# Sodium Sulfate dissolves micron & electroplated gold ???



## Gratilla (Jul 10, 2014)

I've just stumbled on this on Wikipedia - Sodium Sulfate:

"_Lately, sodium sulfate has been found effective in dissolving very finely electroplated micrometre gold that is found in gold electroplated hardware on electronic products such as pins, and other connectors and switches. It is safer and cheaper than other reagents used for gold recovery, with little concern for adverse reactions or health effects.[citation needed]_"

I can find no support for this either here or via Google.

Any comments or personal experience?


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## Geo (Jul 10, 2014)

Note the "citation needed".


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## Gratilla (Jul 10, 2014)

Exactly. That's why I included it in the quote.

There is an AuSO4 (Gold (II) sulfate) and an unstable Au2(SO4)3 (Gold (III) sulfate), plus a number of complexes so there is the potential for credibility.

Could be quite interesting, if it were true.


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## necromancer (Jul 10, 2014)

if there is a trusted member in canada that has some sodium sulfate and wants to test or experiment on this theory i am willing to donate one pound of micro gold plated pins
each pin is about 1 - 1/4 inches long




the person must post their detailed recovery testing / methods / findings to the GRF with photos.

i will pay all postage, i would think that the shared knowledge is well worth the pound on pins + one pound of micro plated pins may not have that much gold on them, i have never processed these pins

if you are in the usa, i am very sorry, shipping is about $20.00 CAD

all gold content will be kept by the person doing the experiment.


WARNING:
the pins do have very small springs that contain beryllium copper.

anyone interested in this offer can reply to this post, please don't send PM's
if there is more then one person replying for the offer i will ask the members of the GRF to choose who will be sent the pins for testing this method.

Dave Clarke


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## butcher (Jul 10, 2014)

This has been in Wikipedia under Sodium Sulfate, for many years.

I see no way this salt can be used, to dissolve gold, except maybe in an electrolyte in an electrolytic method to dissdolve copper from the gold.

Just because someone put it in wiki does not make it so.


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## necromancer (Jul 11, 2014)

butcher said:


> This has been in Wikipedia under Sodium Sulfate, for many years.
> 
> I see no way this salt can be used, to dissolve gold, except maybe in an electrolyte in an electrolytic method to dissdolve copper from the gold.
> 
> Just because someone put it in wiki does not make it so.



i have read it a while ago & ignored it.

sounds like you would like the challenge :arrow: send me a pm if you want the package sent to you (no charge)


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## butcher (Jul 11, 2014)

necromancer,
Dave I appreciate the offer, but I am just to busy, and have to many other challenges right now to deal with.


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## solar_plasma (Jul 11, 2014)

Na2SO4 alone in aqueous solution will most probably do nothing. Alone it will not form gold sulfate and not form any gold compex to any interesting degree. I won't exclude there could be conditions and redox levels, that would change this, - like electrolysis or oxidizers. Without any more information about, what exactly the wiki author thought about, it will be a blind end.

I tried to search, too, but something is missing.


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## butcher (Jul 11, 2014)

Gold sulfates are possible, but would not be easy, in fact many complicated complexes of gold are possible, but then the chemistry involved would not be that easy either.

The gold sulfate could be made in a fusion process with sodium sulfate, using a gold hydroxide as a precursor, or evaporating a hydroxide of gold in concentrated sulfuric acid, for example, but making hydroxides of gold also is not an easy process either.


Other sulfates of gold are possible, like in the concentrated sulfuric cell, but this is only while the gold ions in solution are around the anode area, once away from the anode they precipitate as gold.


Copper and many of the base metals that gold are plated to will form sulfate salts, some base metals easier that others, copper being low in the reactivity series would need an oxidizer, or some other means to oxidize the copper, like electrolysis, a fusion process, or acids and oxidizer to get the copper into solution as another salt like chloride and then replaced with the sulfate.

Gold (which is very un-reactive) will not easily form a sulfate, being such a noble metal
Wikipedia is a fairly good source of information, but like many sources of information it is not always fact, and may need to be verified by other sources of information.


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## goldsilverpro (Jul 11, 2014)

Sounds like bunk to me. This was briefly discussed earlier.
http://goldrefiningforum.com/~goldrefi/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=315&start=40


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