# AMD Opteron 2212 for Noob



## rjamjb (Sep 10, 2015)

Hi, hoping that you can help a Noob to make sure I’m on the right track. I’ve read a lot and think I have a right approach to this. I’ve a number of questions and hope some of the experienced people on here can point me in the right direction. I’m happy to post updates along the way on this journey to, perhaps give some guidance to people who want to follow along.
I’ve got about 150 AMD Opteron 2212s. These have what appear to be gold plated pinless contacts on one side (about a 1000). I’ve split a couple of these open – see pics.
First question – inside the silver lid there is a gold coloured plating around a green coloured rectangle – is this gold?
If it is gold then can I follow the process I note below for the gold plated contacts?
Cutting the silver lid a bit it appears to be copper inside – is this worth keeping?
Should I cut the green board with all the pinless contacts on up further or will it be ok just put into my chemicals whole?
Should I even bother to take off the silver coloured lid? – These are quite an effort to get off the board and it would be far easier to just put them in the chemicals whole.
My method:
1.	Remove all lids from the boards.
2.	Put all boards into a beaker and cover with HCL
3.	Add H2o2 (I’ve a 12% solution) to the beaker in small amounts, agitate. Leave. Add more H2o2 if the gold doesn’t detatch, repeat until all gold has come off in flakes.
4.	When the gold has all come off then filter, wash (in h2o), filter, wash etc until I’ve only the flakes in the filter
5.	Wash the filter out into h2o then heat to evaporate the water, leaving just the gold flakes.
I’ll post again about melting the gold down with borax – my sister has a clay firing kiln and I wondered if that would be good to use?

Am happy to take any advice or suggestions to improve this process before I start.


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## rjamjb (Sep 10, 2015)

Here is the picture that I should have additionally added (but accidentally added the same pic twice :-( doh!!)


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## g_axelsson (Sep 10, 2015)

rjamjb said:


> Here is the picture that I should have additionally added (but accidentally added the same pic twice :-( doh!!)


That is why there is a Preview button just to the left of the Submit button.

Göran


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## rickbb (Sep 11, 2015)

You only need to add the peroxide once, to get the reaction going dissolving the copper out from under the gold plate. Once you have a working solution of cupric chloride, (CuCl2), you only need to add O2 by using an aquarium air pump with an air stone, (bubbler).

This process is effective, but SLOW, days or a week or more. Don't stand there watching it expecting it to flake the gold off in minutes, get antsy and add more peroxide. Using too much peroxide will dissolve the gold in addition to the copper. NOT what you want.


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## Grelko (Sep 11, 2015)

rjamjb said:


> Cutting the silver lid a bit it appears to be copper inside – is this worth keeping?
> 
> Should I even bother to take off the silver coloured lid? – These are quite an effort to get off the board and it would be far easier to just put them in the chemicals whole.
> 
> ...




Thanks for bringing this up. I've always thought the lids were aluminum? Now I have to check because I could be losing money at the scrapyard.

You should be able to pop the lids off pretty easily if you stand them on their side and split it apart with a paint scraper and hammer. You could also put it in a vise or use visegrips to hold it, and use a heat gun and pop/peel them off with the scraper also.

It depends how hot the kiln gets, you might not be able to melt completely or at all. I'll be using a Mapp gas blowtorch, when I get to that point.



rickbb said:


> Once you have a working solution of cupric chloride, (CuCl2), you only need to add O2 by using an aquarium air pump with an air stone, (bubbler).
> 
> This process is effective, but SLOW, days or a week or more.



The aquarium pump really speeds the process up by alot. I've spent a good month trying to take the gold off ram fingers by letting it sit in a mason jar and mixing it around each day. When I finally got a pump, the next batch only took a couple days.

Now, dissolving plated pins, even with a pump, takes a good while no matter what. (especially since I used WAY too much peroxide and ended up having to completely dissolve everything) It's better to use a sulfuric cell for those.


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## macfixer01 (Sep 11, 2015)

The lids are not made of silver, I believe rjamjb was probably just referring to them as silver colored?


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## rjamjb (Sep 11, 2015)

Thanks both some good feedback. I think that I'm going to do a small batch of about 20 each and try both methods 1 - with a small amount of h2o2 added to the hcl and 2 just hcl with bubbling air - need to get an air pump tomorrow - (just the regular ones for fish tanks ok?). I'm aware that overdoing the h2o2 will dissolve the gold so will avoid that.
Attached, my second pic, is a picture of me hacking at the edge of the lid - can see the copper color. I scratched the surface too with a knife and the silver coloured coating is just an overlay. Most of the lid is the copper.
When I get to the kiln/gold melting I'll check the temperature that my sis's kiln gets to - if not I can borrow an oxy acc blow torch so no real problem.
I'll keep posting pics along the way - think that I will be ready to trial my batches tomorrow.
ps did anyone know if the gold coloured surround on the lid is Au?
By the way – as you can see from my first picture the cpu’s I have are very dirty – seems like an aluminium residue of some sort – my previous pictures were of the cpu’s I cleaned in warm water. Should I clean them all, or is this ok without washing first.

Kind regards

Russell


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## glorycloud (Sep 11, 2015)

Russell - that "dirtiness" is probably thermal paste. At this point in your learning
process it's best to just wipe it off with a paper towel or rag.


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## rjamjb (Sep 11, 2015)

Thanks glorycloud,

I'll go with that and wipe them with a rag.

Russell


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## MarcoP (Sep 11, 2015)

A good rule to follow is to know what you dealing with. A logical consequence is a well planned process.
You are still confused about HCl/H2O2 (known as AP, Acid Peroxide) and you haven't searched about your feedstock type.

I'm a newbie too and at the beginning, before joining this board, I went ahead like you are now. Luckily it lasted as much as my first batch, a couple of weeks or so. I'd like to ask you to put your chemicals and torch away, search and surf within this board while continuing dismantling your ewaste wearing gloves, do not throw anything away, everything in its own bucket.

By doing so you will certainly avoid losses and gain responsibility.

Start with New Member Answers.

Yes that is gold, sulfuric cell.

In Pentium 4s, the thermal paste contains silver. I'd check your processor datasheet for more details and cleanly scrub the paste or if you want to use paper towels, save them. The few time I had to deal with it, I used a clean cut tool (blade, ruller or whatever) to remove most of it, then a paper towel to wipe out clean. The lid will need to end up in a sulfuric cell, so it must be clean.
If the thermal paste is of value, save it; otherwise goes to a ewaste bin to get rid of it with responsibility as nothing is worth more then health, human, animal or vegetable it may be.

