# Good Technique For Refining Gold?



## Gr33nday43 (Aug 12, 2008)

WARNING

* The processes contained herein entail the use of high heat, and very dangerous acids, and must be performed in a well ventilated area. Always use mercury, sulfuric acid, Hydrochloric and nitric acid in a well-ventilated area. DO NOT breathe the fumes.
* Fumes from many ores are deadly when heated.
* Nitric acid can be absorbed through the skin causing nitric acid poisoning. WEAR RUBBER ACID GLOVES. Always add acid to water, NEVER ADD WATER TO ACID!
* Aqua regia, Hydrochloric and nitric acid can kill if swallowed.
* Nitric acid can ruin your clothes and shoes.
* Always wear rubber gloves, plastic safety glasses and a plastic or rubber apron.
* When adding aqua regia to ore, there can be a red gas given off; THIS RED GAS WILL KILL!
* Sometimes the ore will bubble over, so watch it carefully.
* Use the aqua regia in an open area and add it to the ore very slowly. Aqua regia cannot be boiled or simmered in the house or where it is not well ventilated. This can cause serious illness or KILL YOU!
* Use a vent hood with an exhaust fan or simmer in the open.
* Hydrochloric acid is very dangerous. It can burn to the bone and is extremely painful. In most cases, it has burned before you know it.
* Aqua regia can ruin your clothes and shoes.

IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND ALL OF THE ABOVE WARNINGS, DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER!
EQUIPMENT USED

* Pyrex Beaker container
* Hot plate
* Plastic spoon for stirring or a glass rod can be used
* Squeeze bottle, such as a soap bottle, containing distilled spring water for washing the beaker
* Ash-free or a coffee filter (An ash-free filter best, but it costs more and is harder to find)
* A plastic funnel with strainer to use to filter the bottle or beaker

INGREDIENTS USED

* Gold or finely powdered ore (100 mesh crushed black sand, ore, etc.)
* Hydrochloric acid
* Nitric acid
* Formic acid
* Sodium sulfite
* Distilled water
* Uniodized salt

HOW TO USE AQUA REGIA TO PURIFY GOLD
1. Place your gold or finely powdered ore in a Pyrex container or beaker.
2. Mix 1 part nitric acid to 3 parts hydrochloric acid in a separate glass or plastic container. When mixing the acids together, use great caution!
3. Add the acid mixture, very slowly, to the Pyrex container or beaker containing the ore.
4. On a stove or hot plate, simmer until the gold is in solution and the nitric acid is boiled off. It Will look like maple syrup and be a yellowish to orange color.
5. To make sure all the nitric acid has been boiled off, add a small amount of formic acid. If nitric acid is present, a reddish brown gas will be given off. Add hydrochloric acid, if necessary, to keep the material covered with liquid. Continue simmering until the nitric acid is gone.
6. Filter off any solids that are not in solution through a plastic strainer or funnel lined with a filter. Neutralize this material with lime juice and discard.
7. Add to the liquid solution an equal amount of water.
8. Drop a small amount of uniodized table salt into the mixture to check for silver. If silver is present, a white substance will fall to the bottom of the container. This is silver chloride. Continue dropper small amounts of salt in until the silver chloride stops falling.
9. Filter off the silver chloride through a plastic.
10. strainer or funnel lined with an ash-free or coffee filter. DO NOT DISPOSE OF THE ACID SOLUTION, SET IT ASIDE!
11. Rinse the filter containing silver chloride with water.
12. Dry the filter and silver chloride.
13. Place the filter and silver chloride in a clay crucible and burn the filter by lighting a match to it.
14. Cover the silver chloride and burned filter with soda ash.
15. Place the crucible in a furnace or oven and heat to a temperature of 2100 degrees F until the silver is a smooth honey-like liquid with no lumps in it.
16. Immediately pour the silver into a mold or let it set in the crucible until it is cool.
17. Remove the silver and wash with soap and water.
18. Take the solution that you had set aside (see step 9) and add a little sodium sulfite. The gold will start to fall. Continue to add the sodium sulfite until the gold stops falling. You should see black specks that look like pepper. This is gold sulfide.
19. Filter off the gold sulfide through a plastic strainer or funnel lined with a filter.
20. Rinse the filter containing gold sulfide with water.
21. Dry the filter containing gold sulfide.
22. Put the filter and gold sulfide into a clay crucible and burn the filter by lighting a match to it.
23. Cover the gold sulfide and burned filter with borax and place the crucible in a furnace or oven and heat to 1950 degrees F until the gold is a smooth, honey-like liquid with no lumps in it.
24. Immediately, pour the gold into a mold or let it set in the crucible until it is cool.
25. Remove the gold and wash with soap and water.
26. Add 1/4 cup lime juice to the acid mixture to neutralize it and dispose of it immediately.


