# Lead shot for cupellation



## Sa_twister (Feb 7, 2015)

Hey everyone. New to the forum so my apologies if this is in the wrong section. My question is, can I use lead shot, like the type used in shotgun shells in place of litharge in a cupellation? I have the other fluxes needed just can't seem to find litharge in small quantities. All the suppliers I have found only sell it in large amounts as for commercial labs. I am a gold/silver prospector and have some ore samples I would like to check. I tried the amalgamite 982 but it didn't seem to work all that well. I couldn't get it to reduce in the cupel. Thanks in advance!


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## Barren Realms 007 (Feb 7, 2015)

Possibly has contaminants in it you might not want to deal with. Have you checked lmine.com for it?


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## Sa_twister (Feb 7, 2015)

I have. All they offer is large quantities. 55lbs is the smallest they have. Doesn't make sense for me to have that much. I would need a 5lbs can at most.


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## Lou (Feb 7, 2015)

You want to use a high purity bullion grade lead that is free of silver and gold for this type of work, lest your assays come out high.

Another thing, litharge is not the same as lead and has a unique role in the fire assay process--that as an aggressive oxidant.

FYI, you're not trying to reduce anything in the cupel--you're trying to oxidize so that you can remove base metals as their oxides right into the cupel.


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## Sa_twister (Feb 7, 2015)

Lou said:


> You want to use a high purity bullion grade lead that is free of silver and gold for this type of work, lest your assays come out high.
> 
> Another thing, litharge is not the same as lead and has a unique role in the fire assay process--that as an aggressive oxidant.
> 
> FYI, you're not trying to reduce anything in the cupel--you're trying to oxidize so that you can remove base metals as their oxides right into the cupel.


Thanks. It was a poor choice of wording actually. What I meant was the amalgamite was not oxidizing, thus the amount was not reducing.


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## butcher (Feb 7, 2015)

Sa_twister, 

I could be wrong, but it seems to me that you may not understand exactly what Lou was saying, concerning oxidation and reduction of the metals in your assay, lead oxide acts as an oxidizing agent in the melt, giving up its oxygen to other reactive metals in the high temperatures, oxidizing these reactive metals to oxides, which will form glass silicate slag in the melt, in doing so the lead is reduced to lead metal during the melt, and acts as a collector of values, then this lead button can be oxidized in a cupel where the bone ash can absorb the oxidized lead leaving you with a small button of more valuable metals.


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## kurtak (Feb 8, 2015)

Try action mining - my 2012 catalog shows they sale litharge 1lb for $22 or 3lb for $43 or a bulk rate of $7/lb

What I don't quite get is they show a hazardous shipping charge on the 1lb but not on the 3lb - so might want to ask about that

Phone - 503 - 826 - 9330 or 800 - 624 - 1511

web site - www.actionmining.com

Kurt


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## goldsilverpro (Feb 8, 2015)

Legend is a lot cheaper but you have to buy more.

http://www.lmine.com/category/litharge.html


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