# Smelting ore. Does it work ?



## Axlrod2 (Dec 2, 2012)

I was wondering if anybody has used that smelting ore that can be bought off eBay? Does it work? Would it work just by using a torch or does it have to be a oven? Would it work on CPU pins and other pins with gold on them?


----------



## qst42know (Dec 2, 2012)

Much of what you find there is sucker bait.

Real bargains are few and far between.


----------



## butcher (Dec 2, 2012)

I would be very careful of smelting any ore, much of it can kill you, the guy selling it may not have any idea what he is selling, and may just send you a bag full of arsenic ore to poison yourself with.

If it did contain values and he knew how to get them out and make a profit he would not be selling this ore on ebay a pound at a time, he would be making the money from processing the ore, or selling it by the ton to a smelter, or paying a smelter to work for him.

Besides how many tons are you going to buy, and how many grams of values does the ore contain? how are you going to process grind, roast, froth float or leach and concentrate of these tons of ore before you get to the point of being able to smelt a crucible of this ore?

Tell him to send you a free sample, then send this sample to an assay lab, then determine how many tons of this ore you will need to get a gram of gold, then calculate how much it will cost to process it, what process would be best, how much your cost will be for all of the mining equipment needed, and chemical and waste treatment, and see if you find you can make a few dollars then buy a few trainloads of his ore, and see if you can make all of your plans work.

After all of that you may find out it is just another scam or get rich quick scheme.

I have seen on eBay before people selling ore that were selling slag from smelting processes of old mining operations claiming the ole times left gold in the slag ore, why would an amateur buy this trash off of eBay thinking they could re-smelt it at a profit, when professional miners with much better knowledge and equipment threw this material out as waste, after they collected the gold?


----------



## Axlrod2 (Dec 2, 2012)

Sorry guys I called it the wrong thing. It is smelting flux. So same question has anyone used it?


----------



## butcher (Dec 4, 2012)

Smelting flux can have many different recipe's, just picking a flux without knowing the recipe and expecting it to work on and ore (without knowing what the ore is composed of, whether it is an oxidizing or reducing ore), most likely it would not work, the recipe for you flux is usually made up according to the ore composition, although there are basics to the recipe and a common flux can be used by adjusting the contents of some of its ingredients in your flux, this is usually determined by testing the ore first, and then adjusting the flux to get the best results, you can make your own flux once you learn the different ingredients, and understand how they work chemically in the melt, and then do some experimenting to adjust the flux for best results in smelting the ore.

You did not list the ingredients and composition of the flux your talking about, or what ore you are trying to smelt, and the ores composition, so there is no telling if it would work or not, even if we knew these, it would still need tested and most likely adjusted


----------



## Ali (Jan 15, 2013)

direct smelting is a viable option both in the laboratory and in field trials. By using the right combination of borax, soda ash and silica, gold bearing black sands were smelted with relatively high recoveries. Field tests for recovery via amalgamation, heating and smelting gave an average recovery of about 88% while figures for direct smelting are above 99%. In addition, it takes a shorter time to execute.


----------



## NobleMetalWorks (Jan 15, 2013)

The more I learn about smelting and pyrometallurgical processes, the more I find myself surprised that more people are not using these techniques to process all kinds of materials, not just ores.

It seems to me it's almost a lost art in the United States in relation to precious metals.

I have learned I can reduce my processing expenses, and produce cleaner material to be refined using hydrometallurgy (acids, floatation, etc) as well as cutting out several time consuming steps.

However with all that being said, it is just as important to learn, read etc about this type of process as it is acids. If anyone is interested in these types of processes, I would suggest learning how to fire assay before. And even at that, smelting takes practice, and can be very dangerous if not done properly. Before I started smelting I went so far as to practice lifting a crucible with tongs, with sand in it, and pouring it. It's great practice and builds up the correct muscles and coordination so that you can smelt larger crucibles.

Flux recipes vary greatly depending on what you are smelting/fluxing, and for more exotic applications the flux mixtures can become quite complex, similar but different to acid mixtures.

Scott


----------

