# New machine safely and easily recovers PGMs from converters



## platinumill (Apr 3, 2007)

The Platinumill is a recovery machine designed to do up to 150# of spent auto catalyst material for the purposes of extracting the PGMs. Platinumill.com


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## aflacglobal (May 7, 2007)

Platinum,

please tell me this isn't you. :shock:


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## platinumill (May 7, 2007)

nope,what is that,and why?


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## aflacglobal (May 7, 2007)

Detailed Product Description

Hell if i know.

Goldenboy rotary separator. 

Gravity seperation of gold, silver, platinum gold bearing ores. A simple and effective gold recovery system for fine gold down to micron size. We sell a machine that has a recovery rate up to 96% and size of recovery 1/4 inch to microscopic. 

If you're tired of loosing gold, silver, platinum, or rare earth, you need to get a goldenboy. Each goldenboy barrel can process up to 5 tons of raw material per hour or up to 3 tons per hour of concentrate. We build single units as pictured above. Powered via electic or gas. We build trailer mounted units, double units, and customized units. We build the machine you need to do the job efficently and productively. Go to our website and take a look at the goldenboy and the various forms it can take.


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## aflacglobal (May 7, 2007)

I just noticed it looked like your setup.  

Company Profile
Company Name: GoldenBoy Inc. 
Country/Territory: United States 
Address: 1013 N. Burns Rd., Spokane, Washington, United States 
Products/Services We Offer: Gold and mineral recovery machine, singles, trailer mounted, doubles and customized machines 
Business Type: Manufacturer 
Industry Focus: Mining Machinery , Rare Earth & Products , 
Geographic Markets: North America 
No. of Employees: Less than 5 People 
Annual Sales Range (USD): Below US$1 Million 
Year Established: 1996 
Legal Representative/CEO: David Cleary


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## platinumill (May 13, 2007)

That picture that you linked me to(Doc1.doc) did not look likr the Platinumill at all. I'll check out your web though, sounds interesting


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## aflacglobal (May 13, 2007)

It ain't my web. !!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:


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## aflacglobal (May 13, 2007)

Buy the way platinum , e mail me some information on your products.
I'm setting up a web site in the near future. It's all about raw gold, But you never know ? I might be able to help. It's no sweat off my back. I would like to see how it works to.

Thanks,
Ralph


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## platinumill (May 13, 2007)

, well you can be misleading in your words sometimes. It's hard to determine sarcasim when you are reading and can't see or hear your words. I'm pretty strait forward when I write in posts, but anyways, heres a little more info on the Platinumill...

The Platinumill is an electrolytic ion exchange chemical leaching process. The solution disolves the PGM ions and carries them to an electrolytic cell. The PGM ions are plated in the cell(leaching resins) The solution continues running through the converter material disolving more ions and then plating them out in the cell. The machine itself is callibrated for optimal effiniency. Temperature, electrical current, agitation, solution strength, and time are all very crucial factors with this process. A proper fire assay should be done with every batch to determine some of these critical factors(solution strength and time)

The Platinumill also has an exhaust system to minimize the fumes created while running the machine. Average time running the machine is about 10 hours.


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## aflacglobal (May 13, 2007)

Sorry about that platinum. They keep me on so many drugs nowadays,
That i don't know if I'm coming or going. Some times i even think i have A.D.D. It's hard for me to articulate sometimes.
I was trying to offer you a little free exposure. You said you were just starting out with the marketing. Just thought i would try and help. I know how it is try to get things going in the beginning of a new venture.

Thanks,
Ralph.


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## goldsilverpro (May 13, 2007)

One thing that's always bothered me about leaching autocats is the rhodium. Rhodium won't dissolve in anything that I know of except fused salts or hot chlorine gas in a sealed tube. Is the rhodium in the remaining 15% that you ship?


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## aflacglobal (May 13, 2007)

Well let me see. First don't even worry about all that platinum. Here's what you do. Put it all in five gallon sealed buckets. Then mail it to me for the proper disposal. Yeah, Right.   :shock:   

Now that is a good question GSP. Me and platinum were having a previous discussion about the disposal of these waste products. 
Now if the Rhodium
( which is the highest of precious metals and in the platinum group. )
Did not dissolve from the ( I assume ) aqua Regia ( i don't know the process the platinum mill uses ) , Then it would still be attached to the raw processing material ?
I can't really say where it might be.

Platinum. Post us some info on your machine. I went to Platinummill.com , all i found was a bunch of banner ads. lol 
But doesn't Hot Sulfuric ( oil of vitriol ) acid break down Rhodium's solubility ?

Rhodium metal is, as a noble metal, inert.
However, when rhodium is chemically bound, it is reactive. Rhodium compounds are not often encountered by most people and should be considered to be highly toxic and carcinogenic. Lethal intake (LD50) for rats is 12.6 mg/kg of rhodium chloride (RhCl3). 
Rhodium compounds can stain human skin very strongly. This element plays no biological role in humans. Be careful

Ralph


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## goldsilverpro (May 13, 2007)

You've really been an asset to this forum, Ralph. Good to have you around.

No single mineral acid or aqua regia will dissolve Rhodium. Rhodium powder will dissolve in hot concentrated sulfuric acid or conc. sulfuric plus HCl. I assume the rhodium in cats would be in the powder form.

A company I worked for sold rhodium sulfate plating solutions. You can also buy them from jewelry suppliers. I don't remember them being particularly dangerous. The LD50 is about .9 grams for a 160# person. That's quite a bit. That would be about 200 mL of the plating solution.

A lot of the super shiny costume jewelry is rhodium plated. You could probably use the HCl, HCl + H2O2, or HCl + bleach to dissolve the base metals and collect the flakes.

