# Sodium hydroxide to drop Gold out



## MetalMan76 (Jan 1, 2011)

If I use sodium hydroxide to drop gold out of an aqua regia (AR) solution of mixed metals, should the precipitate of the gold be yellow? 
If not, what color should I look for to know in fact that it is gold that's dropping out of the AR solution?


_Edited to be less annoying to read. Hereafter, please use proper punctuation and avoid unnecessary increasing font size.~Lou_


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## joem (Jan 1, 2011)

comment removed; now not related to subject


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## MetalMan76 (Jan 1, 2011)

I know theres gold in the solution. I just never used sodium hydroxide before...Im doing a AR test with pure gold and sodium hydroxide. lets see what happens :twisted:


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## joem (Jan 1, 2011)

MetalMan76 said:


> I know theres gold in the solution. I just never used sodium hydroxide before...Im doing a AR test with pure gold and sodium hydroxide. lets see what happens :twisted:



I have only used it to drop silver fron litho fix


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## lazersteve (Jan 1, 2011)

From a pure gold chloride solution the precipitate will be very dark brown to black colored.

Steve


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## MetalMan76 (Jan 1, 2011)

Thanks a lot Steve. U da Man!!!


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## Lou (Jan 1, 2011)

My constructive advice metalman: be careful adding base to acid!! Also, there's no real point to use base to precipitate gold unless the solution is very pure.


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