# Looking for Canadian Nitric acid supplier



## resabed01 (Mar 19, 2013)

I think I've held out as long as I possibly can on this but it's time for me to obtain a few liters of nitric acid. One can only go so far in refining with HCL alone.
I've got a small pile of karat gold, lots of ceramic CPUs and plenty of sterling to refine. Some things I'd like to expand on like a silver cell for example.
I can't seem to find a local source of nitric acid here in Edmonton, AB. I've thought about making it but around here the nitrates are restricted and difficult to get.
I have not yet found a source of nitrates. Also, the thought of distilling nitric in my back yard is not appealing at this point in time.
I can buy it online for about $150 a gallon so I guess that's my last resort. But at that price it takes the fun and profit out of what I'm trying to accomplish.
Does anybody know of a source local to me?

Thanks


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## alexxx (Mar 19, 2013)

Check with Noxx, he might be able to sell you some nitric...
These guys do sell for a fair price, about 30$ per gallon if I remember correctly, but you'll have to pay a deposit for the drum (200$)
www.alphachem.ca

cheers

Alex


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## resabed01 (Mar 20, 2013)

Thanks, I'll give these guys a try. I was hoping for somebody local but this is good.


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## resabed01 (Mar 22, 2013)

Well I placed an order with Alphachem. I had a difficult time figuring out their price structure. The sales rep quoted me the wrong price to begin with and wasn't sure of sizes. I was quoted $32 for a jug (3.1Kg each?) Which they would only sell as a full case...OR...500ml bottle of 70% ACS grade for $38.22. each.

Anyways, I got some on it's way. :mrgreen:


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## resabed01 (Apr 1, 2013)

My Nitric acid arrived today. Not bad, 1 week for ground shipping via Purolator. 2.5L glass bottles for $32.00 each, much better than the $110 I found from other vendors. I'd recommend Alphachem.
The shipping charges were killer.  Pickup if your local would be good.
Now I need to find some pure zinc and DMG reagent.


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## glondor (Apr 1, 2013)

4 of those cases will hold the 75 kg keg. The keg will fill 23 of the 2.5l bottles. In that volume, it is only $2.00 a kg. Much much much cheaper.


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## resabed01 (Apr 1, 2013)

I realize savings can be had in bulk but I'm still in the learning stages here. As it is, I bought way more than I anticipate on using. You never know, I could use this up sooner than I thought. Then the next time I'll go after a keg plus I have the proper glass bottles to fill.


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## masonwebb (Apr 29, 2013)

Sweet, awesome price! I will definitely look into that company. I found a lot of the prices online to be inflated!


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## Tinker Terry (May 23, 2013)

"Now I need to find some pure zinc"
I saw a post where it mentioned that lead free fishing sinkers were made of tin, so I went out and bought some. Then at home I looked on the back of the package and it said they were Zinc. How pure they are is a question that remains. Also you may be able to recover zinc from brass. In my electrolysis experiments I have noticed that brass turns to copper before the copper breaks down.


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## jimdoc (May 23, 2013)

http://www.rotometals.com/product-p/zincingots.htm


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## Golddigger Greg (May 27, 2013)

resabed01 said:


> My Nitric acid arrived today. Not bad, 1 week for ground shipping via Purolator. 2.5L glass bottles for $32.00 each, much better than the $110 I found from other vendors. I'd recommend Alphachem.
> The shipping charges were killer.  Pickup if your local would be good.
> Now I need to find some pure zinc and DMG reagent.


What were the shipping fees? I'm trying to weigh my options; way too large a quantity for a good price that I can pick up vs. smaller quantity that I'm stuck paying shipping from down east on.


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## arty_glass (Jul 2, 2013)

If you are in Ontario this may be close enough for local pick up only.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1-gallon-nitric-acid-70-pure-for-gold-recovery-/261239498033


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## Lou (Jul 2, 2013)

Univar Canada.


