# Ever heard of the Amalgamite Process? - Updated



## pilotdan (Mar 19, 2008)

Ebay item # 330220731296

What is Amalgamite? Seems strange. Anyone tried it or using it? 

Below is the copied text from the ad. 

THE AMALGAMITE PROCESS

AMALGAMITE is a new product and process for recovering your gold
and other precious metals f4rom gold scrap, as well as black sand concentrates.

For fingers, pins, crushed cpu's, and any other plated material, just melt your amalgamite
in a cast iron skillet or pot, and add the scrap..
Stir a while and watch the gold disapear from the scrap,
and leave the plastic, copper, brqass and all other trash floating on top,
to be scooped off and thrown away.

This process is non toxic and can be done in the kitchen on the stove...

Warning however, I suggets you do anything with resin, such as fingers,
or pc board material outside or under a ventilation hood (stove vent is fine),
as the resin will smoke, and that can be toxic in an unventilated area.

This material melts at approximately 520 degrees F, then acts like Mercury...
It will collect the precious metals, which then can be dropped from the Amalgamite in minutes.

This process is proven and is safe.

No more having to be a chemist to get your gold... No more toxic fumes, no more big acid messes.

The Amalgamite is expensive initially, but can be used forever, just like Mercury,
without the chances of killing yourself, or injury

Full easy to follow instructions will be included with each purchase, and this is sold by the pound.

I use two pounds to work with.

If you spill the Amalgamite, it cools as soon as it spills, and you can just pick i
t up and put it back into the pot to remelt, as all contaminants will float to the top and can be skimmed off!


For Black sand concentrates, the procedure is the same...
Put your cons in the melted Amalgamite, and stir it for a few minutes.

All of the gold, silver and PGM's will be sucked up into this sponge.


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## Noxx (Mar 19, 2008)

Strange...


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## donald236 (Mar 19, 2008)

i e-mailed the person in question and he says that it works but the questions that i asked were like how many times have you used this process your self and the only answer he gave is that he used it recently.
and i asked him what he processed in this and he would not answer that one . so i think that he is full of junk please correct me if im wrong on this
donald


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## pilotdan (Mar 19, 2008)

I emailed him too. I am going to buy some and just report on it. 

I asked if there was a data sheet, here is the response: 


There is no data sheet as of yet, but I assure you it is totally safe for you and the environment... It has no dangerous fumes, it cuts out most of the chemicals needed to get to your gold... The only place where you can have a problem is working with board material, like pc boards, plastic, and fingers, as these have resin on them and they get hot enough to smoke, and that smoke can be toxic... If doing that kind of material, do it outside for safety reasons, but processing pins, ceramic cpu's and the such, it is safe to do on your kitchen stove...Bill, Goldco Mining


He has a good rating and has been selling chemicals and such for a long time. 

I don't know weather to believe it or not. Guess I will find out if I can get some. 

Thoughts? If anyone knows what this is, I would really appreciate hearing about it.


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## peter i (Mar 19, 2008)

People who sell chemicals without a data-sheet should be handled with great care (and so should their chemicals!)


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## Lou (Mar 19, 2008)

I wonder if it is bismuth. Bismuth melts at about 510F and it is commonly used as a replacement for lead. In fact, since about 5 people here have asked me about doing fire assays, I am considering doing them with bismuth as a substitute for lead.



Lou


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## donald236 (Mar 19, 2008)

if you are going to experiment with this PLEASE,PLEASE take great care . and be extremely careful without a msds data sheet to back any thing up you are going at this blindly so be extremely cautious . OK with that said please inform the rest of us on the progress of it


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## pilotdan (Mar 19, 2008)

donald236 said:


> if you are going to experiment with this PLEASE,PLEASE take great care . and be extremely careful without a msds data sheet to back any thing up you are going at this blindly so be extremely cautious . OK with that said please inform the rest of us on the progress of it



No doubt I would take great care. Outside and with a mask, gloves, and PPE. I might video tape it just so I can get some input from everyone.


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## donald236 (Mar 19, 2008)

that sounds great
donald


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## pilotdan (Mar 19, 2008)

Lou said:


> I wonder if it is bismuth. Bismuth melts at about 510F and it is commonly used as a replacement for lead. In fact, since about 5 people here have asked me about doing fire assays, I am considering doing them with bismuth as a substitute for lead.
> 
> 
> 
> Lou



I looked up Bismuth and the picture looks a lot like what is pictured in the ebay ad. I was wondering what your thoughts are on this if it is bismuth? Would it work like he claims?


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## draftinu (Mar 20, 2008)

Hey Dan, Yes Please video tape and post! Thanks, Tim


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## Platdigger (Mar 21, 2008)

Lou, looks like you nailed this one!

They even use the same picture in there add as does this roto metals outfit.

They have the stuff for 16.99 per pound.

So I would imagine if a spot price were to be found, it would be somewhere near half of that.