AP, start with washing to de-grease the fiber board, put inside a colander and place half way inside a bucket where the hose coming from the air pump already is, centered at the bottom.
Hydrochloric Acid to cover, a couple milliliters of Acid Peroxide per liter and turn the air pump on (yes fish tank is ok), wait days.
Do this inside a fume good with fume scrubbers or outside in a very well ventilated area very far from people, animals, buildings, cars etc.. Chlorine gas was used in chemical bombs and you are about to make some, not considering that electronic scrap constantly hides heavy and poison metals.

There are no shortcuts, we've got to study.

Marco


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## rjamjb (Sep 11, 2015)

That's great feedback Marko, am reading and learning about everything I can on here - am half way through Hoke - although that book is a bit dated there some great basic tips to understand the fundamentals.

I will indeed pause a while before commencing. The couple of things I've learned so far re my chips.

Definitely need to detach the lids from the bases. That will take me a while as they are a pain to separate.

HCL and a very small amount of H2o2 - AP approach to start things.
Bubbling air through for a day/days until most of copper under gold has detached the gold plates.

I have an outhouse away from any day to day activities/third parties and will undertake this first activity there. There is an outside area I can use safely.

I will also try just HCL and air in case that is effective for my particular chips. (no H2o2).

I am also aware that these chips contain very very small amounts of gold on the plates - there are no legs just little round discs on the contacts and the chips are not likely to give great yields (0.1g per chip is what I'm hoping to achieve) - so any dissolving of the gold in AP will reduce yield dramatically.

Don't want to jump too far ahead so will save the lids and the sulphuric acid approach until I've researched that further.

I'll still start with about 20 of each approach (i.e. non-H202, just HCL - and H2o2 plus the HCL) and see where things go.

Any thoughts on whether I should cut up the bases (green fibre with the gold dots on) or just put them in whole? - I've cut up a couple and dont identify any 'hidden' gold underneath anything?

Russell


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## MarcoP (Sep 11, 2015)

If you just use HCl and air bubbler it will probably work, just take weeks to start the reaction and months to finish.

If you except 0.1gr per chip you are going to be really disappointed. You might need 20, or more. I don't have any data and that is guesstimate.

Marco


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## Grelko (Sep 11, 2015)

macfixer01 said:


> The lids are not made of silver, I believe rjamjb was probably just referring to them as silver colored?



I should have cleared that part up a bit. I meant the copper when he cut the lid, I didn't mean that I thought the lid was silver plated. They just seem to be aluminum plated over copper, some have the small square of gold plating on the inside.



rjamjb said:


> I have an outhouse away from any day to day activities/third parties and will undertake this first activity there. There is an outside area I can use safely. Russell



This may seem like an odd question, but I'm just being on the safe side for rjamjb's health. 

Does anyone happen to know if the chlorine/hydrogen fumes from the HCL/H2O2 dissolving metals, combined with methane etc, from an outhouse, to become something even more of a toxic mix for your health? 

All I know, is that it would be very flammable, especially if the fumes get concentrated, but could it have the potential to self ignite, since an outhouse is a confined space even with the window and/or fan?

Besides that, you would definately want a fan blowing the fumes away from you also "fume hood, scrubber, etc", if you are working inside a small area like that.

Edit - typo


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## g_axelsson (Sep 12, 2015)

The fumes from copper chloride etching is not chlorine, it's hydrochloric acid. It will corrode any metal in the vicinity, especially if done inside a small room and with a bubbler.

The fumes from hydrochloric acid and bleach is chlorine mostly.

Göran


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## Grelko (Sep 12, 2015)

g_axelsson said:


> The fumes from copper chloride etching is not chlorine, it's hydrochloric acid.
> Göran



I might be mistaken, but aren't the fumes actually hydrogen gas escaping from the hydrochloric acid (hydrogen chloride) and copper, since the copper takes the chloride from the HCL? Something like HCL+Cu = H CuCL2, or would it still be HCL+CuCL2 ? "Even though HCL doesn't actually etch copper without an oxidizer like peroxide, air, etc. to start the reaction." I never had chemistry in school, but I'm slowly learning it here.

Just asking because HCL isn't flammable by itself, but the fumes that result when it oxidizes metals are. I'm trying to memorize the MSDS for all the chemicals I'm using also.

Edit - I should have stated that the fumes from HCL+H2O2 wasn't chlorine gas, but instead, it's the result of HCL+CL, thanks g_axelsson. I hate addicently giving out mis-information


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## g_axelsson (Sep 12, 2015)

You are forgetting about the O2 part. The copper chloride works by two separate processes.

1. CuCl2 + Cu -> 2 CuCl (dissolving copper)
2. 4 CuCl + 4 HCl + O2 -> 4 CuCl2 + 2 H2O (regenerate the leach)

No hydrogen emitted. The fumes is from evaporating HCl.

Göran


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## Grelko (Sep 12, 2015)

g_axelsson said:


> You are forgetting about the O2 part. The copper chloride works by two separate processes.
> 
> 1. CuCl2 + Cu -> 2 CuCl (dissolving copper)
> 2. 4 CuCl + 4 HCl + O2 -> 4 CuCl2 + 2 H2O (regenerate the leach)
> ...



Now, would the number 4 in the equation technically mean 3 molecules "or atoms?" of Cu, plus 1 of CuCl2, combining to make the 4 CuCl2, mixing with the 4 HCL + 1 of O2, and that's how the electron exchange actually takes place "magnetically? gravity?" Then you're left over with 4 CuCl2 molecules and 2 H2O? So the 2 HCL left over molecules, would re-combine with the H2O to continue the process, or do they turn into the fumes? Or am I still missing something?

I'm actually suprised, that after all these years online, chemistry is one of the only things I never read much about, because I've always been interested in it.

By the way, sorry for taking this way off subject, I should download an E-book or take a college class someday for basic chemistry. Unless I learn it here first :lol:


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## g_axelsson (Sep 12, 2015)

Grelko said:


> g_axelsson said:
> 
> 
> > You are forgetting about the O2 part. The copper chloride works by two separate processes.
> ...


Start here for example http://www.visionlearning.com/en/library/Chemistry/1/Chemical-Equations/56

Göran


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## kurtak (Sep 12, 2015)

My personal opinion on these CPUs is that you are far better off selling them out right 

They are currently going for $2.75/lb at boardsort & "most" of that value is due to the heavy copper lid on the top - not the (very little) gold content

Kurt


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## Grelko (Sep 12, 2015)

g_axelsson said:


> Start here for example http://www.visionlearning.com/en/library/Chemistry/1/Chemical-Equations/56
> 
> Göran




Thank you very much for this link. I'll be reading all about this for a while.


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## macfixer01 (Sep 13, 2015)

Grelko said:


> macfixer01 said:
> 
> 
> > The lids are not made of silver, I believe rjamjb was probably just referring to them as silver colored?
> ...




