# Some of my work.



## lazersteve (Feb 28, 2007)

Greetings to All,

Here is a snapshot of some of my work. I try to process a minimum of 5 lbs of scrap per batch using an acid peroxide mix. It works very well on fingers, pins, cpus and even discrete SMT components. I dissolve the base metals, wash three times, and use borax flux when melting. I pour the molten gold into a rod mold to form the pieces in the photo.

http://img401.imageshack.us/my.php?image=goldrods2zd0.jpg



I also process using an eletroltytic cell. It produces very pure gold and excellent yields. 

If you guys like I can post more images soon.

Steve


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## jmelson (Feb 28, 2007)

lazersteve said:


> Greetings to All,
> 
> Here is a snapshot of some of my work. I try to process a minimum of 5 lbs of scrap per batch using an acid peroxide mix.


How much pure gold do you get from a 5-lb batch of the scrap?

I have concentrated the scrap as much as possible. I have sawed the edge fingers off, and used a chisel to shear off the gold-plated wire-wrap pins from a bunch of old mainframe computer backplanes. The card fingers have pretty decent gold/base metal ratios, but the WW pins have a lot of brass or something like that under the gold. I think the Techni-Strip Au process is ideal for them. Has anyone else done a mass of wire-wrap pins or similar material with an acid process?

Your picture is VERY impressive, as I have run quite a lot, maybe 10 - 15 Lbs of card edges through so far, and have a bit over 10 g of gold. Somewhat disappointing!



> I also process using an eletroltytic cell. It produces very pure gold and excellent yields.


I'd like to get details of this cell you are using.

Thanks,


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## lazersteve (Feb 28, 2007)

jmelson,

When I process fingers I always separate out the various grades and types before I put them in the mix. The best yields come from memory stick edges and slot 1 cpu edges. These types of fingers yield between 11 and 15 grams per five pound batch. The ISA and PCI fingers don't do as well, usually between 8 and 10 grams per five pounds. The ISA fingers that have wide gaps between the gold and not plated on both side do the worst and yield less than 8 grams per five pound batch. The gold I produce from these runs has been fire assayed at 99%+ by a refinery.

I've tried several methods for the wire wrap pins you asked about, everything from Ferric Chloride to 70% Nitric acid. The best thing I've found for them is the electolytic method ( "reverse plating" ). This method is time consuming, but gives excellent yields and purity. Pins usually produce between 1 and 3 grams of Au per pound depending on the quality of the batch.

Your yields for the fingers sounds very low, about 30% of what what I get for the same amount. A lot depends on the quality of the edges you started out with. Another hidden factor is the amount of Au lost to the acid bath. Are you using Stannous Chloride to test your solution before you process it for discarding?

The electrolytic cell I use is from a set of plans I bought from a great guy on ebay, his ebay name is Loren320. The other two guys on ebay selling these things are copy cats and way too expensive. Loren has been around for a long time and I can vouch for his product first hand. I have modified Lorens cell in several ways. I'll share these mods with this board if anyone gets a set of Lorens plans and wants some tips.

Noxx, I'm glad you formed this forum. I hope you get a lot of new members so we can all expand our knowledge further!

Steve


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## Noxx (Feb 28, 2007)

Thanks for your support lazersteve !
As I can see, you refined a lot more gold than I. I only use the aqua regie method.
Also, could you ask Loren to come on our forum and discuss about his technique ?
Thanks


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## lazersteve (Feb 28, 2007)

Noxx,

Loren has started his own gold mine business. He has sent me an invitation to come dig a real gold mine. With the package deal he provides access to an active gold dig site, multiple days camping, and the opportunity to hunt for gold away from the main group after hours. The group digs during the days and splits the groups placer findings after the week long outing is over. My wife and I have talked about going there one of the seasons as a vacation. For this reason he may be unavailable, but I'll give him a shout on your behalf.

Steve


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## Noxx (Feb 28, 2007)

Digging gold should be very fun !
Thanks for your support and could you put some other pictures :lol:
(Of your renverse plating cell)
Just edit your first post with new pics.


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## PRECIOUS METALS (Mar 1, 2007)

BESIDES AQUA REGIA DOES ANY BODY KNOW A BETTER WAY TO REFINE TO GET A HIGHER YIELD,FOR PINS DO YOU FINE IT BETTER TO USE ACID AND HYDROGEN


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## Noxx (Mar 1, 2007)

You can use nitric acid or just HCl to eat the base metals...


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## lazersteve (Mar 1, 2007)

I just made a post on the Help Needed section to cure the curiosity of the general population on the subject. I invite all to put in their replys to the chart.

Steve


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## Noxx (Mar 1, 2007)

I just replied !
P.S. I would be great if you could put pictures of what you've done.
Thanks


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## Harold_V (Mar 2, 2007)

Noxx said:


> You can use nitric acid or just HCl to eat the base metals...



Depends on what you're processing. Yellow gold is typically alloyed with some percentage of silver--as is green gold. When using HCL, the silver present will prevent dissolution of other base metals---assuming they will dissolve in HCL Not all do. I'm not aware of any reasonable substitute for nitric. 

Harold


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## joem (Aug 5, 2010)

lazersteve said:


> The electrolytic cell I use is from a set of plans I bought from a great guy on ebay, his ebay name is Loren320. The other two guys on ebay selling these things are copy cats and way too expensive. Loren has been around for a long time and I can vouch for his product first hand. I have modified Lorens cell in several ways. I'll share these mods with this board if anyone gets a set of Lorens plans and wants some tips.



I have also bought his plan. I lead me to here.


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## Harkey1 (May 28, 2011)

hey Steve, 
I have returned. I am on summer break, sorta. But I am back at the refining hobby. I saw a post on several other sites about the electrolytic process. I have even seen some "machines" that are used for this process. I have looked for Loren320's plans on Ebay with no luck. Can you tell me how to get in touch with him so that I can purchase it?
Thanks


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## Harkey1 (May 31, 2011)

Nix the last question...I found it. Thanks. Now on to more reading.
Thanks


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