This is there web page: http://www.rotometals.com/_c_36.html?gclid=CNj86I68nZICFQkziQodnRgjdw


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## pilotdan (Mar 21, 2008)

Yup it's bismuth. I got back a reply from the seller. I have been emailing back and forth with him. Does anyone here know him? 


I have had a good success with it so far... We have put it through rigorous testing, and all works out great... The gold is dropped in whatever purity it goes in, and it drops as gold gold, not a precipitate of gold... If it is not taken in as 24k, if that is the purity you want, you still have to refine it... This is just a safe way to get the gold out and off the plated material... No, to drop the gold, you just use a 25% nitric acid solution... This takes the Amalgamite into solution, and the gold is left behind, so no, no more aqua regia and such to get the gold...Bill, Goldco Mining. I cannot tell you exactly what this is made of yet, but in the near future I can... We are in the process of trade marking the product and process...Bill, Goldco Mining

Then I asked him about it being Bismuth. At first he said he could not say. Then he wrote this. 

Ok, I talked to my partner, and he told me it was safe to tell you about the Amalgamite and the process. Amalgamite is bismuth, but the Amalgamite Process is so much more. Our process is so much different than anything else ever used. With the Amalgamite, you will recieve full instructions, and He is writing a manual, which wil;l contain our absolute full process and the implements needed... Our process is brand new, and if you follow the istructional cd that will come with it, you will be successful... There is a big section on assaying the Amalgamite, but skip through that, as we don't need it...Bill, Goldco Mining


So maybe he will just sell me his process. I don't know that this is worth it though. To get pure gold you would still need to refine it. Any thought's?


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## Platdigger (Mar 21, 2008)

I would be interested in what is used to drop the bismuth from the nitric.
Perhaps this is what I have in some ore from Mexico.
Randy


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## pilotdan (Mar 21, 2008)

Platdigger said:


> I would be interested in what is used to drop the bismuth from the nitric.
> Perhaps this is what I have in some ore from Mexico.
> Randy



I believe it is ammonia.


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## Platdigger (Mar 21, 2008)

I found this.

When excess water is added to bismuth in nitric....a white powder precipitates.

Not sure if this powder is easily melted.

Were did you find out about ammonia to drop?
This is getting interesting.......


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## pilotdan (Mar 21, 2008)

Platdigger said:


> I found this.
> 
> When excess water is added to bismuth in nitric....a white powder precipitates.
> 
> ...



Here is an email from us discussing this. 

The answer to that is yes, I will put you down for two pounds, and it has never before been on the market... It is our new discovery, and to tell you the truth, I will never try to be a chemist any more... This is so much safer, and non toxic... The only chemicals you will need is nitric acid to take the Amalgamite into solution to release the gold, and ammonia to get the Amalgamite back. It is so much simpler, and when you read the instruction cd, and you have any questions, we will be glad to answer them... This is the breakthrough that we have all needed... I will gladly inform you as to when I get it in for you...Thanks a million, Bill, Goldco Mining


Might be worth trying. I did tell him I would buy from him and I hate to go back on my word. Any thoughts on the purity of the gold? It seems like you would still need to refine the gold if you wanted pure gold. 

On another note, Bismuth is a lung and mucus membrane irritant. I did advise him to stop telling people to cook this stuff up in the kitchen.


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## Platdigger (Mar 21, 2008)

Sounds like it should be done under a fume hood then.

Say, Thanks for posting on this one pilotdan.
Randy


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## Platdigger (Mar 21, 2008)

After thinking about this some more.

Since bismuth is more like lead than mercury, in the sense that bismuth will actually form alloys with different metals, you have the problem of seperating the bismuth from not only the gold, but the other metals as well.

What I am getting at is this, say you have just two metals you are dealing with.

Copper and gold, for instance.

When you take up the bismuth in nitric, you take up the copper also.

So unless you controll the ph to selectively precipitate each metal.....

What I am getting at is this, it seems this could become more complicated than it is worth for say, scrap proccessing.

That is if you want to continue to recycle the bismuth.

Which is also the only way this would be economic.
I hope I am wrong here.

Lou......could you desrcibe the method you would use bismuth with, for doing assays?
Randy


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## Platdigger (Mar 21, 2008)

OK, I found this patent for using bismuth for fire assaying.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5279644.html


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## Lou (Mar 21, 2008)

Looks like I'm good at guessing. I just saw the melting point and the crystalline structure and I made an educated guess on it being bismuth (puts feather in cap, woot!)


Ok, so let me clear a few things up here:

bismuth sucks to dissolve in nitric acid, been there done that. If you do dissolve it, make sure you use dilute nitric acid! Conc. nitric acid you just get a bunch of crappy bismuth oxides. Dilute nitric and you'll get that white powder (actually the oxynitrate Randy) and some equilibrium amount of bismuth.

Oh, keep perchlorates and perchloric acid away from bismuth--it forms strong and *highly* unstable percussion explosives.

