# just a theory prove me wrong?



## Paperchaser (Sep 16, 2014)

so ive been thinking while reading about the chemical process and i had an theory what if instead of using these chemicals you crush the boards down to a powder freeing any gold on them then place them in a sluice box or pan them like you would paydirt....in a perfect world the heavy stuff(gold and other precious metals) would go to the bottom as the plastic and other junk just floats away...this process would have to be done in a controlled water flow to insure the plastics staying out of our streams and stuff but a simple garden hose would keep a constant water flow to make a sluice box work....let me know what you guys think thank you 


p.s. i was reading a process i found on instructables and i was going to give it a shot and was wondering where to find tin metal powder or tin metal shot if anyone knows a place to get in online that would be great im in colorado so a local place would be even better


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## Claudie (Sep 16, 2014)

I got some from ebay. :|


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## mls26cwru (Sep 17, 2014)

two things: 

1) do a forum search for: "gold inside chips". We call it the Patnor method here

2) forget about the Instuructables website... for too many people there do not have a clue what they are talking about, or leave out info, or do not give sound safety advice.

oh, and welcome to the forum 

Mike

EDIT 1: Just realized you said "boards" and not "chips." Pulverizing boards would be near impossible due to the resilancy or the epoxy resins and the fiber matrix. Most large scale refiners of PCB's will grind their baords to a pulp before starting to process them.
EDIT 2: forgot about the tin... you should be able to find plumbing solder at any hardware store... look for one with a high Sn (tin) content and low Pb (lead)


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## butcher (Sep 17, 2014)

Much of the powdered gold would float off, with the rest of the powdered junk.
It is not a perfect world.


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## rickbb (Sep 17, 2014)

And most of the gold is plated to copper or bonded with/into epoxy, silicon, ceramics or other such. And the gold is in very thin layers, (as in microscopic thin). Grinding to a power the gold would still be plated or bonded to the substrate material in the dust.

If grinding and floatation worked, we would all be doing it.


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## Geo (Sep 17, 2014)

It's hard to believe that if you could peel the gold from one piece whole, you would be able to see light through it. The gold plate is so very thin that when it's free from all the substrate, it is very brittle and breaks up into dust, fine dust. It is light enough and flat that water can carry it very easily.


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## Auggie (Sep 18, 2014)

If you could crush the boards down to a powder then you'd want to use chemical extraction at that point. But you'd want to make sure you eliminated most of the base metals so that your chemical consumption would not be uneconomical.


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## 4metals (Sep 18, 2014)

Back in the late '80's I was preparing jewelers sweeps by the usual method of burn, crush and sift to prepare a -80 mesh dust for sampling and assay. We usually trucked the drums of prepared sweeps down to Degussa who used to have a facility in New Jersey. There was never an issue with the assay result being indicative of the actual gold quantity in the material so we knew exactly how much to expect. 

But the turn around time was 2 weeks and I was looking for quicker to help with cash flow. I bought a wave table because of the reviews they received from the mining community. 

I set up the table and ran the assayed dust over the table and never ever recovered all that was in there, in fact I never got over 60%. I equate what happened to me to what would happen to you if you pursued this theory. It turns out that rock and ore fractures along the gold / mineral interface in the material separating the often microscopic gold particles completely from the mineral of the ore. Because of this the true density of the material allows separation on the table. 

The material I produced (and I feel you will produce) did not cleanly fracture the gold from the incinerated material it was held in contact with, so it allowed the material to be carried off the table. I was able to collect the liquid coming off the table, filter, dry, recrush and re-assay the material and find the gold that was not on the table but it added a huge un-economical step. 

Not being one to give up too quickly, I began to experiment with smaller particle sizes all the way down to -200 mesh. The finest materials yielded the highest results but never surpassing 60% effective. 

Back then, without the benefit of the internet as it exists today to advertise this thing, the market for a used micron mill table in Manhattan was pretty slim. It ended up in a dumpster. 

I think this qualifies as a failed experiment testing your theory.


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## bswartzwelder (Sep 27, 2014)

The solder used on the boards would most likely not pulverize into a powder. Try it on a small sample of the boards and you'll see what I mean. Also, the solder that was used, was applied hot. It is bonded to the copper or gold underneath. Good luck. If it was possible or even worked a little bit, you can be sure someone here has tried it, yet you see no posts advising of using this great method. 

Let us know if you can find a way to get it to work.


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