# Question concerning smelting gold plated/karat gold



## Anonymous (Oct 31, 2008)

Hello,
First of all I would like to say thank you for the great wealth of information from all of the posters/admin on this board. Although this is my first post I have spent a lot of time reading and doing research.

I originally got into refining when I had an access of black sand with lots of gold flake and flour in it. The refining process for that was relatively easy with the right flux and a furnace. My next expenditure was to snag any scrap gold I could find, mostly plated and some karat, in order to further refine the gold and possibly cast it into molds for investment purposes or if the gold prices was good some sales.

My questions are regarding the process of refining these plate/karat items. I have roughly 5 lbs of materials, at first like a nub I thought that I would be able to smelt the materials with fluxes to refine the gold to a salable state. After much reading and research, again much thanks to this forum, I realize that smelting is not the way to go. Well, at least not until I have refined the gold. The AR process scares me a bit although I am open to the idea. I just hate the thought of using acids. The amagamite product recently available looked promising but most of the info I have read on it seems to be people having problems and not results. I have thought about purchasing a pre-made system for AR but from what I have read it sounds as though most of you are saying that is a money sink. So I am left with lots of materials and a will to get the gold out of them.

If I could trouble you for the safest (time is not a factor) way to refine this gold to a 23k+ state your information would be much appreciated. I live in Burlington Ontario, not sure if there are any supply stores anyone would know about in the area or folks already refining that I could pick their brains =)

On a side note from what I understand if I were to melt the plated material it would just make it that much more difficult to refine the gold from correct? The reason I ask is that much of it is very small heavily plated materials that be much handled much easier if it were not so small. Thanks in advance and I look forward to your wise info =)

Brent


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## Harold_V (Oct 31, 2008)

Brent,

Unless one is processing ores, one does not smelt, one melts. It helps to use correct terminology so others don't get the wrong impression, and assures that the use of improper terminology is not continually propagated. 

If you intend to make an omelet, you must break a few eggs, so you won't be able to avoid the use of chemicals if you intend to process precious metals. There are many work-arounds that can be used, each of which eliminates the need to buy a given (commercially prepared) acid, but I know of no method for eliminating chemicals if refining is your objective. You correctly concluded that you can not raise the quality of values by melting alone. 

Do not set a goal of 23+K for your metals. Unless you can achieve industry standard, your chance of selling for spot are not good. If you can produce gold of good quality, it is within reason that you can sell to manufacturing jewelers for spot----and in turn have them become customers. it can be done, but it may not be easy. 

Do not invest in closed systems. You will be held hostage by the manufacturer, with no real benefits. There's nothing a kit can do for you that you can't do for yourself by reading this forum, learning the ins and outs of refining. You would also do yourself a huge favor by acquiring Hoke's book---which, I'm sure you have seen mentioned time and again. If you do not become familiar with terminology and the ways to identify various values, you will have no end to questions that are not necessary to ask. Get Hoke's book and start reading, even if you don't apply the old, accepted methods of refining.

You are correct in assuming it is not wise to melt gold plated objects. Unless they are used for added metal in processing karat gold, once you divide the gold finely by melting, it is difficult to remove from solutions once the base metals are eliminated. There are methods for removing the plating without attacking the base metals, which can be then sold for scrap value. 

If you intend to process karat gold, the use of silver for added metal in inquartation is advised over copper alloys. It is much easier to dissolve than copper, so it has financial advantages, and often serves double duty. A great deal revolves around your objective, however, so it may not be right for you. As you read and learn from Hoke, you will find that silver becomes the carrier of platinum and palladium, and is impossible to avoid due to being very much a part of yellow, green and rose colored gold alloys. 

Welcome to the forum.

Harold


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## Ignatz61 (Oct 31, 2008)

I have been using a sulfuric stripping cell I made from one of lasersteve's videos. He shows step by step and it is very easy.
I have stripped 2, 7lb batches of gold plated parts, I even stripped some cell phone circuit boards jus to see what would happen, 
The first batch I did not follow steves instructions to the tee and it cost me. I got .5grams of gold, the second similar batch I got 4 grams of gold! And still I left a few small beads in the crucible. 

So I would strip the plated stuff in a cell and then add that gold to the rest and refine as karat gold as described in many places here or in Hokes book.
Harold is very wise, listen to him. You will need to deal with some chemicals but you can work around some of the scary ones to some degree.
john


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## Anonymous (Nov 3, 2008)

Thanks for the replies. I will make sure to use the correct terminology when melting =) I picked up the materials for the acid cell. I will let you know how it goes. Thanks again for the help!

Brent


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## butcher (Nov 4, 2008)

Which ever process you chose, maybe start off small batch's till ya get the hang of it, only processing what you might not care to lose, maybe starting off with plated scrap, saving karat gold till you have little under your belt
dont throw away anything keeping stock pots 
you can always get your gold back as long as its in something
you can always sell your karat as is, if its not refined pure it wont be worth any more than it is now.
study the processes well and do alot of reading on forum and hokes 
study the saftey and how to dispose of solutions properly.
ask questions after you cant find a solution to problems


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