Rjamjb appears to be from the UK. I'm going to go out on a limb here guessing that when he said "outhouse" he didn't mean the same thing as what an outhouse in Pennsylvania is? I'm assuming he just means a separate structure away from the house, such as a shed, and not an outdoor privy. Actually one definition of outhouse is any outbuilding.


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## rjamjb (Sep 13, 2015)

HI - Yes I'm from the UK and my 'outhouse' is approx 50 meters (150 yards) from any other inhabited building (it is a shed in UK terms about 4meters by 3 meters).

I'm not happy with the safety aspects of running any of the bubbling processes inside now and will not do that. In fact I am going to slow down a bit and go for the hcl with small additions of h2o2 only to start with. Am going to rig up a small covered space open to the air (rain proof) and let it stew for however long it takes.

Russell


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## Grelko (Sep 13, 2015)

macfixer01 said:


> Rjamjb appears to be from the UK. I'm going to go out on a limb here guessing that when he said "outhouse" he didn't mean the same thing as what an outhouse in Pennsylvania is? I'm assuming he just means a separate structure away from the house, such as a shed, and not an outdoor privy. Actually one definition of outhouse is any outbuilding.



Yes, the way I've heard the word used, was for an outdoor privy, thats why I was concerend about the mixture of fumes. I never knew that it meant "any" outbuilding. So for me, that small building would be a shed or "shanty". I'm learning new things here everyday.


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## rjamjb (Sep 14, 2015)

Definitely two countries divided by a common language!!!. This really made me chuckle. Outhouse vs privy vs WC vs shed vs Shanty vs...... who knows!!!. Anyway my "one of those" is a wooden construction one room with a couple of windows that I keep gardening gear in!!.

I've been splitting the lids apart with a hammer and putty spreader, slowly for now. By the end of the week I'll hopefully be in a position to share some more pics.

A couple of points - if, as an earlier post says, I'll get about 0.1g gold per 20 chips then I'll be lucky to get about 0.7g out of this batch. I'll count them up, weigh them and post some weight details once I've done the splitting. I'll keep records along the way for others to follow.

I never did get a clear answer as to whether the gold color on the underside of the lids were actually gold - someone mentioned a sulfuric bath for those. Can anyone comment on whether this is the correct approach for that and whether it is definitely gold?. I believe btw, following a bit more research that the lids are copper covered with nickle.

Russell


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## g_axelsson (Sep 14, 2015)

It's gold, look at this search... http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/search.php?keywords=indium+copper+gold+heat+spreader&terms=all&author=&sv=0&sc=1&sf=all&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

Göran


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## Barren Realms 007 (Sep 14, 2015)

rjamjb said:


> I've been splitting the lids apart with a hammer and putty spreader, slowly for now. By the end of the week I'll hopefully be in a position to share some more pics.
> 
> I never did get a clear answer as to whether the gold color on the underside of the lids were actually gold - someone mentioned a sulfuric bath for those. Can anyone comment on whether this is the correct approach for that and whether it is definitely gold?. I believe btw, following a bit more research that the lids are copper covered with nickle.
> 
> Russell



Get you a wood chisel to that you can place between the copper lid and the fiberglass and tap down on it with a hammer and most of the lids will pop off easily, some you might need to turn over 180 degrees and hit from the other side as well.

If you are going to run the copper tops in a sulphuric cell to deplate the gold from the lid you will want to soak them in 15% HCL solution till the nickle plating comes off ( Depends on how many you have and how hot your solution is for how fast the plating comes off). Then wash the lids with water and let them dry or heat them up to dry them. Then you will be ok to run them in a sulphuric cell to deplate the gold from the lid.

If you try to deplate them with the nickle plating still on them in a sulphuric cell it will cause you to have a mess on your hands that you would rather not deal with.


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## g_axelsson (Sep 15, 2015)

Half of the gold on the heat spreader have been dissolved by the indium solder that connects the die to the heat spreader. This gold will come down as a slowly settling sediment in the HCl bath. Collect any solid leftovers and extract the gold from that too.

Göran


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## rjamjb (Sep 17, 2015)

Goran, thanks for the comment on the lids. I am reading about the sulphuric bath method atm and will look to progress on this route when I've a better idea of the processes. Will do a little more research on the chips too, to see if I can get a BOM or similar in respect of their constituents.

In respect of the bases I've some progress and some stats to share.

I eventually split all the lids from the bases - see pic.

The bases totaled 180 and weighed 1239g. Each = 6.9g
The lids totaled 180 also (obviously) and weighed at 120 for 2906g (max of my scales). Therefore in total 4359g. Each = 24.2g.
In splitting them apart I lost a little debris but the total weight was in excess of the 5kg I purchased by some way (5.6kg) so I got a few freebies in the batch.

On to the AP solution.
I washed the bases in water a few times to remove debris and gave each one a wipe to remove some of the grey paste that was stuck/smeared on most of them.
I worked out I'd need 1.1 litres of solution to cover them in my bucket. 
I worked on a 3:1 ratio of 30% HCL to 3% H2O2.
However I only had 36% HCL and 12% H2O2.
Working backwards and adding water to dilute. I ended up with the following:

................Total ml....HCL 36%.....H202 12%.....H2O
.....................864	........720.......................144
.....................288......................72...........216

Total ml..........1152........720.........72...........360

As you'll see this comes to a total ml of 1152, just more than I needed to cover and used up all the HCL I had. - perfect.

Pictures in reverse order.
Pic of 180 lids and bases duly separated (hammer and chisel worked just fine - became quite a pro at this towards the end.)

Measured quantities of chemicals - note the H2O2 on the left freely bubbling off O2 (wonder whether the concentration was really 12% after quite a bit of bubbling off over the past few days).

Water addded, then HCL added, then H2O2 added in that order - this pic was taken 1 min after adding and agitating - already seeing a green color.

Lid on pot, in sun will leave it outside agitating every day - from reading I'll need to be patient with this bit.

Note on safety in buying 12% H2O2 - the plastic 1g container is air tight - the H2O2 gives off O2 and slowly expands the container. This happened to mine and after a while the pressure built up so much that the container failed - fortunately with only a pinprick hole - this proceeded to shoot H2O2 about three yards across my garage - fortunately I saw (or rather heard - as the garage floor started to fizz and bubble) this before it had dumped the whole thing on the floor. I've now loosened the top on the plastic container so that it isn't quite airtight and enclosed in another bucket. My advice is NOT to buy this at this concentration if you only need 3% solution.