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## Lou (Aug 12, 2008)

I don't even know where to begin with this...


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## goldsilverpro (Aug 12, 2008)

> I don't even know where to begin with this...



LOL. That's the reason I didn't post. It would just take too long. I had a few problems with some of it but everything was wrong from step 18 on. Did you copy that off the internet? If so, let us know where you got it so that we can avoid it.

Seriously, though, I suggest, Gr33, that you study the forum.


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## lazersteve (Aug 12, 2008)

Last time I checked lime juice was acidic, citric acid I seem to recall. You forgot the warning about getting lime juice in your eye, I hate it when that happens (usually when I'm drinking my Corona and lime :wink: )

You can't neutralize acids with other acids. 

All joking aside, I'm hoping he means lime water, aka calcium hydroxide.

Steve


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## NuggetHuntingFool (Aug 12, 2008)

I could swear this stuff came from a YouTube video. I could be wrong but it's eerily familiar.


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## Gr33nday43 (Aug 12, 2008)

I got it off the internet here:
http://www.mychurch.org/blog/204848/Purifying-HIS-gold


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## Harold_V (Aug 13, 2008)

Gr33nday43 said:


> I got it off the internet here:
> http://www.mychurch.org/blog/204848/Purifying-HIS-gold



One of the most difficult problems I've faced on this forum is dealing with the endless supply of misinformation posted by well meaning, but poorly informed individuals. 

I was likely the first person to read this post----which I did immediately after it was posted. I was speechless. I didn't really know how to respond because a lot of fact is laced with questionable (read that undesirable) information. 

I strongly advise new readers to read this _entire_ forum well *before giving advice of any kind.* There are on this forum people with extensive educations in the field of chemistry, and contributors that have years of practical experience in the refining field. You rarely read anything there that is misleading, and when it is posted, it is generally well dissected and discussed by knowledgeable people, in the hopes that bad information is not propagated. 

My dear Gr33nday43, one of the best things you can do for yourself is get a copy of Hoke's book and read it until it makes sense. You will find a great deal in common with the post you made, but with corrections that will save you considerable grief. 

Welcome to the forum. 

Harold


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## mike.fortin (Aug 13, 2008)

Hafway down on that mychurch link with them step show it copyed from ashworths website hisself. dont gsp belong to that sight? mike.fortin


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## goldsilverpro (Aug 13, 2008)

I belong, but have only posted once or twice and only go on there every few months. Never liked that site. Megan Rose is their "expert". I think her name on there is "gold tutor".


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## Noxx (Aug 13, 2008)

goldsilverpro said:


> I belong, but have only posted once or twice and only go on there every few months. Never liked that site. Megan Rose is their "expert". I think her name on there is "gold tutor".



LOL !


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## mike.fortin (Aug 13, 2008)

gsp i didunt know that. i thouht basment chemest was the smart one over ther. mike.fortin


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## Shaul (Aug 13, 2008)

I love the one that said: " Aqua Regia can ruin your clothes and shoes".

I guess if you have no other reason to be cautious when using Aqua Regia, then..........  

Actually, I saw this post early on but realized that in order to answer properly would require at least a page and a half, and I had neither the time nor the energy. Also I couldn't figure out 'where to start'.

Perhaps new members should be urged to first read at least 2,000 assorted posts.

It's only when you know how much you don't know, that it's possible to make an intelligent contribution.

This kind of stuff could almost be classed as SPAM (not the edible kind).


Shaul


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## Rag and Bone (Aug 13, 2008)

I guess I'll quit wearing my sunday best while refining with AR...in a windowless basement. :lol:


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## viacin (Sep 30, 2008)

ha ha ha...wow. I'm sad now, I'm on day 3 in my quest to refine gold. I read this monday, and took it for what it's presented as, fact. I was a couple of days away from buying some beakers untill I found this forum. The lime kinda threw me though..since when did a acid neutrlize a acid? So is any of it truth?


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