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## kurt (Jul 4, 2013)

A lot of "diecast" is pure zinc (although some are alloyed) diecast is often mistaken for cast aluminum - you can test for this with nitric acid - both zinc & aluminum will react with HCL - however zinc will react with nitric but aluminum will not - so with a drop of nitric reaction = zinc & no reaction = aluminum & slight reaction = alloy

A lot of electrical "thin wall conduit" & junction box connectors are made of pure zinc diecast (some are iron so check them with a magnet) so check with your local electrical contractors & see if they have &/or will save them for you when they do tear outs &/or check with your local scrap yard - they may have them &/or other diecast

Pic is example of some pure zinc connectors I am talking about 

Kurt


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## SpencerJ (Today at 10:40 AM)

resabed01 said:


> Well I placed an order with Alphachem. I had a difficult time figuring out their price structure. The sales rep quoted me the wrong price to begin with and wasn't sure of sizes. I was quoted $32 for a jug (3.1Kg each?) Which they would only sell as a full case...OR...500ml bottle of 70% ACS grade for $38.22. each.
> 
> Anyways, I got some on it's way. :mrgreen:


Hey are you still in Vancouver and would be interested in selling some nitric acid and HCl?


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## FrugalRefiner (Today at 11:21 AM)

Don't hold your breath waiting for a response from resabed. He hasn't visited the forum since 2017. If you move your cursor over a member's name or avatar, a window will pop up showing you when they joined and the last time they visited.

Dave


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## goldshark (Today at 11:55 AM)

I have seen this a lot here lately, somebody saying that a certain item mentioned on this forum is what you should purchase to do a certain task. Only to have purchased a similar, but not the specified item for the needed ingredient. A simple recommendation is; ALWAYS READ THE INGREDIENTS LIST. I f you don't, you will probably make another potentially harmful, or dangerous reaction. This is a good habit to get into. Also, if you are not familiar with the chemical formulas, write what you do know about the ingredient, as you are familiar with, on the packaging. This will further alleviate any future errors in your refining.


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## Southfork (Today at 2:09 PM)

FREE delivery Jan 17 - 19 From amazon 




Aqua Fortis - 1 Liter - Alliance Chemical​4.8_4.8 out of 5 stars_ (6)
$85.00$85.00 ($2.51/Fl Oz)
Or $15.43/mo (6 mo) at 30% APR (rates from 10-30% APR)
FREE delivery Jan 19 - 20


Small Business


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## FrugalRefiner (Today at 2:15 PM)

Wow, how generous of them! Free delivery if you pay $85.00 for 1 liter of acid!

Dave


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## orvi (Today at 3:08 PM)

FrugalRefiner said:


> Wow, how generous of them! Free delivery if you pay $85.00 for 1 liter of acid!
> 
> Dave


Recently, one friend of mine (refiner) bought 50kg of tech grade 53% nitric for lower price than this 1 liter. That 50kg is roughly 37 L of 53% nitric = or equivalent of roughly 25L of 70% nitric by nitric content weight.

I see how it works, making dollar is not illegal... But I do not feel comfortable with straight rip-off.
Take for example ammonium nitrate fertilizer. It is completely made of ammonia, just one part of the molecule is oxidized ammonia to NOx gasses, adsorbed to water giving nitric acid.

Conveniently you (as regular person) can get ammonium nitrate fertilizer (in this or that form, somehow prevented of illicit use), which is essentially more "processed" and expensive nitric acid. For few euros/kg here. In bulk roughly 1000USD/ton. Contrary, there is awful lot of folks selling essentially precursor for this 1000USD/ton chemical at prices you seen - up to 85USD/L, which contain like 1 kg of actual pure nitric acid. Actually, anhydrous ammonia is more expensive, running around 1300USD/ton on the market (2022). Nitric acid (tech 50-53%) market price in september 2022 in US was around 400USD/ton (direct inquiry from factory).

So fertilizer you can access for dirt cheap, nitric acid is selled with huge huge margin to the small customer. I now wonder how much the bottle cost vs. how much actual nitric cost  if divided to 1 or 2,5L containers.


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