Russell


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## glorycloud (Sep 17, 2015)

Looks like you are on a mission here! I look forward to seeing your progress. 8) 

I would suggest that you try and take care in protecting your nice glass table and pretty tile flooring
as chemical spills will occur and will greatly effect their current beauty. :shock:


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## rjamjb (Sep 17, 2015)

This is a picture of the bases in the solution 2 hours after first adding. Color is a lot darker - I can already see some of the gold dots floating around in the liquid (quite a lot more than you can see in the pic). Much sooner than I'd thought. Weather is warm and bucket has been in bright sunlight.

Man those dots are small. At about 1000 per chip there is going to be 180k of them floating around in that liquid eventually. Still can't see that amounting to a lot of gold though!!

Russell


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## Barren Realms 007 (Sep 17, 2015)

rjamjb said:


> This is a picture of the bases in the solution 2 hours after first adding. Color is a lot darker - I can already see some of the gold dots floating around in the liquid (quite a lot more than you can see in the pic). Much sooner than I'd thought. Weather is warm and bucket has been in bright sunlight.
> 
> Man those dots are small. At about 1000 per chip there is going to be 180k of them floating around in that liquid eventually. Still can't see that amounting to a lot of gold though!!
> 
> Russell



For that batch it will not be a lot of gold.


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## rjamjb (Sep 28, 2015)

Latest update.

Well, having been away for a week and a bit I come back to the AP solution.

The color has turned to a very very dark green brown and not so many of the gold spots have come off the chips as I had hoped. It appears very clearly IMHO that the solution has become saturated with Cu and therefore the dissolving reaction of the Copper under the gold spots has slowed significantly. 

So, I have two choices - add a good quantity more H2O2 to get the reaction kicking again, or use a bubbler. I am aware that too much concentrate of H2O2 with the HCL will actually dissolve the gold so will not go down the first route.

I have therefore adapted a fish tank air bubbler and am now bubbling air through the solution with the hope/expectation that the small amounts of O2 passing through the solution will keep the copper dissolving.

Will post a pic of the very dark solution in next post.

Oh, a lot of debris has also come off the chips from what I can see - will need to look at separation of that debris from the gold spots in due course.

Russell


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## rjamjb (Oct 7, 2015)

Hello,

Just an update as it has been a week or so and a request for a bit of advice that I'm on the right track.
I kept the AP with the chips in it for about 8 days outside and gave it a daily mix up. After about 5 days the liquid had turned a very very deep brown (I guess very deep green but it looks brown). About a 1/3 of the gold dots had come off and I think that the mixture had become saturated (with Copper Chloride?) and so the rate that the dots were dropping off had almost ceased.

I did two things.

1. Added about 400mil more HCL 36%. This was on the basis that there would be more capability for the solution to dissolve more copper.

this worked for a while (couple of days), a few more dots dropped off then the rate of dropping stalled again.

2. I put in an air bubbler - this was from a very cheap aquatic fish tank bubbler and there are not a huge amount of bubbles perculating through the liquid. But there are some.

I've now had the bubbler working for about five more days and now about 2/3 of the dots have come off the chips.

Does this seem right in terms of time?. I guess I've just got to have patience, yes? I'm just letting the solution keep bubbling away at the moment.

Secondly, When I was putting in the bubbler I took the opportunity to filter off the debris/dots from the liquid as I transferred everything from one container to another. I then put through a plastic sieve to remove the larger pieces of debris and collected all the dots and small particles. I washed this through with water a couple of times. Then with HCL only a couple of times, then with water again. I then used a magnet which managed to collect some magnetic debris -which with care I was able to separate out and throw away. With the small sample I have I notice three things. First the dots that have come off (excellent !!! Yay). Secondly some dark blackish debris - which I think are parts of the chips that cracked/separated when I broke the chips apart and thirdly a whitish/milky coloured/cloudy particulate in the water. I think that this is a tin based salt precipitated out of the HCL (yes?) (if so then SnCl would be the salt, yes?).

Any comments on my observations so far? Am I on the right track?

I'll keep the posts up - and I'll post a pic of the extracted materials so far so you can see the mix of dots/milky cloudiness/dark matter shortly.

Appreciate the feedback.


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## g_axelsson (Oct 7, 2015)

CuCl is brown, CuCl2 is green. Too much brown in the solution means that there is no free oxygen to oxidize the CuCl into CuCl2. A bubbler was a good choice to add oxygen.
If there is a white precipitate it could be excess CuCl that don't dissolve. It can be because there is too little HCl in solution, CuCl is sparsely soluble in water but dissolves easily in HCl. The white solids you see could also be tin hydroxides and does not dissolve when HCl is added. So if it dissolves when adding HCL it was CuCl.

Many foils can cling to the board even when the copper is dissolved, shaking the boards or brushing them will knock the gold off.

By the way, if you see a mistake in an old post you can edit it yourself. I added the missing line and deleted your second post.
It's against the rules to do major editing to your posts as it disturbs the thread, but smaller edits like corrections and adding missing information is okay.

Göran


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## Shark (Oct 7, 2015)

In the past couple of years I have found that a good air supply helps with agitation as well as adding oxygen. The agitation supplied by a larger air pump helps shake loose some foils that appear to still be attached. I still use aquarium pumps quite a bit, but in my larger copper II chloride tank, I am running a jet type nebulizer to help with the extra agitation.


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## rjamjb (Oct 11, 2015)

Another update.

Well had a bit of success with a toothbrush!!. Ran it across the surface of the chips and all those gold dots just came off easy as pie. So worked my way through all 180 of them and separated out. I washed off the gold dots into another bucket. Then filtered the AP solution and washed those filtrates into another bucket. An observation: The AP solution was definitely brown so was CuCl.

A couple of pics to show progress to date.

First is the pile of washed off chips - Question - is there any value left in that pile or are they exhausted and can be thrown away? You can see one of my used filtration papers, I've been keeping these as I would intend,once I've enough, to incinerate to recover Au residues not washed off the papers.

Second a small amount of the filtered solution. This was what I had already washed with HCL and water. The liquid you can see is just water - it has a very faint chlorine smell. You can clearly see gold and other debris. I intend to get the rest of the solution washed and into this state before next steps. You can also see the milky substance in their - I think that this is SnCl(2?) and have mentioned this before it is not dissolving in the water.

Third the two buckets - brown one was the AP, now CuCl. I filtered this and, based on other comments here put the solution back in a plastic bottle and labelled. Questions: I can use this again on my next batch yes? I'd heard of someone putting a piece of stainless steel in there which would draw the copper back out of the solution (so that it would be better to use on the next batch as it wouldn't be so saturated with copper?. Is that a good approach? If not how best to store? The second bucket contains the water washed off the chips while I de-golded them!!


Finally my next steps - will wait for comment prior to executing...



First will filter through some fine mesh to get rid of some of the bigger pieces of debris.

Second use a magnet to remove any iron/ferric materials.

