# Platinum recovery



## Harold_V (Apr 24, 2007)

Through the years I received platinum in various forms. It's difficult to avoid when you refine for jewelers, or if you refine dental gold. 

Hoke's book details the processing of platinum, which is rather interesting to observe, and easily accomplished. 

For those of you that may have never seen the process, I have attached a photo in which you'll see a small bottle of yellow/orange salt, chloroplatinic acid, platinum precipitated with ammonium chloride. The second bottle represents the platinum salt that has been calcined, and the third bottle contains a tiny platinum button. 

In front, to the left, there is a coil of platinum ----which is the first lot of platinum I recovered. It was a small button that weighed roughly 4 grams, and was rolled to a length of about 16". The button to the right is platinum as well, and weighs approximately 1.15 ounces. 

Harold


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## lazersteve (Apr 24, 2007)

Great Post, 

How much Platinum is there in the photo all together?


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## Fever (Apr 24, 2007)

Very nice stuff Harold!

What were your original sources for the metal?

Fever


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## goldsilverpro (Apr 24, 2007)

You were a wise man, Harold, for shooting all those photos. I regret not having done the same.


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## Harold_V (Apr 24, 2007)

lazersteve said:


> Great Post,
> 
> How much Platinum is there in the photo all together?



It would be difficult to judge with precision. The salts, when calcined, are reduced substantially in volume. It would take approximately three or four times the contents of the salts to equal one of the contents of calcined salts, or platinum sponge. The sponge, when melted undergoes a corresponding shrinkage. I never attempted to determine a conversion weight, the samples were simply saved as a memento of my refining years. 

I weighed the ribbon and large button with a large Troemner beam scale for the sake of conversation, so the weights are approximate, not precise. 

Having said that, I would estimate that the total weight would be slightly greater than 1½ troy ounces.

Harold


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## Harold_V (Apr 24, 2007)

Fever said:


> Very nice stuff Harold!
> 
> What were your original sources for the metal?
> 
> Fever



The sources were wide and varied. I accumulated roughly 75 ounces of platinum and 75 ounces of palladium in slightly more than 21 years

For the most part, I simply accumulated the PG metals as traces. Often the amount recovered from a given process was so small that it was recovered in the stock pot, with no idea of the amount. If you read my comments on platinum group metals recovery, or if you've studied Hoke's book, you'll understand that these metals behave very differently than do silver and gold, each of which can be totally recovered easily. 

The traces in question were very common in refining jewelers bench wastes, even if they didn't specialize in working platinum. White crowns on jewelry are typically gold, but there is the occasional palladium one that comes along, as well as the occasional palladium ring. The traces from filing, setting stones, and polishing show up in their waste------plus there's always the odd duck that will cast jewelry from recovered dental scrap, which almost always contains the platinum group. Considering the cost of platinum group assays, these metals were generally lost to the original owner, for the cost of determining their presence exceeded their value in almost all cases. 

One of the sources of platinum that I have yet to see discussed is platinum spark plugs. Could be they've been mentioned, and I haven't read the post. Early on I managed to corner such plugs from aircraft. The center electrode varied from maker to maker, but there was a rod that weighed roughly a grain in each plug, plus the ground electrode, which also varied from maker to maker. Plugs were an excellent source of platinum. Harvesting the values, for me, was simple, and it helped provide a needed resource for the stock pot. Scrap steel. Being a machinist, I parted the ground electrodes off, leaving a generous amount of material to insure total platinum recovery. The steel goes into solution, leaving behind the values, which were then gathered, dried and later processed in my tilting furnace for recovery. 

I also processed the odd bit of lab ware that might come along. I offered an exchange of pt group metals for gold to my customers so when they had a reasonable amount, they got value in return, but in a form that was useable to them. . 

Harold


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## Harold_V (Apr 24, 2007)

goldsilverpro said:


> You were a wise man, Harold, for shooting all those photos. I regret not having done the same.



The photo posted was shot for the post. Where I showed good sense was saving the samples those many years ago. I realized that it was a part of my history. I have few accomplishments in my many years, for I'm nothing more than a common man without an education. I felt that my accomplishment in learning to refine, and ending up with a viable business that was never planned, was noteworthy, at least to myself. 

I also was constantly fascinated by the processes involved, and can safely say I still am----although I no longer apply any of them. Having the samples on hand is a wonderful way to review my history, and to keep my mind sharp in the ways of refining. I often recall exactly how or why the sample in question came to be. 

I have many more samples that I will display in good time. Palladium, various gold samples, including placer and nuggets. Ores, showing gold clearly, and even some huge silver crystals. The odd large crystal grows in a silver cell, but a friend, now deceased, went out of his way to grow silver crystals. I have one that weighs about two troy ounces. 

The refining game, for those of us that are filled with curiosity, is an endless source of amusement and amazement. 

Harold


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## Fever (Apr 24, 2007)

Harold_V said:


> Fever said:
> 
> 
> > Very nice stuff Harold!
> ...



Spark plugs, in addition to automobile oxygen sensors, are definitely two easily acquired sources for Pt. You had an awesome method for recovery, Harold! Killed two birds with one stone.

Another good source for Pt is in multi gas meter sensors. I work in the marine oil spill cleanup business, so I save all of the scrap gas sensors that we routinely retire for new ones. Not quite sure how to disassemble them properly yet for the Pt, but I'm working on it. For now, they are happy in my 5 gallon bucket awaiting attention  

Fever


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## Tambabyg (May 1, 2017)

Do you have a business that includes the ability to get platinum and extract it from spark plugs? I have roughly 2000 of them and I do not know ho to get the platinum out. Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you
Tambabyg


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## kjavanb123 (Jun 25, 2017)

Tambabyg said:


> Do you have a business that includes the ability to get platinum and extract it from spark plugs? I have roughly 2000 of them and I do not know ho to get the platinum out. Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thank you
> Tambabyg


Hi

Do you still have these? Where are you located?


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