# what to do with gold flakes?



## Anonymous (Jul 7, 2010)

I was going through a bunch of old stuff and I found a small bag (weighs about 5 grams) of "gold" flakes I probably bought as a souvenir at some point (for $10). Supposedly, there is gold in there but it's mixed with other crap (no idea what it is), so I don't know the actual gold content. Any ideas on how I should approach this (I'm new to gold recovery)?


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## Harold_V (Jul 7, 2010)

agni451 said:


> I was going through a bunch of old stuff and I found a small bag (weighs about 5 grams) of "gold" flakes I probably bought as a souvenir at some point (for $10). Supposedly, there is gold in there but it's mixed with other crap (no idea what it is), so I don't know the actual gold content. Any ideas on how I should approach this (I'm new to gold recovery)?


A real simple way would be to incinerate (to remove unwanted crap), then digest in nitric. That should remove pretty much anything that's not of value. You would then process the remains via AR, or the solvent of your choosing, to recover the values. 

Read Hoke. Lots of wonderful information in that book---which will help you understand why I recommended that particular procedure. 

Luck, and welcome to the forum. 

Harold


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## chrisv (Jul 16, 2010)

Harold_V said:


> agni451 said:
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> > I was going through a bunch of old stuff and I found a small bag (weighs about 5 grams) of "gold" flakes I probably bought as a souvenir at some point (for $10). Supposedly, there is gold in there but it's mixed with other crap (no idea what it is), so I don't know the actual gold content. Any ideas on how I should approach this (I'm new to gold recovery)?
> ...



I bought some gold leave flakes a while back off of Ebay which I wanted to fill vials up with and then resell again, but I've been way to interested in recovering gold  I noticed the the add it said that the flake wasn't suiteable for melting down. Could I just throw it in some Nirtic and then go through the AR process?


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## Barren Realms 007 (Jul 16, 2010)

chrisv said:


> Harold_V said:
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Chances are they are not gold but a form of brass. Put a little bit in HCL/clorox and do a test on it.


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## chrisv (Jul 16, 2010)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> chrisv said:
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> > Harold_V said:
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What kind of reaction would I be looking for?


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## Barren Realms 007 (Jul 16, 2010)

chrisv said:


> Barren Realms 007 said:
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A greenish color. Put a couple of flakes in HCL and see what happens. If you get no color change right then you might want to heat it up a little bit.


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## g_axelsson (Jul 16, 2010)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> A greenish color. Put a couple of flakes in HCL and see what happens. If you get no color change right then you might want to heat it up a little bit.



That would only prove that there is some base metals present, not if there are gold or not. On the other hand if it dissolves totally without leaving any golden trace there were no gold gold to start with. 

I suggest that for a bit more rigorous test you take a couple of gold flakes, add a few drops of HCl and clorox to take all metals into solution. The color changes would be the same but now you can test the solution with stannous chloride to see if there are any gold there. Then you will know with certainty if there is any gold or not.

/Göran


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## Barren Realms 007 (Jul 16, 2010)

g_axelsson said:


> Barren Realms 007 said:
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> > A greenish color. Put a couple of flakes in HCL and see what happens. If you get no color change right then you might want to heat it up a little bit.
> ...



That is a better plan than mine.


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## Harold_V (Jul 17, 2010)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> That is a better plan than mine.


Yes, it is, and is the message that should be being conveyed, so others can learn. Testing is every bit as important as knowing refining procedures. As I've said before, stannous chloride is the eyes of the refiner. 

It's all in Hoke.

Harold


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## nickvc (Jul 17, 2010)

If you have access to nitric acid that would be a better test as the only other metal that has colour is copper which will dissolve very easily in nitric and if there is nothing left after the test it wasn't gold to begin with


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## g_axelsson (Jul 17, 2010)

nickvc, I don't agree with you there.

Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence.

There are a number of other substances other than metal that can form a golden layer. How about aluminum foil colored with a thin layer in the oxide. The aluminum oxide wouldn't dissolve and would look like thin gold flakes. And if the gold is really thin on top of another metal, then the foil could look like it's been dissolved but the gold ends up as a thin mud on the bottom of the beaker, hard to spot.

I rather take a positive or negative gold test over any base metal test when testing for gold.

/Göran


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## nickvc (Jul 17, 2010)

Goran I'm sure your right but as a first test I would still test with nitric and that eliminates most metals which appear to be coloured gold and if anything is left test further.


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## g_axelsson (Jul 17, 2010)

nickvc, ok I would probably do that too as a quick test, then a drop of HCl would create AR and that could be tested in just minutes with stannous chloride.

It all depends on which chemicals you got at the moment.

There is more than one way to skin a cat.

:lol:

/Göran


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