Third move to AR and dissolve the gold?. My concern here is the amount of debris still mixed with the gold and the AR will also dissolve some of that. Any ideas on further processing before I move to AR.

Thanks for your inputs.

Russell

Just a little update - have been (with water) filtering/washing/filtering washing etc today. I have diminished all the liquid and its filtrate down to gold dots and a light brown muddy substance - will post a pic in due course (as always). Have now put a 36% of HCL on top and will steep for a day or two, to take out any residual metals that are not gold ( I hope).


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## rjamjb (Oct 15, 2015)

Hi,

Another update. Another puzzle.

So I had taken all of the gold off the chip bases with the AP method. Since then I've steeped the gold and debris in 400ml of conc (36%) HCL for a couple of days. Used a magnet to take out all magnetic pieces left in the HCL another day. Then filtered out from the HCL. Then sieved a couple of times to take out larger pieces of debris. Now I have washed/filtered/washed/filtered in water three times (even now a very faint smell of Chlorine lingers - but i would guess very very very small amount of HCL left given the amount of H2O washing I've done).

But.....

What I have left is a mix. Clearly from inspection, some very small pieces of glass/silica but also, a very very fine 'dark grey' muddy substance that the gold is mixed up with. See Picture to demonstrate.

I can't see a way to separate the gold physically so...

I think that this might be just very fine organic/fiber board/silica mix so I think I can move to AR directly. Unless I know what that mix is however, this could cause problems - I'd dread to think about the mess I'd have if the whole lot dissolved in the AR.

I'd really appreciate suggestions at this point before I commit to the AR.

Thanks a lot 

Russell

ps Göran - thanks for the tip on the colour difference between the HCL/Cu chemical mix types - I'm quite clear on that now (or dark brown if you take the liquid colour into account lol!!!)


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## FrugalRefiner (Oct 15, 2015)

Russel, don't over think it. You're still in the recovery phase. It's looking good, and you're ready to dissolve that which will dissolve, and precipitate your gold. You will almost always have some "junk" in what you dissolve in your first refine, especially when you're first starting out. Don't worry about it. Some of it will dissolve along with your gold. The precipitants we use (copperas, SMB, etc.) are somewhat "selective". They precipitate what we want to precipitate, and leave most of the other junk still in solution.

Once your gold is precipitated, wash it well, following one of the several methods documented here on the forum. If you want to clean it up more, dissolve it again, and drop it a second time.

Dave


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## Shark (Oct 15, 2015)

FrugalRefiner said:


> Russel, don't over think it. You're still in the recovery phase. It's looking good, and you're ready to dissolve that which will dissolve, and precipitate your gold. You will almost always have some "junk" in what you dissolve in your first refine, especially when you're first starting out. Don't worry about it. Some of it will dissolve along with your gold. The precipitants we use (copperas, SMB, etc.) are somewhat "selective". They precipitate what we want to precipitate, and leave most of the other junk still in solution.
> 
> Once your gold is precipitated, wash it well, following one of the several methods documented here on the forum. If you want to clean it up more, dissolve it again, and drop it a second time.
> 
> Dave




It just could not be explained better than that. The thing to remember is.


> You're still in the recovery phase.


 I look at this way, get my gold first (the recovery stage) then worry about improving on the purity, (the refining stage). Quite often I will save recovered powders from various recoveries then refine and melt. It makes for a bigger button,


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## rjamjb (Oct 16, 2015)

Great result,

I mixed up 200ml of 36% HCL and 50ml of 70%HNO3 i.e. Aqua Regia, and slowly poured it over the results from the AP (see last picture). I was expecting some bubbling and heat but at first nothing happened (probably because the original precipitation was still quite wet with H2O from previous cleaning. I was thinking that I might have to heat it up, which would cause me a problem because I've got no heat source I could use outside at the moement. I then stirred a while and gradually the gold dissolved. I've left the solution a while and can see quite a bit of the debris has dissolved too.

Leaving for a couple of hours I returned and the mixture had cleared and is a beautiful golden yellow color with some settled debris at the bottom - looks just like the color I've seen in any of the numerous videos on this topic. Will post a pic tomorrow as always.

One point about this phase - that AR really really does fume. I've left the mix outside covered with a plastic bucket so its not concentrating anywhere but in the dark with a torch you can really see the fumes coming out of that mix. Advice to anyone - never mix this inside without suitable extraction - there is no way you could be safe with this in a contained room/garage/shed etc without such precautions - Hoke mentions a heating method with a cover sitting in a bath of water (so fumes bubble through the h2o)- but that is too complicated for my set up at the moment.

Am going to leave over night before filtering and then moving to precipitation but.... I really am delighted with the result of this phase. 

Many thanks to Dave and Shark for recommending I go ahead with the AR as I was nervous about making a mess at this stage. Still got some work to do and that brings me to my next question.

So. I have some Sodium Metabisulphate. Based on a few posts mentioning this here this seems to be ok, but,,, Hoke uses Copperas as the precipitant chemical. She says that there are a few trace chemicals that will be brought down with the gold (also precipitated) that can be dealt with (and I can follow her method for this) but.... what about SMB.... does anyone have an analysis of whether the same trace chemicals get brought down with the gold when that is used?? Any other comments on Copperas vs SMB.

Thanks for everyone's inputs so far - you are a great bunch. I'm learning loads, very quickly.

Russell


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## g_axelsson (Oct 16, 2015)

You should use sulfite, not sulfate!

Göran


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## Anonymous (Oct 16, 2015)

I don't understand why you used so much Nitric acid bearing in mind the amount of data on this forum that tells you otherwise? 

You've used FAR too much.


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## rjamjb (Oct 16, 2015)

Hi spaceships I used a 4:1 ratio which is what hoke, recommends. Other posts on here talk about a 3:1 ratio which is more than I am using. Can you help me with anything I'm missing.

Thanks Russell


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## Anonymous (Oct 16, 2015)

Hi Russell

Thanks for the reply. Yes there are numerous posts and references on the forum to the amount of Nitric required to dissolve a gramme of gold and the recommendation not to use standard mixes for many types of refining/recovery. The best kind of searches to find this information are ones relating to denoxing AR solutions, excess Nitric, and related topics because this is where a lot of the information has been shared. 

Effectively what's being said is that as an improvement to Hoke's ratio procedure, using as little Nitric as possible will make the denox process simpler, quicker, and use much less material.

In a nutshell if you use 50ml of 70% Nitric to dissolve 5g of gold you could be looking at having to neutralise up to 45ml of that Nitric in order to drop your gold. Warm HCl with the Nitric dripped in in smaller batches as required until the gold has been dissolved can provide far more efficient results.

I hope that helps in your journey.

