# Filtering and Washing Dropped Gold



## EWasteRecycle (Apr 7, 2013)

Hi everyone, I am very thankful and appreciative of all of your advice and wisdom. I have learned a great deal from you all and from your recommended reading and video watching. I have read through the forum endlessly, am reading Hoke's excellent book, and have watched countless Youtube videos only finding one brief mention of the steps I'm looking for. 

I am processing an ounce and a half of clean cut gold fingers and am following LazerSteve's Fingerscrap video every step. On step four Precipitation he explains clearly how to drop the gold out of the AuCl3 with SMB and water. This chapter of the video ends with the gold dropped to the bottom of that mixture. The video then goes to the next chapter Melting, and clearly shows the process for melting the (previously, but not shown) cleaned and dried gold powder. 

The only piece missing is how to get the dropped gold out of the AuCl3 with SMB and water solution, clean it and dry it. At the beginning of chapter four 'Precipitation' it says in the chapters introduction: "...The dissolved gold will be forced out of the solution by this reagent as a brown powder. After the gold is filtered out of the solution the powder is thoroughly washed several times with hot water and boiled in Muriatic Acid. The final wash should be made with hot water..."

Would someone please explain step by step how do I filter it out of the solution?
How do I thoroughly wash it several times with hot water and Muriatic Acid? 
Does that mean hot water and Muriatic mixed together at the same time, or is that two different steps?
And then to finish how do I do the final wash with hot water?
How do I dry it?

Thank you in advance.
EWasteRecycle


----------



## FrugalRefiner (Apr 7, 2013)

EWasteRecycle,

Welcome to the forum.

You are wise to want to clean your gold thoroughly before you melt. Several of our members have posted on their washing techniques. One of the most detailed explanations was provided by Harold_V. Here's a link to the thread: Getting pure gold (shining). Scroll down till you see Harold_V's post.

If you want to find others' procedures you can use the search function in the upper right hand corner.

That should answer a lot of questions for you.

Dave


----------



## butcher (Apr 7, 2013)

Frugal beat me to the answer, I type too slow.

I normally let it sit overnight after adding the SMB to be sure all gold has had a chance to get to the bottom, the gold is precipitated as a brown powder, which will settle to the bottom of your beaker, you need to test the remaining liquid with the stannous chloride test to be sure you have precipitated all of the gold from solution, then decant the solution, this can be done by carefully pouring or ciphering off the liquid, I use a suction bulb tool and a pipette to remove liquid from the gold, at this point I do not filter (fine gold can get stuck in filter paper) all of my filtering was done before precipitation, the gold powder can be washed using Harold’s instructions in the thread getting pure gold (shining) in the help needed section.
I would wash and dry the powders in the beaker only moving liquids.
I have a small electric coffee mug warmer (similar to an electric coffee pot burner), that I like to do may washes on the heat seems just right for me.

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=325&hilit=gold+shining
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=6861&p=61491#p61491


----------



## kkmonte (Apr 7, 2013)

Butcher / et al

After I precipitate my gold and i'm doing my washes, I seem to have a very small amount of super fine gold floating on the water or acid. Hoke says not to worry about this as its such a miniscule amount. I usually still dump this wash water and wash acid through a coffee filter and then just add the filter to my filter pile. Is that a good thing to do? Or should I just dump it in my "Used SMB" bucket and then recover gold with copper prior to disposing?

Thanks.


----------



## butcher (Apr 7, 2013)

kkmonte,

You can deal with it any way that suits you the best,

Try catching it in a filter when you decant...
Send it to the stock pot and get it later...
A drop of detergent to remove surface tension and the gold should drop to the bottom...

But most important, try to keep it from happening to begin with, oils removed when you incinerate your material before recovery, good technique of base metal and trash removal, very clean glass ware, not even oil from fingerprints on the glass...


----------



## kkmonte (Apr 7, 2013)

Thanks for tips Butcher, I tried the drop of "Dawn" dish detergent, that seemed to work when I did it. I also read that it could be the oils from your fingerprints that could cause it, so i'll definitely be alot more aware of this when i'm cleaning my glassware in the future.


----------



## EWasteRecycle (Apr 7, 2013)

Thanks Dave/FrugalRefiner and Butcher. I will read the link by Harold right now.


----------



## EWasteRecycle (Apr 8, 2013)

Hi guys, I read through Harold's post and the other two links, one by Steve. I had previously read Harold's post at least twice. I've read the search procedures and all instructions for using the forum and have read the two books, and on and on, I've read and read. I have searched the forum using every keyword I could possibly try over the past two days, almost eight hours each day, and haven't found what I'm looking for. 

I still do not understand much of what is being said in answer to my questions from the links you pointed me to.  I'm looking for a step by step answer for my specific situation. I know it's a pain in the butt, but I think it will be so beneficial for all of the newbies that use Steve's Fingerscrap video and also get stopped cold by the missing info.

The core of Harold's post only creates many more unanswered questions about each of his steps. I'll give a brief example, my questions are in ().



Harold_V said:


> First wash should be in boiling HCL and tap water. (What are the steps to get the gold out of the AuCl3 with SMB and water solution which is in a glass container exactly like in Steve's video? Do I filter it or just pour off the top liquid? Next how much HCL and how much tap water?) Boil for a prolonged period of time. (Approx. how long? Ten minutes, 24 hours, etc.?) Take up the solution with tap water, (What does take up the solution with tap water mean?) decant after the gold has settled, then rinse with tap water, which should again be brought to a boil...



I have several questions for each of his steps and decided not to type them all into the entire paragraph I was going to quote, because it would get ridiculous. I'll do anything for detailed step by step help from someone who uses Steve's very informative DVD for processing gold fingers.

Thanks again for your effort, time and wisdom 8) 
EWasteRecycle


----------



## kkmonte (Apr 8, 2013)

This is what I do:

For the first refining process, after you have dropped all your gold and confirmed there is no more dissolved gold in the solution, decant off the solution, then put in some fresh HCL in the beaker. Cover with a watch glass and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Take off heat, let cool a little bit, remove watch glass and again decant as much solution as possible without dumping out gold dust. Dump the solution through a filter in case any fine gold goes with it. Then do this (boiling with HCL) another 2 times, again dumping off the HCL between each time (this helps remove any left over base metals). Once you have boiled three times in HCL (for 5 min each), then do the same thing with distilled water. (3) 5 minute boils decanting solution after each boil (this helps remove any left over salts).


----------



## EWasteRecycle (Apr 8, 2013)

Excellent, thank you very much. I will let you know the progress and outcome, if you care to know it.


----------



## robertismo (Mar 14, 2014)

Ewasterecycle,
thank you for asking this question and being diligent about finding details to these very relevant questions. People like you and obviously those with the knowledge make educating one's self so much easier.


----------



## Pantherlikher (Mar 15, 2014)

Yes, definately great you seek out any answers before askingand making another set of posts. 

I think it a good idea on the first HCL wash/boil to add a few drops of AP solution. I do this when "collecting" the sponge. Would this aid in removing base metals or add to contaminants? AP solution dissolves copper so my first assumption would be an aid to the washes but you are also adding a base metal solution to your refined gold?

Something I've been pondering and still can't deside when you are refinning the sponge into pure.

B.S.


----------



## samuel-a (Mar 17, 2014)

EWasteRecycle, 

See this video, from about 2:20


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7tcF_8zskg


----------



## necromancer (Mar 17, 2014)

always wondered.......

is that your voice ??


----------

