# Ferrous Sulphate vs SMB



## jeneje (Aug 10, 2012)

Which one does the best job for selective dropping of gold when other PMs are in solution? Just wanted to get other opions on the matter.
Ken


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## cnbarr (Aug 10, 2012)

I'm not too sure which one is more selective in the presence of other pm's, but I do prefer to use ferrous sulfate with a dirty solution overuse smb. Now that I think about it it seem ferrous would be more selective but I could be wrong, just a thought.


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## philddreamer (Aug 10, 2012)

I also understand that ferrous sulphate is more selective when the solution is "dirty". My expirience with sulphuric in a dirty solution, http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=14808#p149226 
and dropping .99% gold kinda convinced me of that. 
Take care!
Phil


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## jeneje (Aug 10, 2012)

I to like ferrous over SMB after today's drop. I had some cons i used AR on and after denox it worked great.
Ken


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## philddreamer (Aug 10, 2012)

Ken, what color was the powder after the drop, dark or lighter?


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## jeneje (Aug 10, 2012)

philddreamer said:


> Ken, what color was the powder after the drop, dark or lighter?


The mud was dark initially and i'm in the washing stage right now and it is light tan after the first water wash. I will post a pic in a few.
Ken


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## jeneje (Aug 10, 2012)

jeneje said:


> philddreamer said:
> 
> 
> > Ken, what color was the powder after the drop, dark or lighter?
> ...


Edited; philddreamer here are a few pics,


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## ericrm (Aug 10, 2012)

wow ,nice work place, seriously


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## philddreamer (Aug 10, 2012)

Ken, I was asking about the color when the gold first drops, because when I precipitate from a solution with sulphuric acid, the gold is much lighter in color than when I precipitate from HCl/Cl or AR before the rinse. And yes, once the rinsing procedure starts, the color gets lighter. 
Very nice work area! 8) 

Phil


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## jeneje (Aug 10, 2012)

philddreamer I need to start using the sulphuric in my solution, i just have a hard time bringing myself to, because of the danger of it if i spill it. You guys don't know this - but i have had neck surgery for nerve damage and i tin to drop things out of my right hand without warning. So i try to keep the danger to a min.

Yes i do enjoy my little work area and it serves the needs of my hobby. 
Ken


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## Harold_V (Aug 11, 2012)

jeneje said:


> philddreamer I need to start using the sulphuric in my solution, i just have a hard time bringing myself to, because of the danger of it if i spill it. You guys don't know this - but i have had neck surgery for nerve damage and i tin to drop things out of my right hand without warning. So i try to keep the danger to a min.


It's not clear to me how much sulfuric you guys are using, but it takes very little to serve the intended purpose, assuming you aren't processing material that is heavily laden with lead. A few drops in each lot should be sufficient. It wouldn't present any serious consequences that don't already exist. None of these solutions can be considered as being safe. 

Harold


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## jeneje (Aug 13, 2012)

ericrm said:


> wow ,nice work place, seriously


Thanks ericrm, i made it all from posts and ideas from members here. I think i need a bigger hood but for now it working great for my small batchs. 
Ken


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## jeneje (Aug 13, 2012)

Harold_V said:


> jeneje said:
> 
> 
> > philddreamer I need to start using the sulphuric in my solution, i just have a hard time bringing myself to, because of the danger of it if i spill it. You guys don't know this - but i have had neck surgery for nerve damage and i tin to drop things out of my right hand without warning. So i try to keep the danger to a min.
> ...


Harold you are right - NONE of the chemicals are 100% safe, what i done was ordered some 1oz glass eyedropper bottles to put my sulphuric and HNO3 into and use them to drop what i need.
Ken


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## goldsilverpro (Aug 13, 2012)

If my math is right, 1ml of concentrated sulfuric will precipitate about 3.7 grams of lead, which is a lot. Assuming 20 drops per ml, 1 drop would precipitate .18g of lead. It's safer to use battery acid but it will take about 2.5-3 times more.


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## philddreamer (Aug 13, 2012)

I don't add concentrated sulphuric acid to my HCl/Cl or AR's solutions, (only the few drops of battery acid in order to get rid of lead). 
I'm referring to the sulphuric acid from the gold cell. I don't dilute & rinse in order to recover the gold powder. I just place the gold with acid in a beaker & proceed to add clorox, thus dissolving the gold powder. (Some water is added as a squirt the powder from the cell itself). This is how I ended up with the: http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=14808#p149226

Phil


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## goldsilverpro (Aug 13, 2012)

When no PGMs are involved, I prefer using one of the sulfite chemicals because I believe they can produce a higher purity gold. In my experience, however, FeSO4 is more selective for gold when PGMs are present. Some of the books I have say the same thing. With FeSO4, though, the gold will likely be slightly contaminated with iron. So, when PGMs are present, I use FeSO4 first, then re-dissolve in AR and use SMB, sodium sulfite, or SO2 for the 2nd drop.


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## bmgold2 (Feb 14, 2014)

While doing some studying and researching on this forum I saw the picture of Ken's (jeneje) work station. Looks like a real nice and fairly easy set up.

http://goldrefiningforum.com/~goldrefi/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=15975&t=1

I wonder if he (or someone else) could explain all the pipes. I see a shop vac on the top of the fume hood and can't tell exactly where the hose goes from there. Probably into the Y pipe under the bench. I'm guessing the cabinet at the right is a scrubber? Maybe the bucket under the fume hood is a catch bucket/drain for the scrubber or is it an AP bucket and the end of the Y pipe is pulling any fumes out to the scrubber? I don't have a guess what the small pipe with the gage is on the far right.

Do you still have/use this set up? Looks like maybe plywood?


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## jeneje (Feb 14, 2014)

Bmgold2,
The shop-vac on top pulled out the fumes, (very noisy inside the shop) but, does work. The flex pipe goes into a "Y" leading into a 4" PVC pipe. The 4" pipe runs into the scrubber. The pipes on the right supplies the scrubber solution containing NaOH. The gage you see on the top right regulated the pressure entering the scrubber. 

I have upgraded this system since this post. The bucket under the hood is just where I slid it out off the way. If, I was going to use a shop-vac I would change it to mount on the back of the hood. I was surprised at how the vac worked. When I stopped using this system the shop-vac still worked a year later.

Ken
edited for spelling.


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