Jon


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## rjamjb (Oct 16, 2015)

Thanks both:

Göran, I made an error in my typing - it is Sodium Metabisulphite that I have.

Jon, Definitely a lesson learned. So, for next time, I'd cover in HCL and drop Nitric into it a few mils at a time until no more gold dissolves then add small amounts of additional nitric (and possibly hcl) until everything dissolved. This will definitely save on Nitric which is quite hard to come by at the moment.

Russell


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## g_axelsson (Oct 16, 2015)

rjamjb said:


> Thanks both:
> 
> Göran, I made an error in my typing - it is Sodium Metabisulphite that I have.
> 
> ...


That is the good stuff! 8) 

Now you might understand why we are so hard on spelling on this forum. Preview is also a good tip for everyone as there are a lot of stupid errors that is caught in preview, for example cutting off the code when citing another post, seen that today already in another thread.

As for dissolving gold, when I did my largest refining of 53 grams of gold I started by measuring up 1 ml nitric acid per gram of gold I had, then adding only half of it as a start. It dissolved most of my gold and I only needed to add a few ml to get the last part. In the end I used 28 ml nitric for dissolving 53g gold. The rest I could save for another time.

But don't feel too bad, it's one of the most common newbie mistakes. We have all overdosed the nitric acid and had to deal with it.

Never premix aqua regia, it will break down by itself and emit gases. If stored in a closed container it will build up pressure and the container might burst.

Göran


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## Shark (Oct 16, 2015)

Since you know you have to much nitric you will need to deal with that first. You can (1) heat your solution until it is used up, (2) use sulfamic acid to neutralize the nitric or (3) add more gold until the nitric is used up. There may be other ways, but those are the one's I know and use. If you heat it, don't boil it, I try to get mine about hot as a good cup of coffee and keep it there until the nitric is depleted. ( I actually use the bottom half of a coffee pot for this)

For precipitation, Sodium Metabisulfite or copperas will work, I prefer coppera's, for dirty solutions, but they need to be prepared 24 hours ahead of time in my opinion, before being used. Which ever one you use try not to over use it, this will lead to even more contaminants dropping than if you only use enough to get the job done.


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## upcyclist (Oct 16, 2015)

rjamjb said:


> One point about this phase - that AR really really does fume. I've left the mix outside covered with a plastic bucket so its not concentrating anywhere but in the dark with a *torch* you can really see the fumes coming out of that mix. Advice to anyone - never mix this inside without suitable extraction - there is no way you could be safe with this in a contained room/garage/shed etc without such precautions - Hoke mentions a heating method with a cover sitting in a bath of water (so fumes bubble through the h2o)- but that is too complicated for my set up at the moment.



Hehe, another language moment. I felt an instinctive "What?!? Open flame in a room obviously full of fumes?!?" until I remembered: oh yeah, he's a Brit. That's 'flashlight' in American English 

Nice work, btw!


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## MarcoP (Oct 17, 2015)

Shark said:


> For precipitation, Sodium Metabisulfite or copperas will work, I prefer coppera's, for dirty solutions, but they need to be prepared 24 hours ahead of time in my opinion, before being used.


This is the first time I read that SMB or copperas needs to be made a day before, could you please explain why you are of this opinion?
I know copperas will need to be filtered, so you are probably letting the solution settle and then filter from decanting, but what about SMB (which I prefer to use it dry anyway, at least after my acquaintance tests).

Thanks
Marco


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## Shark (Oct 17, 2015)

Coppera's need time, I use SMB dry as well. A bit of grammatical error in the original post.


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## rjamjb (Oct 17, 2015)

Hi all – very frustrating, I’d posted this and for some reason didn’t lodge in the system when I hit submit. Probably will miss something out on this second attempt (which bye the way I’m writing in word and then cut/pasting into the forum).

So main reason for posting is to give an update, and a couple of pics, on my previous phases and then to enquire into my next phase of refining. (Recovery/Refining = very different which I now know).


Three main pics – first showing one beaker is the first filtration of the AR. This is what I’d been so delighted about – glorious orange/red colour.




Second is the picture of a paler yellow filtration which is what I’d got from washing out the filter and original beaker with some H2O. I added this to the first beaker’s filtration in the end and now have a glorious orange (hopefully) Chloroauric acid – albeit with excess Nitric acid as has been pointed out.

Third is a picture of the filter from the very final filtration. As you can see this is slightly yellow coloured and I suspect has traces of the Chloroauric acid in it. So am drying this out at the moment and will look to adding to a recycling mix at some point in the future.

So Göran I did only mix what I thought I needed (albeit with a bit more nitric than necessary, lesson learned as I mentioned before. I will save some Nitric following this, which is hard to come bye at the moment.


Shark, also I’ve never come across the Sulfamic acid method before, I’ll do a bit more research on this. My main problem at the moment is that I have no ability to easily heat solutions to reduce. I have an old unused coffee machine that I could probably adapt so will look into that (might be good in that the temperature will not be too high). But I have three possibilities SMB, Copperas, and your Sulfamic acid method. Will investigate all three.

Before I move to the next phase I’ll post my recipie/solution here for comment.

Another slightly unrelated point = I’ve various residue liquids from this whole process which I’ve kept. I think that I can resuse some/all (eg CuCl liquid) so will post a pic and update of those before I finish to get some further feedback. As a result I’ll be able to fairly accurately be able to publish overall cost/usage statistics to compare with the final gold refinement.

I am going to wait until I have some stannous crystals (ordered today) so I can test the various solutions, hopefully mid-week until I commit to my next steps.

Upcyclist – try to use colour as color on here as a Brit – I get corrected every time but, no way would I have got flashlight vs torch as a correction lol. Rest assured, as soon as I saw the fumes, everything was moved outside. (My trusty upturned plastic bucket has proved most valuable)

A couple more follow ups to come

Hopefully I've not missed anything 

Russell


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## Shark (Oct 17, 2015)

I still haven't found the post I wanted, but here is one that explains it almost the same.

http://goldrefiningforum.com/~goldrefi/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=14026&start=20#p192509

I prepare mine by adding the water, and stir thoroughly. 
Filter well, twice. 
Add hydrochloric, mix well. 
Allow to settle 24 hours.
Decant the clear fluid without disturbing the settled contaminants.

Hoke puts it this way. Extended for the OP's sake. 



> (6) RECOVERING THE DISSOLVED GOLD WITH COPPERAS
> If possible, have the solution in a transparent vessel a glass jar,
> beaker, or pitcher. If it is transparent you can see what goes on and
> understand the process better. Later, when you handle large quan
> ...



Edit for spelling


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## Anonymous (Oct 17, 2015)

Stannous Chloride- - - HCl with some tinned solder thrown in it and left in a dropper bottle. Countless threads on here about that Russ.

