# how to separate gold, silver, pgm's from sulphides



## thesilverfox111 (Feb 18, 2012)

Hi guys,

I tried the search bar looking for a tutorial on how to separate the valuable metals from sulphides but it didn't return any relevant tutorials. I have ore's with a lot of sulphides in them. I'm waiting for my professional assays to come back to know the exact values I have in the ore but what I am looking for is a tutorial on how to refine the ore myself at home to see if I can get a decent home assay done also for my future hard rock prospects with sulphides. I have crushed my ore and panned it out and don't have any free gold but there are a lot of sulphides there that I would like to break down further.

I have posted a thread on the forum with some pictures of my ore's and the sulphides here: 
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=13084

I've read that the sulphides need to be burned off but I've yet to find a step by step tutorial explaining on where to go from there after the torching with the refining. I am also concerned that torching at too high a temperature could negatively affect the valuable metals etc.

Can anyone offer some guidance on where to look for the information I need to do this separation? I'm from BC Canada so also if anyone knows of any courses etc. in my area that teach these things that would be great to know about too.

Thank you


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## butcher (Feb 18, 2012)

The sulfides can be roasted red hot, I would add some iron to assist in conversion of sulfide to SO2 gas in the roasting process, do not breath these fumes.

Have you had an assay? Do you have access to tons of the materials?

To work this as a hobby can burn up some cash for little return, at least that is what seems to happen with me.


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## thesilverfox111 (Feb 20, 2012)

butcher said:


> The sulfides can be roasted red hot, I would add some iron to assist in conversion of sulfide to SO2 gas in the roasting process, do not breath these fumes.
> 
> Have you had an assay? Do you have access to tons of the materials?
> 
> To work this as a hobby can burn up some cash for little return, at least that is what seems to happen with me.



Hey Butcher thanks for replying to my post. I'm waiting for my assay results to come back from the lab. They should be in this week. I sent them samples from three different veins. 2 of them are sulphide quartz veins and the other is a milky white quartz vein with not much visible sulphides or minerals.

Yes the veins have a lot of ore and are on my claims but I don't know if they are valuable or not yet. They looked good so I staked them but I am really new to this stuff. I've been prospecting for only under a couple years now and the hard rock stuff is really new to me. I'm trying to read and learn as much as I can about the geology. I find it very interesting. I like the placer prospecting but there's just something about the hard rock that really interests me more.

I hear you about the money part of it lol. Ya hobbies can get really pricey but it only takes one good claim to make it all worth it!


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## butcher (Mar 10, 2012)

Well I sure hope you found that good claim, I mostly just play with it, but I really feel unless a feller had an awful strong back, and some cash to sink in the ground, the best he could hope for is to feed himself, on mining, especially hard rock, (and that is with the help of a deer rifle), and this is if he is not tied down by all that red tape, I feel playing with it, is easier for me than thinking of hitting any jackpot, of course I no I have never been lucky, I do not play the lottery either, I can proudly say the government has never got a dollar off of me on that scam. 
:twisted:


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