# Wet Magnetic Removal Of Iron In Ash



## NoIdea (Mar 10, 2012)

Hi All - just thought i would share this.

Removing magnetic fractions of finely divided ashed powder can be a very dusty process, not to mention the non-magnetic fines being trapped.

The magnets are from harddrives, they are arranged in that patern to allow non-magnetic bits to flow past in the water wash. Like you would with a gold pan.





Hope this makes someone's life a wee bit easyer, not much but it works a treat for Me. 8) 

A Magnetic Sluice :mrgreen: 

Cheers

Deano


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## oldgeek (Mar 11, 2012)

Pretty slick, I like it!


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## NoIdea (Mar 11, 2012)

oldgeek said:


> Pretty slick, I like it!



Thanks oldgeek: not much, but sometimes keeping it simple works best. :lol: 

Cheers

Deano


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## mdghamon (Mar 12, 2012)

You, Sir are a most inventive individual...I will use this novel idea in the future, with your permission of course. Mike


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## NoIdea (Mar 13, 2012)

mdghamon said:


> You, Sir are a most inventive individual...I will use this novel idea in the future, with your permission of course. Mike



Thanks Mike: knock your self out. :lol: Pleased to see someone elses live can be made a little bit easyer, takes a bit to get used to, making sure nothing of any important is traped.

Cheers

Deano


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## Harold_V (Mar 13, 2012)

NoIdea said:


> mdghamon said:
> 
> 
> > You, Sir are a most inventive individual...I will use this novel idea in the future, with your permission of course. Mike
> ...


The recovered magnetic particles should be introduced to the stock pot, where they will be dissolved, serving a useful purpose, all the while returning any trapped values. 

Harold


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## mdghamon (Mar 14, 2012)

Spot on Harold, I'm depopulating almost 4 tons of assorted boards and all the metals are sorted and stored in individual containers. This idea simplifies the process for me and is greatly appreciated, as is your always welcome input. Wish I could hook up your brain to a computer that could store your knowlege, but I'm afraid they don't make one big enough. Mike


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## glondor (Mar 14, 2012)

Harold, Why did you always use iron in your stock pot rather than copper? Is there an advantage over copper? Or was it just to recover trace values from the iron?


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## NoIdea (Mar 14, 2012)

Hello - I would imagine most if not all the iron (in my case) is in the form of one oxide or another which is still magnetic. I would like to refrain from using acid on the iron oxides to recover any of my trapped values, litharge is one option. 

Other "helpful" options would be muchly appreciated :mrgreen: 

Cheers

Deano


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## Geo (Mar 14, 2012)

NoIdea said:


> Hello - I would imagine most if not all the iron (in my case) is in the form of one oxide or another which is still magnetic. I would like to refrain from using acid on the iron oxides to recover any of my trapped values, litharge is one option.
> 
> Other "helpful" options would be muchly appreciated :mrgreen:
> 
> ...



here's how i would go about it. place all the magnetic material in a plastic container and leave it open to the elements and let nature take its course. in a short while any iron will convert to iron oxide and given enough time bacteria will consume that. stir it up occasionally to let oxygen to the bottom of the heap.


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## 4metals (Mar 14, 2012)

Why would you choose litharge over acid? That involves a kiln, and lead fumes and cupellation. Isn't an acid leach simpler? Especially if the acid is a stock pot.


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## NoIdea (Mar 15, 2012)

Thanks for the reply's.

Acid is valuable to me, for those times where nothing else will work, AP for example. Lead is plenty and i like using it, using appropriote precaution of course.

I like my furnaces and will spend hours melting, fuel is no bearer, time for me is plentiful, and one would think i would have accomplished allot more by now. :roll: 

I could use old battery sulphuric acid to remove the iron oxides, another option i guess.

Hmmm what to do what to do.

Cheers

Deano


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## DONNZ (Mar 15, 2012)

Magnets are handy. The one pictured is from a speaker. Rare earth magnets should be saved. Price projection to double in the next 10 years or less. 

Sample article: Rare earth metal recycling

http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/425/1/Rare-earth-metal-recycling.html

Rare earth metal recycling - urban mining
 
The recycling of rare earth metals is in its infancy - only around 1% is currently reclaimed. However, some companies have seen the writing on the wall and are making solid inroads in setting up recycling operations, including Hitachi; who have set up a line to separate and collect rare earth magnets from computer hard drives and compressors.
  
The rare earth issue is another reason we need to recycle our electronic equipment rather than sending it to landfill. While the air conditioner we drop off for recycling may not be harvested for its rare earth metals just yet; that day may be just around the corner - so it's good to get in the habit now. 

Rare earth metal applications
 
Rare earth metals are used in many electronic and electrical devices - even some products that have a relatively short life-span, such as plasma TV's.


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## DONNZ (Mar 16, 2012)

Rare earth magnets: Questions

I hope that made you stop and thing about something you may be selling that has value. 
If your crushing hard drives and reselling them as scrap you know how readily they sell. Their story is they are recovering the gold and silver. True they are, but is this a secondary reason they buy so quickly?

Rare earth magnets could be the real reason. Money that you maybe giving away.

And the best part of rare earth metals is you only need to collect them, no processing needed. 

Photo of some magnets:
http://www.dansdata.com/magnets.htm

Pulling apart a desktop hard drive to get rare earth magnets.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Pulling-apart-a-desktop-hard-drive-to-get-rare-ear/

Of course if your crushing, they may just fall out. 

Other question one should be asking:

Who controls the market: China
Does the US have the minerals: Yes
Are they mining it: No
Will they mine: Maybe, give them 10 more years


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## Harold_V (Mar 17, 2012)

glondor said:


> Harold, Why did you always use iron in your stock pot rather than copper? Is there an advantage over copper? Or was it just to recover trace values from the iron?


I used iron for more than one reason. For one, it reacts better than copper, although copper will do the job. 

When I sent solutions to the stock pot, I knew that anything that would be recovered would be done in the furnace. Armed with that idea, I hoped to have base metals act as a collector. The vast majority of base metals would have been removed in previous operations, so not a lot of copper was collected, so I didn't have an overwhelming amount to process, but its collecting value proved to be of benefit. It also would reduce any silver chloride that may have found its way to the stock pot, which was most likely because of the ammonium hydroxide washes to which my recovered gold was subjected. All in all, for me, it worked, and very well. 

By contrast, if an individual intends to make recoveries from the stock pot chemically, perhaps copper is a preferred choice. It obviously is capable of recovering the platinum metals along with gold. I don't know if silver chloride would be reduced with copper, however. That question might be worth pursuing, assuming you allow silver chloride to enter the stock pot. 

Harold


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## Lobby (Mar 21, 2012)

It would appear to me that another reason to use iron would be that it drops copper, allowing you to dispose of the water in a more environmentally friendly manner.

That said, I haven't done this yet (will do so in the next few days, as I try to find some gold yield losses), and am concerned about chemically processing the dropped metals from the solution, potentially containing iron.


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## Marcel (Mar 21, 2012)

Fantastic yet simple idea. Thumps up and let me copy that one , one day ;-)


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## butcher (Mar 22, 2012)

Extra-Extra, Read all about it.
Found in dealing with waste, flagged in the safety section.


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