th of the gold in the entire 1L. Multiply that amount by ten and give him that much gold and save the solution.


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## anachronism (Jul 31, 2017)

When you say it tests positive for gold- how positive are you talking? 

Can you post a pic of the stannous test?


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## diverwild (Jul 31, 2017)

immediate reaction، and as you can see deep dark color then after seconds disappeared
the lower blue side is nitric used for inquarting big pieces it gave fast reaction then disappeared quickly due to nitric I think

Geo I liked your smart idea ، it helps a lot in different circumstances like this one .

By the way the upper


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## Refining Rick (Jul 31, 2017)

Gloves man! Gloves.
I agree with the save it and use it later for A/R. Try and figure out how much gold you need to give your customer and give him that amount out of your stash, if you have one. Geo's plan is the one I'd go with. 
Other then that kill the nitric and drop it. Lot of waste there. 
Whatever you do with it, wear gloves when you do it.


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## butcher (Aug 1, 2017)

Those look like the hands of a young man who may not live long if he does not learn or follow safety.


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## diverwild (Aug 8, 2017)

butcher said:


> Those look like the hands of a young man who may not live long if he does not learn or follow safety.



I appreciate your concern


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