# Nitric with amalgam, strange reaction.



## Anonymous (Apr 12, 2008)

8) I have used nitric before to disolve the amalgam I have accumulated so I could melt down the Gold.

This time I had a strange reaction when I poured the nitric and disolved mercury into a beaker... it immediately started to form a white crystal, it looked like salt in the bottom of the beaker.

Does anyone know what this white precipitate is?

When the mercury was disolving I noticed a yellow mist, I assumed that was sulfides and I noticed a blue misty color also.(what was that?)

The amount of amalgam I had should have produced 3 DWTS of Gold, but I wound up with .700 DWT
Here are some pics of the amalgam after I added the Nitric and one before.

Any info is appreciated, Thank you


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## Harold_V (Apr 12, 2008)

Needle said:


> 8) I have used nitric before to disolve the amalgam I have accumulated so I could melt down the Gold.


"Amalgam" isn't giving us much input. What is the nature of the amalgam?

I trust you're talking about gold, yet the picture you posted appears to be a button of silver, or a silver colored element. ??

This time I had a strange reaction when I poured the nitric and disolved mercury into a beaker... it immediately started to form a white crystal, it looked like salt in the bottom of the beaker.



> Does anyone know what this white precipitate is?



Again, if you'd provide more information, it might prove quite helpful. For example, if you placed dental amalgam in nitric, you'd expect to get a cream colored substance-----it's the tin in the amalgam. 



> When the mercury was disolving I noticed a yellow mist, I assumed that was sulfides and I noticed a blue misty color also.(what was that?)



Source of the amalgam, please. If it's dental in nature, the blue color is to be expected. I'm not sure I know what the yellow mist might be, but it could be nothing more than very dilute fumes coming from the nitric acid. 



> The amount of amalgam I had should have produced 3 DWTS of Gold, but I wound up with .700 DWT
> Here are some pics of the amalgam after I added the Nitric and one before.
> 
> Any info is appreciated, Thank you



Can you explain why you expected 3 dwts of gold? That might help with a reply. 

Harold


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## Anonymous (Apr 12, 2008)

I have a hard rock claim, I grind the ore as fine as 50 to 100 mesh.

The nature of the amalgam is fine gold from a concentrate of this Hard Rock Ore, I place the fine gold with the Mercury and it goes into the mercury to form an amalgam.

As I stated before I have done this process before and never had this reaction with the Mercury forming the white precipitate after the Nitric and disolved Mercury were poured off the gold in the dish.

I expected 3 DWTS of Gold , because of the size of the amalgam button.

Twice before when I did this same procedure with that size of amalgam I got 3 DWTS of Gold (give or take a few Grains).

The more I think about it, the white precipitate could be Silver, I was noticing a lot of white looking pyrites in my concentrate and it must have been Silver Sulfide. Thanks 8)


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## Harold_V (Apr 12, 2008)

Needle said:


> I have a hard rock claim, I grind the ore as fine as 50 to 100 mesh.
> 
> The nature of the amalgam is fine gold from a concentrate of this Hard Rock Ore, I place the fine gold with the Mercury and it goes into the mercury to form an amalgam.


Thanks. That makes sense, but my mind was clouded by my experience with dental amalgam. 



> As I stated before I have done this process before and never had this reaction with the Mercury forming the white precipitate after the Nitric and dissolved Mercury were poured off the gold in the dish.


Unfortunately, I've never had the experience at all. It doesn't help that I was self taught (using Hoke's book for guidance) in refining. If things get the least bit out of the ordinary, I'm lost. I have no chemical background aside from refining precious metals. 



> I expected 3 DWTS of Gold , because of the size of the amalgam button.
> 
> Twice before when I did this same procedure with that size of amalgam I got 3 DWTS of Gold (give or take a few Grains).
> 
> The more I think about it, the white precipitate could be Silver, I was noticing a lot of white looking pyrites in my concentrate and it must have been Silver Sulfide. Thanks 8)


It would be easy enough to determine if it was silver chloride, if you have reason to think that's what it might be. Your observations may be spot on---wish I was smart enough to know. How about a report when you figure things out? 

Harold


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## Palladium (Apr 12, 2008)

Won't silver chloride turn purple when exposed to direct sunlight ?


