# Plattner Process



## Anonymous (Oct 7, 2009)

Hi Guys,
I have been doing some google books reading and one that I found interresting is the "metallurgy of gold" they speak of a plattner process that
appears to use chlorine gas to react with gold in ore to make gold chloride they then leach the gold chloride out with water. I find it currious as I could not find where they were adding any other chemical. The process calls for roasting the ore to break down sulphides and they do preleach oxide metals like copper with sulfuric acid before the chlorine gas is added.

My question for the chemist/pro miners is am I reading right, chlorine gas allone will react with gold in a finely devided state? If this is the case, could I not crush IC chips to dust, remove base metals with HCL/peroxide, bubbler etc, then place the raw material into a sealed container add chlorine gas and let it sit for from the book 60 hours, and then rinse out the gold chloride?

If this is the case, I could do large quanities of ICs without burning them.

I can make chlorine gas as easy as pie and to order so this seems to easy.

thanks
jim


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## Anonymous (Oct 7, 2009)

Lou, GSP, Irons, Harold, were are you?

thanks
jim


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## lazersteve (Oct 7, 2009)

Chlorine gas will react with gold. 

Typically the reaction is done at elevated temperatures or in the presence of aqueous HCl at lower temperature. I don't know the exact temperatures required for the direct chlorination of gold, perhaps someone else does.

I'm hoping I can demonstrate this with my tube furnace once it's finished (almost there  ).

Steve


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## Harold_V (Oct 8, 2009)

The major problem with chlorine extraction is just that----the chlorine. It's not very forgiving if breathed, so it may be beyond the capability of the home refiner. Were that not the case, the Miller chlorine process would be an excellent method for purification. As I recall, thousands of ounce of gold can be brought pure in less than 24 hours by introducing chlorine. 

I'm not convinced that the process will work for e scrap. Note that copper was eliminated prior to the introduction of chlorine when the process was applied to ores. I am of the opinion that as long as you have elemental base metals present, they will immediately precipitate any dissolved gold, so you would achieve success only after the elimination of base metals. 

Harold


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## Anonymous (Oct 8, 2009)

Thanks.

I was planning on getting the base metals first. I just did not want to go into all that (building the reaction camber, & chlorine generator) if the process required something that I had missed or missunderstood while reading it.

Jim


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## Irons (Oct 8, 2009)

There's a video somewhere about the Canadian Mint using this process for a stage of Gold refining. They bubble Chlorine from the bottom of a crucible filled with molten Gold. The Chlorine reacts with base metals. The chlorides that are formed float to the top where they can be skimmed off.

Not something you can do in the Barn.


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## Anonymous (Oct 8, 2009)

Irons,
I think that is the miller process. The one I am interested in involves pumping chlorine gas through roasted ore(for me subsitute ground e-scrap). I have worked out a process to cut the volume of base metals by over 50 percent before starting the primary base metal removal occurs, this also cuts the plastic content by nearly 70 percent so I have a lot less to work with.

I have semi automated the primary step were the legs and excess plastic and traces from the legs are removed. My punch process targets the center 1/3 of the chips were I have found, after sampling over 100 different chips, the primary precious metal content to be.

I live in the country and could incinerate the remaining high graded parts, but that is not a sound practice for me as I would want to build a scrubber for the chlorinated fumes and such. 

I had long ago given up on e-scap, but if I can get a nich process going, and market it, I believe there would be a large market even at a small margin. Think of all the millions and millions of IC chips in every type of electronic thing out there.

My samples came from computers, copiers, faxes, clock radios, fire alarms, cooking timers and all manor of other stuff, nearly every one of the chips contained a precious metal in the center.

I think when worked out fully, I could even approach chip producers for factory waste, etc.

thanks
jim


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## Irons (Oct 8, 2009)

My bad.


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## Anonymous (Oct 8, 2009)

Irons,
Never, ever, your bad.

Jim


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## Oz (Oct 9, 2009)

The Mint refines feed material to 995 fine through the Miller chlorination process. The gold is then cast into anodes which are purified to 9999 fine using the Wohlwill electrolytic process. Every gold bar and wafer is struck with the Royal Canadian Mint hallmark, an internationally recognized guarantee of weight and purity.

http://www.mint.ca/store/mint/about-the-mint/our-services-1200030


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## Platdigger (Oct 9, 2009)

Jim,
are you talking about the "barrel" chlorine method that Ammen makes mention of 
in the front of his second edition?


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## Anonymous (Oct 9, 2009)

Could be the same. I do not have Amens book, just the metallurgy of gold. I am going to do a small batch in a test tube this weekend to see if I can get proof of concept for my e-scrap extraction.

Jim


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## Irons (Oct 9, 2009)

james122964 said:


> Irons,
> Never, ever, your bad.
> 
> Jim



Thanks. :lol: 

I say: " If you can't impress them with the facts, dazzle them with the BS."


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## Palladium (Oct 9, 2009)

Two great quotes from Irons today.
I've used this many times, literally.

If you can't razzle them with your knowledge, dazzle them with your B.S.


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## Kats12 (Oct 9, 2009)

It might work.

During my labwork one reaction was this

2Fe + 3Cl2 → 2FeCl3

The procedure was:

1) In horizontal glass tube place a wessel with Fe dust
2) seal the container with stoppers wich have little glass tube in it.
3) connect 1 end to Cl2 gas generator, and the second to a beaker with NaOH (aq) 
4) heat the Fe with bunsen burner and let the gas flow...
5) collect the FeCl3

but if the Au is contaminated with other metal who knows...


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