# thiosulfate leaching



## sawmill (May 19, 2011)

Hello All
I have some questions about thiosulfate leaching.


Has anyone here actually used thiosulfate for leaching gold
ore,and had positive results,that can be repeatable as a
real leaching process?

Has anyone found a real working precipitation process to
recover the gold,that works well,and is dependable? Also
getting the gold out of the precipitates seems to be a real
pain. Any real answers for this,would be appreciated.

Does anyone have a real formula,for making up the leach,
that can be translated into plain English,not chemical jargon?


Yes I have used search,and read the posts. Every thread
starts off OK then drifts when it comes right down to the
nitty gritty, leaving more questions,than answers. That
seems to be the same with all the information I have read,
any where.


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## Anonymous (May 19, 2011)

sawmill said:


> Does anyone have a real formula,for making up the leach,
> that can be translated into plain English,not chemical jargon?


Sawmill,
I am going to explain this in english and hopefully you,and others that are not familiar with the "chemical jargon" will understand.
A lot of the descriptive language that we(oldies) use here,is so that there is NO misunderstanding what we are trying to convey.
Almost every chemical that we deal with can kill you,within seconds,minutes,hours......etc,you get the point.I have personally stated many times on the forum,that one small misunderstanding could can lead to devastating results,not only for the individual that created that mistake,but for other members of the forum also.I am not saying that it will,but it is possible.
This goes to you,and all of the newbies that are new to recovering/refining.....If you cannot understand our terminology,then I suggest you don't mess with any of this,until you undestand that terminology.Noone needs to have a communication issue in the middle of a process.Sometimes it happens though,and you will need to ask a question.....in that case you will understand our suggestions to you.


sawmill said:


> Has anyone found a real working precipitation process to
> recover the gold,that works well,and is dependable? Also
> getting the gold out of the precipitates seems to be a real
> pain. Any real answers for this,would be appreciated.


This is a perfect example of what I was referring to,we do not know what solution your precipitants came from.If I were to assume that they came from a thio-based solution,then you need to heat your precipitants in clean water,just below a boil,for a couple of minutes,let the powder settle to the bottom,decant(pour off) the clear water,and repeat.After your last decanting,you can proceed with a normal powder refining at that point.
Now a couple of things to add here.Most precipitant from a thio leach is super fine,therefore when you let the powder "settle" it will most likely take overnight,or at least a couple of hours.And make sure you wash the powder well with water to remove and residual thio on the powder before moving on to the refining process.


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## sawmill (May 19, 2011)

mic
I asked about the thiosulfate process,because it
is a safer process. The whole thread is about thio
sulfate,not AR or cyanide .Safety is the key issue ,
and my main concern.


The reason I asked that information be put into
layman's terms is for total understanding from a
safety standpoint. 

The main reason I started this thread is to find
out if Thiosulfate is a viable process for extracting
gold. I would like to hear the facts,from someone
that has used it in a real mining situation.Bits and
pieces of information are what is dangerous with
any process.

I have edited this to include some information
that may help the forum members in the future,
and one in particular.
CM Hoke is the best source of information about
refining,and for one real reason. She didn't talk
down to others,and used common laymans terms,
and explanations to make a point. She taught lots
of people to refine that didn't have a chemistry
background or skills. 

More than once I have seen mic suggest 
the thio leach method .If you don't know or
have not used the method ,don't suggest it. If you 
do know ,be prepared to give realistic answers that
do apply to the process.

To make the assumption that just because some
one asks about a process,and they are not familiar
with chemical hazards is asinine at the best. The
worst hazard with the thio process is,you may not
recover enough gold to pay the expenses.


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