# Computer Scrap Problems



## hardrock (Feb 13, 2012)

I have 21 lbs. of computer scrap melted into different size bars sent to me by a friend they're suppose to contain 60% Au, 20% Ag, 10% Pt group, Pb, etc. would like to use Aqua Regia is this possible? used it before on just Au, Ag, and used Sodium Sulfite to drop out Au, muritic acid for Ag. is there a better way?


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## patnor1011 (Feb 13, 2012)

You must find more about material. Do you have access to fire assay? Or some XRF gun?
I never heard about computer scrap which contain 60% Au. And 10% Pt sounds fishy to me too as there is next to nothing of Pt in computer scrap anyway.


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## patnor1011 (Feb 13, 2012)

Few members here have XRF so you can ask if anybody can shoot your material, you can drill few bars, melt samples thoroughly to small button and send it to somebody for scan.
I would say that there will be much more metals present and you need to know what is in there as that may help with choosing right procedure.


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## hardrock (Feb 13, 2012)

You're right I need to find out more about what's in it, I was told it came out of military electronic equipt. it's been stripped out and poured in to small bars. I'm a gold miner and can refine my own Au./ Ag., this is something new to me.


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## philddreamer (Feb 13, 2012)

Hi Hardrock!
Where in the US are you located?

Phil


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## hardrock (Feb 13, 2012)

I'm in NW Arizona, near Oatman. the big mine near me has a lab, but I don't think they would do it, or have the time. my friend has a small lab and I just contacted him and I'm going out in the morning. do you suggest a fire assay? he has a mine also and he's teaching his employees fire assaying in the am. what kind of assay do you suggest?


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## Harold_V (Feb 14, 2012)

Before you jump in with both feet, why don't you do a simple nitric acid test? If the bars are anywhere near the percentage of gold and platinum you suggest, they won't respond to nitric in the least, and if they do, it will be by slightly turning brown where you apply a drop of nitric. 

What I really expect to happen is for the spot that is tested to instantly react with the drop of nitric, liberating those familiar brown fumes and turning the drop blue/green almost instantly. 

The very idea that escrap might contain even 1% gold is mind boggling. I think your "friend" has a gold disease and is guided more by hope than reality. 

One more thing. Gold and platinum are very heavy---platinum comes close to doubling the weight of lead, while gold is about 10% lighter (than platinum). Silver rivals the weight of lead. The bars, assuming they were high in gold, would be VERY heavy. I expect they are not.

Harold


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## hardrock (Feb 14, 2012)

Good idea Harold_ V, my friend got the bars from someone else and I was told one bar was worth $43,000, so my friend could of been BSed also I'm gonna find out. will try the nitric acid test before I take them to my friends lab, or do it there.


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## hardrock (Feb 20, 2012)

Would like to know if anyone here ever used David H Fell refineries, and if they could be trusted?


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## jack_burton (Feb 21, 2012)

hardrock said:


> Would like to know if anyone here ever used David H Fell refineries, and if they could be trusted?




I've personally never heard of them, but from the looks of their website looks like they can at least tell you what you have on your hands.


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## goldsilverpro (Feb 21, 2012)

The David Fell refinery is probably the largest refinery in the Hill Street jewelry district of L.A. I've known David personally for 32 years. In the past, when he ran it, I trusted him. He is now retired and his son runs it (I think). I haven't dealt with the son so, I can't make a comment.


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## Marcel (Feb 22, 2012)

Maybe you could also simply saw them and look on how they look on the inside.
We had some ebay auctions here lately where a guy sold 1 Kg bars, that were made of (his own statement) pins from motherboards/IDE connectors. Now we know that they at best do yield 1% gold in average, normally much less, but amazingly the bars were all golden from all sides!
I have never poured such bars, but I assume the gold went all to the outside of the bar, giving the block a shiny pure-gold-look.
Btw: 1 Kg bar sold for around 300 USD.....

EDIT: Which brings me to another low tech idea:
If you know the exact composition of the bar that well, you can simply test it by calculating. Use the desity, a container with water and read about Galileo and how he tested for gold.The a little math.

Here is the auction:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/190638697935?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

and some images:


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## qst42know (Feb 22, 2012)

Plated brass pins cast brass color bars.