Pop to B and Q or similar and buy the lead free tin based solver- - often on a blue reel.

Also check your PMs- I sent you a message earlier today. 8) 

Jon


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## Anonymous (Oct 17, 2015)

Shark

Mixing Ferrous II Sulphate for dropping takes but a few mins mate. It doesn't need leaving overnight or filtering out twice if you are using good grade green crystals.


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## Shark (Oct 17, 2015)

OK, then I retract my previous post and leave it to the experts.


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## FrugalRefiner (Oct 17, 2015)

rjamjb said:


> Hi all – very frustrating, I’d posted this and for some reason didn’t lodge in the system when I hit submit. Probably will miss something out on this second attempt (which bye the way I’m writing in word and then cut/pasting into the forum).


I used to have problems like that quite often when I was using the CA Gen2 board style, which is the default style. Since switching to subsilver2, it rarely happens, but it's still a good idea to work in a word processor when you're working on a long post. See Board Style, User Control Panel for more information.



> Three main pics – first showing one beaker is the first filtration of the AR. This is what I’d been so delighted about – glorious orange/red colour.
> 
> Second is the picture of a paler yellow filtration which is what I’d got from washing out the filter and original beaker with some H2O. I added this to the first beaker’s filtration in the end and now have a glorious orange (hopefully) Chloroauric acid – albeit with excess Nitric acid as has been pointed out.
> 
> Third is a picture of the filter from the very final filtration. As you can see this is slightly yellow coloured and I suspect has traces of the Chloroauric acid in it. So am drying this out at the moment and will look to adding to a recycling mix at some point in the future.


I see the same picture three times.



> But I have three possibilities SMB, Copperas, and your Sulfamic acid method. Will investigate all three.


Just to clarify, SMB and copperas are used to precipitate your gold. Sulfamic acid is used to destroy excess nitric acid prior to precipitating.

Common ways to destroy excess nitric (referred to as deNOxing) include the classic evaporation method described by Hoke, using urea (which has fallen out of favor for a number of reasons, and is not recommended), adding a button of refined gold (described by Harold_V), and using sulfamic acid. The best method is to add the nitric in increments, adding only as much as is needed, as you've now learned.

If there is only a tiny amount of excess nitric, SMB and copperas will actually eliminate it. As you add a bit of either, they begin to reduce the dissolved gold to metallic gold. But as quickly as it happens, the nitric acts to reoxidize it and put it back in solution. Eventually, the nitric gets used up and the gold will precipitate, but with a large excess, by the time that happens you've added so much precipitant that you've contaminated the solution and may have other problems with the drop.

Hope some of that helps.

Dave


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## rjamjb (Oct 17, 2015)

Thanks Dave, hopefully the pic duplication has now been resolved.

Definitely the best approach would be to use a button of gold, Harold's comments on this are great. Unfortunately I've not got a spare button as this is the first time I've gone through the whole process so won't have any 'spare' gold (eg in the form of a ring or similar that I can say would be good enough to do that task - as probably not that pure). (Obviously I won't have this problem next time as I 'Have Learned' the error of my ways). So....

Sulphamate - which I am going to read up on or - Evaporation - are my solutions from this point on. - and thanks for pointing out this is a method to reduce Nitric and not to precipitate, as I had missed that point - probably would have realized when I read up though.

Thanks for the tip on this.

Russell

ps realised should have an s and not a z !!!! (englo/americ translation lol)


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## Anonymous (Oct 17, 2015)

rjamjb said:


> Definitely the best approach would be to use a button of gold, Harold's comments on this are great. Unfortunately I've not got a spare button as this is the first time I've gone through the whole process so won't have any 'spare' gold (eg in the form of a ring or similar that I can say would be good enough to do that task - as probably not that pure). (Obviously I won't have this problem next time as I 'Have Learned' the error of my ways). So....
> 
> 
> Russell
> ...



There is a lot of discussion about this. As Harold has openly said, the use of Sulphamic acid is an equally viable option. It simply wasn't available to him during his extensive refining career. 

It's cheap, and readily available and easy to use. Using the example of your case here. Using a gold button with 45 cm3 of excess Nitric would be impractical, take forever, and use at least 45g of gold which you don't have. 8) 8)


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## g_axelsson (Oct 17, 2015)

Nice color! Looks like quite pure gold chloride. Good work so far. 8) 

In this case I recommend evaporation over sulfamic acid as there is so much nitric in excess here. Evaporation doesn't add any extra chemicals and allows you to work with more concentrated solutions. Using sulfamic acid turns the nitric acid into sulfuric acid and that will add to the volume of the solution.
Evaporation doesn't add to the volume, you are switching out nitric for hydrochloric acid.

A small amount of sulfuric acid is just good to have to precipitate any dissolved lead as lead sulfate but you have quite an amount of excess nitric here.

I got some links about sulfamic acid on the bottom of this page:
http://goldrefiningwiki.com/mediawiki/index.php/Sulfamic_acid

When you are doing your final filtration before precipitating the gold you should have the solution a bit diluted and chilled to keep silver chloride from dissolving. A concentrated gold chloride solution is actually able to dissolve some silver chloride. Dilution and chilling makes sure that the silver is caught in the final filtration.

Then the only danger you face is that it's quite addictive to drop the gold from solution.
You will know what I'm talking about after the first time!  

Göran


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## JHS (Oct 17, 2015)

Ever since I saw this on youtube chanel Cody's lab I was looking for a good place to post it.I do not have a link,but he was gold plating his bumper.
Cody used a water bottle,he fit the top with a tube and drilled a second hole to put hcl in the bottle.
He first put a amount of SMB in the bottle and then added a amount of HCL. He then put the tube in his beaker and bubbled the so2 gas that he was creating in the bottle.He did not say how much SMB or HCL he used,but I'm itching to try it.
john
P.S.I got the link and it's about half way through the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PmJGOcBZQI


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## g_axelsson (Oct 17, 2015)

JHS said:


> Ever since I saw this on youtube chanel Cody's lab I was looking for a good place to post it.I do not have a link,but he was gold plating his bumper.
> Cody used a water bottle,he fit the top with a tube and drilled a second hole to put hcl in the bottle.
> He first put a amount of SMB in the bottle and then added a amount of HCL. He then put the tube in his beaker and bubbled the so2 gas that he was creating in the bottle.He did not say how much SMB or HCL he used,but I'm itching to try it.
> john
> ...


Look at this thread http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=17070&hilit=sulfur+dioxide+generator

Göran


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## rjamjb (Oct 24, 2015)

Latest update and a couple of questions.

Bye the way Göran, that bumper could have looked fantastic, pity he didn't manage to get all of it done.

Here is a wrap up of where things are just now.