The whole idea with using it instead of lead is a.) it's oxides won't kill you; in fact, they're really pretty looking! b.) it's on par with collecting gold, silver, Pt, and Pd, melts at lower temp. with lower vapour pressure. 
For an assay, you want to make sure you buy pure bismuth! 

Here's a good source:
http://www.lmine.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=bismuth


Treat it just like you would lead, except I think magnesia is the cupel of choice, not bone ash/phosphate.


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## pilotdan (Mar 25, 2008)

That 1 pound of Bismuth sold for $108 plus shipping on eBay. :shock:


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## Platdigger (Mar 25, 2008)

WOW! So there is gold in Bismuth!....

Now to find a bi deposit.......
Randy


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## Anonymous (Mar 25, 2008)

I notice they are selling zinc powder also, maybe, it is a variation of the Parkes process and you never actually dissolve the Bismuth.


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## NobleMetalsRecovery (Mar 26, 2008)

I'm jumping in here just to get in the loop. About 5 years ago I got to thinking that gold could safely be recovered using bismuth. I even purchased a few pounds of it (cheap) on eBay and did a couple of experiments. I didn't get too far with it. I remember speaking with someone that was using bismuth for his assays instead of lead. I still to this day purchase magnesia cupels as a carry over from that time. The magnesia cupel is needed for using bismuth when doing an assay. Some else has already mentioned that fact in this thread.

One time I separately melted some gold and melted some zinc and mixed them together. Then I dissolved the zinc in HCL to recover the gold. It worked fine. I thought the same might work with bismuth, but I never took it any further.

One other time I remember melting zinc and gold separately and the instant I put them together it all when up in a puff of smoke, it looked like you had just ignited some gun powder. POOF! It must make a difference which metal you add in a molten state to the other metal. I think it when POOF when I added the molten gold to the molten zinc.


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## Anonymous (Mar 26, 2008)

Yes, it is difficult to add zinc to high temp metals because its vapor temp/pressure is so low the white puff is zinc oxide.


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## NobleMetalsRecovery (Mar 26, 2008)

ALL the gold went with it also.


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## carasoph (Mar 27, 2008)

My fellow refiners,

After searching and researching this Bismuth issue, I found out that the element is NOT that safe as it appears - both on E-bay, and on other forums...
Though there are no KNOWN fatalities from Bismuth poisoning, it may cause sever effects on the human body such as:
*** Skin Rash
*** Massive loss of weight
*** Ingestion problems
*** Disorientation
*** Respiratory problems
*** Nassal problems

These effects can be caused by INHALING and INGESTING Bismuth.


If any of you is considering using Bismuth for his recovering methods, please make sure you use a protective breathing mask - an industial type...


As for the Zinc proccess;
It DOES matter which metal you add to the other....after cosoulting with a friend, who is a chemist, he did mention that Zinc has the tendency to ignit when mixed with a HOTTER substence, and therefor should be mixed under 2 conditions:
1. The temperatures of the 2 metals should NOT have more the 10% diference.
2. The Zinc should be added TO the other metal (the same as mixing acid with water...)


I hope this information helps you...


caramon


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## skyline27 (Mar 27, 2008)

Does anyone have any experience with this "amalgamite". I'm dieing to know. It seems to fall into the to good to be true category.


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## rainmaker (Apr 23, 2008)

I found this information on his Ebay store and I quote it here:

UPDATE on Amalgamite... Today we ran some ore that is known to carry gold through the Amalgamite, and put the Amalgamite in 70% nitric acid... We now have gold in beaker... (gold in hand so to say). The process does work... We have a beaker on heat with 30% nitric acid, and one with 50% nitric acid, and the Amalgaite is slowly dissolving... With 70% nitric acid, we achieved this in a matter of 30 minutes, dropping gold at the natural purity of 22k. All you skeptics that say it can't be done take heed, the process works, and is trademarked, and we are going for patent It's pending. we cannot patent *Bismuth*, but we can patent the Amalgamite Process, and only those that buy our process will benefit the results, because we will not reveal all of the process in our descriptions.
There is a way to reteive the silver, and a way to get the Amalgamite back to reuse, and this you will have to figure out yourself unless you buy the process and materials from us.................................................

UPDATE!!!

The 30% nitric acid is working fine... A customer sent me some pins to test, and another some black sands, and yet another raw ore, and it is pulling the gold, as I have gold floating on top of the solution... You can make this yourself by putting 1 cup of water in an old coffee pot, add the sulfuric acid (found at ace in the professional plumbing cleaners), then add sodium nitrate (over heat) and keep adding until no more will dissolve, pour off into another container for use. It may freeze on the bottom, but you just use that for the next batch...If you don't add the water, it does not seem to work as well... It need the water to start the oxidation

Please note that in the first paragraph it is referred to as Bismuth(emphasis added)
Rainmaker :shock:


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## pilotdan (Apr 23, 2008)

I think that this process, should it work, is still too much work compared to other methods. May cost more too.


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