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## Anonymous (Apr 13, 2008)

8) Thank you Harold, when I figure this out I will report findings.

8) Palladium, I will check that out today, thanks.

If that is Silver chloride, Somewhere I read how to revert the chloride into silver, seems like I just add salt to this solution and it will turn to silver?
(which then can be filtered off and melted down)

My chemistry is lacking , because I have been consumed mentally with finding the Ore to extract the Gold.

Here is a picture of the Gold I acquired twice before with this process.


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## Irons (Apr 13, 2008)

Oregon's Mercury reduction act of 2001.

Be sure you're in compliance.


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## ChucknC (Apr 13, 2008)

Needle,

What type of ore are you working? There may be other methods of recovering the gold rather than mercury. 
That said, I've seen mercury have a hard time forming an amalgum with -50 mesh gold, especially if there are other minerals and metals present. The main problem makers are copper and silver. 

Chuck


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## Irons (Apr 13, 2008)

just trying to keep them out of it.


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## ChucknC (Apr 13, 2008)

I'll leave this in your hands Irons.
Chuck


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## Anonymous (Apr 14, 2008)

Irons said:


> just trying to keep them out of it.



8) The fine Gold can be accumulated without Mercury and I would rather not to use it at all.

I only have a couple of ounces and it's getting too hard to acquire anymore.

I purchased a piece of equipment that will kick the fine Gold up toward the top of the table and the gold can be vacuumed off the table almost in pure form.

That is why I bought the table, so I wouldn't have to use Mercury.

The fact remains, I have this beaker with 2cc of nitric with disolved mercury with this white precipitate which I think is silver.

Palladium, thought if it was silver chloride it would turn purple if it was exposed to the sunlight, I exposed it to the sun today and it did not have a purple color.
The salty looking grains are starting to look like little chunks of ice now.

Irons, do you think this is silver and if so how do I get the Silver out of the solution?

8) Needle


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## Lino1406 (Apr 14, 2008)

Could be silver chloride, mercury chloride


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## Irons (Apr 14, 2008)

Filter some of the precipitate and then pour some Ammonium Hydroxide on the filter paper with the white precipitate. If it dissolves, it's Silver Chloride, if it turns black, it's Mercuric Chloride.

Add dilute Nitric to the filtered Ammonia solution to revert the Ammonia Silver complex because under the right circumstances, it can detonate.


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## Anonymous (Apr 15, 2008)

8) Thank you Irons,

This may take me a while before I give you results.

:shock: Need to acquire some Ammonium Hydroxide.

 Needle


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## Irons (Apr 15, 2008)

Needle said:


> 8) Thank you Irons,
> 
> This may take me a while before I give you results.
> 
> ...



Household Ammonia is about 5% Ammonium Hydroxide. Get the clear without the detergent, color and scent.

It's the right strength and cheap. 8)


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## Anonymous (Apr 27, 2008)

Well, finally, I filtered the nitric into another beaker and had a piece of the white precipitate on the filter paper , then I added a few drops of amonia to the paper and precipitate - It turned black immediately, so that confirms it to be mercuric chloride.

I diluted the 2 cc's of nitric with the white precipitate with 1/2 cup of distilled water then added aluminum foil... after 1 hour I got my bead of mercury back from the solution.

Thank you  Needle


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## P_CARROLL (Apr 28, 2008)

The white crystals could be mercury fulminate, a primary explosive. Although it is made with red fuming nitric acid a small amount could have been made with 70% nitric. Here is the link. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury(II)_fulminate


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## P_CARROLL (Apr 28, 2008)

never mind


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## Lou (Apr 28, 2008)

Never mind is right--no carbon, no fulminate. And since he didn't have any ethanol involved, there is no worry.

Also, red fuming nitric acid is not used for fulminate. 


To paraphrase Hoke's words:

nothing involved in refining will give rise to an explosion or explosive mixture.


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## Harold_V (Apr 28, 2008)

Lou said:


> To paraphrase Hoke's words:
> 
> nothing involved in refining will give rise to an explosion or explosive mixture.



That's assuming the book is followed. The potential for creating explosive compounds is quite real for those that tend to experiment. I've always encouraged folks to stick to known processes to avoid any possible chance of getting in trouble.

Harold


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