This is the paper after filtering the Chloroauric acid through. The paper is slightly yellow as it evidently absorbed some of the Au2Cl6 so I’m keeping that (will need to work out what to do with my filter papers I’m keeping at a later date). I’m not sure whether the filtrate is worth keeping – some bits of shiny/glassy silica evidently in there but I’m not sure what else. A very fine silvery/grey dried substance as you can see.



The second picture is the sum-total of everything so far. You can see the Chloroauric acid on the left. The two Florence flasks contain HCL that had been used to wash the results of the AP a couple of times after filtering that from the original chips. On the right are three bottles (yes I am waiting for some labels to be delivered so it is clear that these contain chemicals, at the moment they are kept well out of the way in my garage). These contain the Cuprous Chloride left over from my AP/bubbling of the chips.



When I do another AP batch, I intend to add the HCL washes to the CuCl to help kick start it with the new batch of recovery materials. Hopefully I won’t need to use any H2O2 if I’ve already got the CuCl to start it off, just an oxygen bubbler.

Third and fourth pictures are of Sulfamic Acid and Tin Chloride (Stannous Chloride) Crystals.





This is how I intend to proceed.

Firstly

_Make some Stannous Chloride testing solution (I will make the bare minimum I can as I won’t have large quantities to test over the forthcoming months/years )

Add two grams of SnCl2 into a small vial/glass tube. Add two to three mills of H2O. Then add HLC *I have 36% conc), about 7-10 mils to start (then one to two drops a time after that). Keeping the vial under a hot running tap, agitate/mix/dissolve the SnCl2. Keep adding HCL until all crystals are dissolved.

Use a drop of each of the three liquids (see pic) on a white tissue followed by a drop of the stannous solution to test for gold. I’m sure that I have the Au2Cl6 in the left hand jar. This is more as a test of principle and to give me some practice on uses of the Stannous.
_
Secondly

_I suspect that I have around two grams of Au in the Chloroauric Acid and I used 50ml of HCL to make the Aqua Regia (I know, far too much – one mistake I won’t make again)– on a simple calculation I’ll have somewhere between 45-50 mils of the HNO3 to neutralise before I can move to drop the gold out of solution.

Dissolve 75grams of the Sulphamic acid in HCL (or would H2O be just as good?, or just mixing directly into the solution without dissolving?) until fully dissolved and then add a few ml at a time to the auric acid until no further reaction. 75 grams is on the basis that it will take approx. 1.5g of Sulphamic acid to rid 1ml of Nitric acid out of the solution. After this move to SMB._


Any thoughts or comments on these next steps/approaches?.

Regards - Russell


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## rjamjb (Oct 28, 2015)

A few more pics to show progress.

At this point I just tested the AuroChloric acid - To my inexperienced eye this looks like a positive reaction. Agree?

I admit at this stage I did not measure the constituents of the Stannous Chloride very carefully. I added a few grammes of crystals, then a few mils of water. Then I added a few mils of HCL and agitated, then added again until the crystals dissolved. That was it.


The Crystal Stannous II Chloride in the pippette bottle



A few mills of H2O



After adding HCL



The TEST !!!



(Edit - bye the way is it "Chloroauric Acid", or "AuroChloric Acid" - I'm sure I've seen both uses)


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## butcher (Oct 30, 2015)

Where is the violet color purple of Cassius, the reaction of gold in solution with stannous chloride?
Just because you see a reaction (or color change) does not necessarily mean you have a positive reaction for precious metals or gold, other metals in solution can react.
I would expect violet color or so dark of concentration of violet that it looks dark brown to black with a gold solution.
Here is another place where Hokes book and the getting acquainted experiments can help you gain a better understanding.


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## rjamjb (Oct 30, 2015)

Thanks Butcher,

I thought that I could detect some purple/violet in the browner main color which is why I thought I had a positive. Mind you, looking at the picture again this is quite subtle and perhaps I am guilty of a biased view.

The paper with its dimples etc doesn't help to much in terms of clarity. I'll try again tomorrow with a filter paper which should be a bit more conclusive, I hope.

Russell


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## rjamjb (Oct 30, 2015)

Göran, I have taken a step backwards from my previous post and will follow your advice on reducing the solution via evaporation (then add HCL then further evaporation etc) to avoid adding too much Nitric reducing, additional chems into the solution prior to precipitation of the Au.

I will spend a little time with the stannous wondering why I'm not getting a very purple/violet colour also because I know there is gold in that solution having seen it dissolve!!. Perhaps a few more crystals of stannous II chloride in the current stannous testing solution might help also.

Bye the way Göran, I am in the UK and the weather is getting colder (but probably not as fast as it is for you!!!!) so evaporation through waiting naturally will take a long time so am purchasing a very cheap hot plate, hopefully to speed the evaporation up.
st
Will add a very minor amount of Sulphamic acid at the end just to "mop up" any final amounts of nitric but only minor amounts. Perhaps a gramme or two grammes only, hopefully not really needed.

I have to say, I am so tempted just to "drop whatever" I can and can't really wait to try it,...... but will wait accordingly until the time is right.

Can't wait to get to the final stage and 'drop' that gold, just gotta be patient!!!... (Message to self...... calm down and take it easy bro !!!!) Göran I'm gonna get the bug for 'dropping' soon !!!!

Russell

ps
Bye the way I have been researching how to deal with the lids of the original AMD chips I purchased (I've been dealing with the gold spots on the fiber parts in this thread but you will see that the lids to my CPUs have a gold plating also)- see original pics/posts - I'm still thinking a electro solution will be best. I think that this will be my next post.

pps 
I have spent this evening re-reading the safety section of this site (If anyone is reading this thread then the safety sectiono IS A MUST!!!). If anyone is in any doubt about what I have done so far and has any doubt about what they are doing.... DON'T. 


Regards all


Russell

ps - Kudos points to anyone who identifies and pinpoints where/what/why/how my avatar comes from?!!!


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## g_axelsson (Oct 30, 2015)

An electric coffee maker makes a perfect evaporator. Old ones pops up in the trash now and then. I have three so far. Comes with a built in thermal switch so the solution doesn't boil but can dry out.

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=16197

You can use it for heating reactions too when I dissolved some gold, 3:rd picture ...
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=19840#p201989

Göran


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## rjamjb (Nov 1, 2015)

Nice coupla links Goran. I've an old coffee maker in the loft I'm gonna hunt down. 

Mean time I re did the stannous test on some filter paper, pic attached. First quarter, which is south-west my chloroauric acid. Second two the hcls from washing. finally my left over cucl. Very green. . Positive test on the auric acid!!! Yay.!! Nice purple de cassius I think!!

Russell

Ps, a close up on the auric test also.


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