There's a really nasty PGM compound I once heard of. I think it's a form of osmium chloride but it may be iridium chloride. Anyway, it evaporates easily and deposits metal on the lens of your eye, making you blind.


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## aflacglobal (May 13, 2007)

Dam, sounds like a chicken eating Styrofoam. 

:? :? :? O.M.G. :? :? :? 

GSP , You looking for a job ? :wink: 
wish i knew all this stuff. Hey , but i am learning. Some of this might fit into my master plan Yet. :twisted:

An investment in knowledge always pays the best
interest. (The Great B.F.)

Ralph


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## jimdoc (May 13, 2007)

I would think the rhodium should seperate from the honeycomb material when the palladium and platinum go into solution. I don't know what the CLS is but action minings dvd says that their system will work with aqua regia or cyanide also. The solution is heated and run through the cat material and then runs through a precipitation tank with carbon plates and stainless steel plates to collect the metals by electrolysis. When the solution is pregnant (full) you can then run the solution through just the precipitation tank and not the columns with the cat material since the material is then spent. It takes longer for the electrolysis to get the metal out of solution than its going into solution.
I plan on building my own setup, just need the power supply and a few other little things.
One thing I am not sure of, if any of you have seen Action Minings DVD or seen their catalog; The leaching columns that hold the cat material have the CLS solution being pumped into the bottom of the first column, then there is a tube that runs down to the bottom of the next column and I don't understand how the solution will go through all the columns without going out the top of the column which is vented. Is that gravity keeping it flowing like that? I can't seem to understand how the solution will drop down the tube into the next column, and then go up through the next column, actually all 4 columns and then into the precipitation tank. Then it will overflow into the holding tank were it is pumped back through the system.
Actually this can be done in a bucket also on a smaller scale. They sell theirs for $500 but that can be done on your own as well.
Jim


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## Anonymous (Jan 29, 2009)

do a yahoo search and you will probably pull-up info on it being a scam and fradulant practices. based in Ohio.


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## Lou (Jan 30, 2009)

Yes, the platinum mill and its deficiencies have been hashed out here on the forum. 

I think we knew before most.



As an addendum--GSP mentioned a compound that deposits metal into the eye. Just figured I should clear that up--it's either OsO4 or RuO4, both of which are extremely toxic, highly volatile compounds (high vapor pressure), that are potent oxidizing agents.


Lou


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## Harold_V (Jan 31, 2009)

Lou said:


> As an addendum--GSP mentioned a compound that deposits metal into the eye. Just figured I should clear that up--it's either OsO4 or RuO4, both of which are extremely toxic, highly volatile compounds (high vapor pressure), that are potent oxidizing agents.


Yet another reason to have a copy of Hoke's book. She discusses that issue. 

Harold


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## lazersteve (Jan 31, 2009)

The PGM compound that causes this blindness is Osmium Tetroxide. 


Osmium Tetroxide


Steve


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## Lou (Jan 31, 2009)

AND RuO4. 

I have worked with both of these compounds and can tell you that OsO4 is worse from its capacity to cause blindness, but RuO4 is way more volatile and boils a bit near blood temperature. It is also the more toxic of the two.
in *C OsO4  RuO4
mp 41 25
bp 130 40

Both of these tetroxides are very easy to identify, but if you're not very careful, you probably won't be able to see the identifying test!


If anyone wants to see, I can post a picture of some OsO4 ampoules so you all know what it looks like. I also have a small piece of bubble wrap that I had wrapped up a bottle of OsO4 in that I affectionately call the "bubble wrap of death" as it has been completely metallised with a thin black layer of metallic osmium.

It takes only milligrams of this material to coat the eyes and mucous membranes with a film. It also does that to lungs thereby leading to a slow and really painful death.


Lou


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## qst42know (Jan 31, 2009)

Of course we would like to see this material.

It is prefered to see the photos than it is to see it only once in person :wink: 

Post away!


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## Lou (Feb 9, 2009)

Edited:

This is a good site with great information on it:

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/oso4/oso4v.htm


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## JustinNH (Feb 12, 2009)

love the smiley face. 8) 
Interesting topic, thanks for the pics


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## SilverFox (Feb 12, 2009)

You have very attractive hands.

:lol:


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## qst42know (Feb 12, 2009)

I'll take a guess.

If there weren't so damn much of it I would say the red compound is diammonium hexachloroplatinate just like in Steve's DVD. 

Sorry Steve I couldn't resist :wink: :lol: 

Very impressive Lou. What's it weigh?


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## Noxx (Feb 12, 2009)

Same guess than qst42know.


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## Platdigger (Feb 12, 2009)

I think it's a beer......


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## Lou (Feb 13, 2009)

Answers from left to right:

125g or so of 99,999 AgNO3
500g of potassium dichromate (if it were ammonium hexachloroplatiante, it would be canary yellow)



Thanks for the comment about my hands. You know, before I was a chemist, I was a hand model for chemical gloves  (Not really)


And Randy, I have better lab hygiene than that! I could sure use a cold one after some of these days I've had lately, but not in the lab.


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## qst42know (Feb 13, 2009)

I need to watch that DVD several more times.


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## lazersteve (Feb 13, 2009)

On the Pt DVD the Platinum ammonium chloride that I precipitated was a red orange color. The platinum was from a dental crown. A second refining would have likely produced a more yellow colored powder as seen in the youtube video slide show I posted. In this video the platinum salt was very nearly canary yellow.



Hoke pg 120 said:


> The color will range from canary yellow through orange to a deep maroon. Do not be surprised if the shade is different every time; it depends upon the temperature at which it forms, the impurities present, and other factors as well.



If Rhodium is present it can even have a tint of green. 

Steve


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