# Converting Gold, Silver to Powder



## Anonymous (Jun 26, 2008)

Hi all!

I am very new to this and do not have a great deal of knowledge, so I hope you will understand.

I have gold granules that I would like to convert into Powder Gold which I will use in my art.

Is there a method which I can use that allows me to do so?

Cheers!
b1llyb0y


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## Lou (Jun 26, 2008)

Yes. Invest in a ball mill.

It is probably best if you use alumina media for grinding.



Lou


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## Anonymous (Jun 26, 2008)

Hi Lou,

Thanks for the reply, do you know of any Suppliers that sell small home versions?

Cheers!


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## crazyboy (Jun 26, 2008)

You could loose a good deal of gold in a a ball mill and a nice one with media isn't cheap. Why don't you just dissolve it in aqua regia or bleach/HCl and precipitate with SMB?


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## Rag and Bone (Jun 26, 2008)

Crazyboy, 

If you did it like that it would just be brown powder.


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## Irons (Jun 27, 2008)

It might be easier to sell the Gold and by some gold leaf. You will get a lot more surface area coverage for the money.


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## Anonymous (Jun 27, 2008)

Thanks for the idea, but I much rather have the gold powder for what I wish to do.

Can anyone recommend what media I should use in a ball mill?

Cheers,

b1lly


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## Lou (Jun 27, 2008)

Alumina.


I purchased the red ball mill (2nd from bottom) a while back:
http://unitednuclear.com/mills.htm

and it works excellently with bismuth, lead, and alumina media.

You will not lose any material in a ball mill. Even when I mop spilled gold chloride with a towel, it really isn't lost, I can burn the towel if I really want (or let it dry and use it again! that's my M.O.).


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## Buzz (Jun 27, 2008)

Hi Lou,

Do you think one of those would cope with ceramic cpus?

Regards
Buzz


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## Lou (Jun 27, 2008)

Absolutely! The alumina is very, very hard. I've ballmilled some pretty hard things. It'll grind up sand (SiO2) into a super fine fluffy powder.


A friend of mine up in Michigan does something quite similar with his PC stuff, he ballmills it to a fine powder. He posts here as scwiers. Sam's got the right idea in my opinion! Grind it up, then either cyanide treat or perhaps try the ol' chlorox-HCl + rotating barrel. I bought a glass-lined barrel once for just such a purpose, well it was also pretty cheap. Never got to using it because I don't touch electronics nor do I really mess with concentrates either (not enough money for the work!). Also, I don't have the supply chain. If I could get 20K lbs on a weekly basis I would certainly think about investing the time and effort into chasing the gold from PCs and electronics.


Lou


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## crazyboy (Jun 27, 2008)

I have one of those "ball mills" with lead media they are shit. They work but VERY VERY slowly and at outrageous prices they are just standard rock tumblers with a united nuclear sticker on them. On ebay as rock tumblers for $30


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## cerise (Jun 30, 2008)

Can I use SMB as a precipitant in Aqua Regia .


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## Smitty (Jul 1, 2008)

SMB will work for gold. Make sure you neutralize the nitric with urea first.


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## cerise (Jul 1, 2008)

I bought my Urea from the feed mill it has a number 46-0-0 on it im wondering if this will work.I guess ill have to test the PH .If the nitric isnt neutralized what will happen to the gold .


O and Lou ,Hi im Cerise ,If you dont mind me askin ,what is it you Chase?


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## Anonymous (Jul 3, 2008)

I found a place here in Australia that deals with goldleaf, If you are interested its http://www.goldleaf.com.au

Cheers!



Irons said:


> It might be easier to sell the Gold and by some gold leaf. You will get a lot more surface area coverage for the money.


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## rpm629 (Jul 4, 2008)

crazyboy said:


> I have one of those "ball mills" with lead media they are shit. They work but VERY VERY slowly and at outrageous prices they are just standard rock tumblers with a united nuclear sticker on them. On ebay as rock tumblers for $30



Or at Harbor Freight. $21 for a single and $39 for a double...


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## Smitty (Jul 6, 2008)

46-0-0 urea from feed mill is ok to use, if you find that it has foreign material in it, you can dissolve the urea in water and filter out the material then use it to neutralize the nitric. Add small amounts of the urea until it stops fizzing when added. That is a good indication that nitric has been successfully reduced. 

Having additional nitric in Aqua regia will not do anything to the gold, it will waste your smb because it would take you a lot of smb until the nitric is used then the gold will begin to precipitate out. Actually, I think Hoke did explain that nitric will redissolve the gold when it precipitates when not neutralized. I have to go back and read that chapter again to verify that though. But the main idea is to neutralize the nitric in order to easily precipitate the gold. Hokes book has helped me a lot.


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## Anonymous (Jul 7, 2008)

Hi Lou,

I have just purchased a small ball mill from eBay, I have placed some Thick Silver Ribbon in (cut up in pieces) and placed 30 chrome ball bearings (8mm) in and it does not seem to do much after running for 2 days?

Is there something I am doing wrong? I cannot get any ceramic grinding media here in Australia, such as what that nuclear place sells..

I'd appreciate any help.



Lou said:


> Yes. Invest in a ball mill.
> 
> It is probably best if you use alumina media for grinding.
> 
> ...


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## Lou (Jul 7, 2008)

If you're using thick material it will take a long time. Don't expect instantaneous results with a ball mill, especially when milling something like silver or gold, both of which are quite soft. Your best in my opinion is to use silver shavings or grindings, only then will you see it take effect.


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