$300 USD is some damn expensive brass. :shock:


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## hardrock (Mar 25, 2012)

I've been off mining for a month, I put a drop of nitric on the bars, just a slight reaction, it turned grayish white. put a small piece in AR and dropped out some Au., I'll have time to work on it later this week. I've been refining placer gold by AR and every time I take it to the Au. buyer they come up with a different Kt., it's .18 to start, and they say it's only .22 after it's done, and if I send someone else in it's only .18, depends whose working. I've done the same batch
in AR twice and get different test results, am I doing something wrong, or getting screwed? I've been mining for 35 years and refining off and on for only 3 years. also, whats the best precipitant?


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## Anonymous (Mar 25, 2012)

hardrock said:


> I put a drop of nitric on the bars, just a slight reaction,


A single drop of nitric will only react,until the nitrates are gone,which is only a few seconds in some cases.


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## hardrock (Mar 25, 2012)

Thanks Mic.


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## Harold_V (Mar 26, 2012)

hardrock said:


> I've been off mining for a month, I put a drop of nitric on the bars, just a slight reaction, it turned grayish white.


What did the solution do? Color is important. Any brown fumes from the applied drop? Bubbling? If gold was significant, it would have done nothing, or at the most, turned the surface a brown color, with the solution changing color very little, if at all. 



> put a small piece in AR and dropped out some Au.,


That doesn't make a lot of sense. If you put an alloy in AR, assuming silver isn't excessive, gold shouldn't *drop out*. AR dissolves gold, and, given the right circumstances, it remains in solution. That may not be true if there's an abundance of base metal present, however, but then the gold isn't generally quick to dissolve in such a case. When it does, it will eventually be cemented as a dark brown to black powder, however. 

Did you test the solution with stannous chloride? 



> I've been refining placer gold by AR and every time I take it to the Au. buyer they come up with a different Kt., it's .18 to start, and they say it's only .22 after it's done, and if I send someone else in it's only .18, depends whose working. I've done the same batch
> in AR twice and get different test results, am I doing something wrong, or getting screwed? I've been mining for 35 years and refining off and on for only 3 years. also, whats the best precipitant?


 That, too, makes no sense. First off, one does not discuss fine gold in terms of karat. 

If you do a reckless job of (actually) refining, you should expect something in the vicinity of 98%, even with poor handling. To suggest that you have only 22K isn't reasonable. Leads me to think that you are not really refining, but melting and fluxing. Can you be more descriptive of what you're doing? As stated, your comments would be akin to asking how big is a rock? 

Not trying to be rude---but if you expect anything useful in the way of a response, you must learn to disclose information that details what you are doing. 

Harold


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## patnor1011 (Mar 26, 2012)

Marcel said:


> Maybe you could also simply saw them and look on how they look on the inside.
> We had some ebay auctions here lately where a guy sold 1 Kg bars, that were made of (his own statement) pins from motherboards/IDE connectors. Now we know that they at best do yield 1% gold in average, normally much less, but amazingly the bars were all golden from all sides!
> I have never poured such bars, but I assume the gold went all to the outside of the bar, giving the block a shiny pure-gold-look.
> Btw: 1 Kg bar sold for around 300 USD.....
> ...




:shock: He already sold two, one for 705 euro another 334 euro. Now that is some expensive brass!


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## hardrock (Mar 26, 2012)

I understand Harold, I put a small piece of that bar in AR and it fizzled over night and broke down into a whitish powder, the solution turned orange, I neutralized it filtered it, and put in Sodium Sulfite and dark brown pieces dropped out, filtered, washed, dried it, put on cupel, hit with torch, 1/2 gram AU. the other was dore buttons from my placer operation, melted into shot put in AR and dropped out with Sodium Sulfite, it should be close to .999, not 91.52. as far as the bar goes the drop fizzled and no reaction, just a whitish spot. I have 5 bars and will check them all today. I didn't want to confuse you with 2 projects.


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## butcher (Mar 27, 2012)

Hard-rock,
You seem to be cleaning up the gold some, but your not refining it, if I understand the process you described.

In my humble opinion your wasting time, and possibly loosing values, I feel you would have possibly been better off selling the gold as it was, instead of running it through the acid processes you did.

The gold still needed refined, and you would not of taken a chance of some of it being lost in the waste solutions and remaining powders.

If doing this you should spend some time reading Hoke's book, see how she teaches to prepare the gold, remove the base metals involved, and recover the gold before she dissolves it, and then precipitates a fairly pure product that may need redefining.

By studying Hoke's book and other information on the forum, you will also be able to refine the gold to the High purity where it can be used again without having to be re-refined.


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