# Gold Extraction from Plant Material (Phytomining)



## DKEL (May 29, 2011)

I would like to raise the concept of gold refining from plant material such an woody plants or even herbaceous crops.
This falls within the topic of Phytomining.
On a laboratory scale wet ashing is possible.
On a large scale wet ashing doesn not appear practical or economical.
Dry ashing (combustion) posses problems. Due to the nature of the gold in the plant material, large proportions are lost in the combustion process.
I have been trying to find ways to work around these issues but have not found much useful information online.
Any thoughts?


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## Harold_V (May 29, 2011)

DKEL said:


> I would like to raise the concept of gold refining from plant material such an woody plants or even herbaceous crops.
> This falls within the topic of Phytomining.
> On a laboratory scale wet ashing is possible.
> On a large scale wet ashing doesn not appear practical or economical.
> ...


Only one, and please accept my comment in the spirit in which it is offered. 

Lose the idea. 

There are many sources that will provide gold for you to process. Recovering gold from plant matter is akin to hoping to recover gold from ocean water. Why spend a lifetime pursuing ghosts, where there are real sources at your disposal?

I am speaking from the perspective of one that made the pursuit of gold refining profitable. I dealt with reality, and processes known to work. 

If, by chance, your objective is to do research, and you have little interest in accumulating gold, I'm all wet. It is important for you to make decisions about what you expect from your venture. I had a sense of direction. 

Harold


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## qst42know (May 29, 2011)

DKEL said:


> I would like to raise the concept of gold refining from plant material such an woody plants or even herbaceous crops.
> This falls within the topic of Phytomining.
> On a laboratory scale wet ashing is possible.
> On a large scale wet ashing doesn not appear practical or economical.
> ...



There is quite a bit of reading on the open web regarding bioaccumulation of minerals. If you are into that sort of thing you might seek a research grant as the field may be a long way from self supporting.

Awhile back I read a patent for recovering precious metals from the ash of coal fired power plants. I haven't heard of anyone getting this in operation though. Coal being a huge accumulation of plant mater if there was a recoverable amount of gold I suspect the power companies would have been all over this already.


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## Irons (May 29, 2011)

You might find this interesting:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,851097,00.html

Now, all you have to do is find an economical method of removing the silica.


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## qst42know (May 29, 2011)

There you go, horsetail grown in coal ash beds! :mrgreen:


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## Harold_V (May 30, 2011)

Irons said:


> You might find this interesting:
> 
> http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,851097,00.html
> 
> Now, all you have to do is find an economical method of removing the silica.


Heh!
Take note of the values discussed. This article must reflect a finding that came no less than 45 years ago. To imply that 4½ ounces of gold has a value of only $157.50 speaks volumes about how long this concept has been known----but I've yet to read about anyone achieving success in growing gold. 

Harold


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## qst42know (May 30, 2011)

In small print below the title. I didn't see it until you brought it up.

Science: Growing Gold
Monday, Mar. 03, 1941

I suppose the trick would be finding soil full of gold so near the surface that the roots could reach but that hadn't been scooped up and hauled away already.

This may be something a prospector could put to use for locating near the surface gold, testing the horsetail?


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## DKEL (Jun 3, 2011)

Thankyou Harold_V. I appreciate your comments and understand your angle. I am in general agreement. I have done some sums and cant see anything profitable coming out of the phtyomining approach for the time being.

I have recently been looking at the topic coming from the topic of biogeochemical mapping. It is true that under certain circumstances the monitoring of gold in plant material can be used to map areas and locate potential hot spots indicating links to subsurface structure. 

Some of the work of W E Baker is of interest, in particular the idea of gold being transported in humic acid complexes.

As I am a laboratory chemist I looked further into the analysis side of things and the problem of gold loss during dry ashing. 

I continue to believe that any plant material, being a very concentration source of precious metal, needs to be broken down in a very inexpensive way as the initial plant matter volumes would be just too large. Laboratory procedures simply dont scale up in this circumstance.

I have since looked more into the idea of combustion. Potentially very cheap (just light a match). Further to the approach is the idea to actually lose the precious metal but then reclaim it from the exhaust fumes. Potentially a combination of wet scrubbing and/or electrostatic precipitation.

Has anyway had much to do with these or similar techniques?


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## shadybear (Jun 3, 2011)

I read somewhere that people have done some experimenting in the type of plants that
pick up the most gold I heard alfalfa had good results and some discussion of
tree leaves in gold areas gathered from the ground in the fall, all required a 
burning and then process the ashes.I would say figure out how to reduce the volume
by other means then combustion would be the wa to go.


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## Shecker (Jun 3, 2011)

I thought I would just throw this in. I once read of a rancher in Oregon who was trying to find someone to run the manure form his cows. Somebody got the bright idea of testing it and they found it was averaging two ounces of gold per ton. 

Just a thought.

Randy in Gunnison


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## shadybear (Jun 3, 2011)

There is the answer!!
plant alfalfa put steers in to eat the alfalfa collect the manure
burn it for heat and hotwater process the ashes.
Eat the steers or sell them, gold would be exxtra


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## DKEL (Jun 4, 2011)

I'm not sure how serious to take some of these comments but thanks anyway. lol
Whilst various forms of process integration are great, a key issue remains, gold in plant mateiral is lost to the atmosphere upon combustion. 
I have read a link has been noticed between gold loss on combustion and the silica level in the plant material. This is annoying as a potential target plant species, Bracken Fern (Brake), is a known high silica plant.
I continue to lean towards as exhaust gas scrubbing procedure.


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## Harold_V (Jun 4, 2011)

DKEL said:


> Has anyway had much to do with these or similar techniques?


Not being a chemist, I may not understand fully what that entails, but I processed polishing wastes from manufacturing jewelers by a similar process, as well as carpets. 

Incineration is very much a part of refining----and in the case of polishing wastes produces colloidal gold. It goes without saying that some is lost in the gasses that are produced, but I worked in a filtered hood that reclaimed the minor losses to a great degree. I made that determination by inspecting the discharge above the filter. Deposits before the filter were obvious, while there was a conspicuous absence of any beyond the filter. A bag house would likely reclaim virtually 100% of the losses.

Harold


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## Arrowood (Jul 30, 2011)

Instead of incinerating the plants, perhaps you can dissolve them. People are already using hydrophilic ionic liquids to dissolve cellulose and it looks like there are many other potential uses. From what I just learned about them,.. its "green" technology too. Here is a link to a pdf about reclaiming them by filtration. 

http://www.google.com/search?q=hydrophilic+ionic+liquids&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a#q=hydrophilic+ionic+liquids&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&prmd=ivns&ei=DG40TquzD8fRiALKkfXDCA&start=40&sa=N&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=da8c3ab7508c4c6a&biw=1262&bih=629


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## DKEL (Aug 28, 2011)

Thanks for you reply Arrowood. An interesting concept. It has got me onto a completely different line of investigation. Thanks


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## old thompson (Sep 5, 2011)

Are any of you guys tobacco users? I grow my own to help beat the taxes. I could send out some Golden Burley seeds to aybody that wants them. If you use tobacco it is kind of like growing money.  

Probably shouldn't grow it near your lab though, I've been told that it will pick up some metals!!!!


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## johnny309 (Sep 8, 2011)

Send some tabacco seeds....
I promise I'll keep away my metalls.....I prefer to see my metalls in solids not in smoke.

P.S. No joke ...I'll still want some tabacco seeds.


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