Possible Contaminants To Avoid With Large Batch Refining With Lazy Sorting.

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PurpleGoat13

New member
Joined
Jan 14, 2019
Messages
1
I am new to the gold refining business and although i have spent many months gathering a lot of gold i have so
much that i haven't been able to properly sort it and remove every spec of dirt and dust. I am about to start
the refining process and before I add any chemicals i have a few questions.

I am planning on using aqua regia after a muratic bath to remove solder and tin because i am aware of the
problems that can cause, But i feel there is a reason to be very particular in the sorting process and
removing unwanted debris before the chemical process. Please any help from someone who has experience is
appreciated. Let me know if i am wrong or if my thoughts are correct about this worry i have. Thanks for the
help beforehand!

1. If i add my gold into the solutions will it cause me major problems if there is any debris like dirt and dust
or hair in the mix that was missed? How much will it effect my solution?

2. Will the grease off of my hand cause any problems from when i was removing the gold from the boards?

3. Are there any chemicals that will cause a reaction with the gold or other chemicals in the refining process
that i need to stay away from?

4. The orange Mylar connector pieces that are flexible and contain wire like connections i am not sure how to
refine those. Can anyone enlighten me on the technique.

5. Are there any tips from experienced refiners that i should know before hand regarding to any step of the
process that doesn't deal with my questions? Any information is helpful.
 
Sure isn't promising when your first post is in the wrong section...

Your plan is going to fail and/or you are going to lose a lot of money unless you spend many many months more gathering information.

Define "removing the gold from the boards"? What exactly is your material? Are you just going to put everything in AR and create a huge mess?

Those kapton foil cables are worthless, connectors on them might have gold plating.
 
PurpleGoat, I've moved your thread to the Help Needed section. You really need to spend some time studying the forum before you start working with chemicals.

Dave
 
I feel the question posed is probably a lot of mixed pins.

Most important. Use a magnet and get out as much magnetic material you can it will need seperate processing.

Make sure to not prcoess magnetic and non magnetic together.
 
anachronism said:
Wizzlebiz said:
Make sure to not prcoess magnetic and non magnetic together.

Can you explain the reasoning behind this advice please?

http://goldrefiningforum.com/~goldrefi/phpBB3/posting.php?mode=quote&f=48&p=258214&sid=5a6c306b8c35369a1a72273da744e9de#

Here is the full thread link. http://goldrefiningforum.com/~goldrefi/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=24406#p258208
 
Yeah I know Butcher's reasoning. He also makes the point that it's only a problem in certain circumstances.

It's not a catch all "don't process these pins together" thing.
 
anachronism said:
Yeah I know Butcher's reasoning. He also makes the point that it's only a problem in certain circumstances.

It's not a catch all "don't process these pins together" thing.
When working with a mixed lot of which you dont know what it contains I would follow this advise from butcher. Why spoil solutions due to lack of knowledge of your materials?
 
Wizzlebiz said:
anachronism said:
Yeah I know Butcher's reasoning. He also makes the point that it's only a problem in certain circumstances.

It's not a catch all "don't process these pins together" thing.
When working with a mixed lot of which you dont know what it contains I would follow this advise from butcher. Why spoil solutions due to lack of knowledge of your materials?

OK let's go with your thinking and yes it's a good point.

So - what is your thinking behind the chemistry of mixing types of pins and separating types of pins? Butcher's a chemistry genius- and a great guy besides, but let's see your reasoning.
 
anachronism said:
Wizzlebiz said:
anachronism said:
Yeah I know Butcher's reasoning. He also makes the point that it's only a problem in certain circumstances.

It's not a catch all "don't process these pins together" thing.
When working with a mixed lot of which you dont know what it contains I would follow this advise from butcher. Why spoil solutions due to lack of knowledge of your materials?

OK let's go with your thinking and yes it's a good point.

So - what is your thinking behind the chemistry of mixing types of pins and separating types of pins? Butcher's a chemistry genius- and a great guy besides, but let's see your reasoning.
Im not sure why there is hostility here.

My reasoning is quite simple. I will reuse my AP over and over on similar type of materials. Keeping my waste low as well as keeping any underlying issues in a single container.

My reasoning is not chemistry. Although I am sure as I learn more it will be. Lol

Its waste effectivness. Down to the point of after I have exhausted the solutions i will transfer them to spray bottles to reuse in certian spray down needs. Using each on the same type magnetic and non magnetic. Essentially causing little added waste.
 
That's alright it's not hostility I was trying to work out whether you had a working reason for suggesting they should be separated.
 
anachronism said:
That's alright it's not hostility I was trying to work out whether you had a working reason for suggesting they should be separated.

Cool. If you have any suggestions im all ears. Does the waste management factor make sense or am I off on that?

On the chemistry side of it id image it very hard to determine what base metals are in them without dividing each particular type of pin. Then determining which are magnetic and not. Then doing aquaintance tests on each type. This could take forever for every batch of pins. It just doesnt seem like that would be effecient.
 
If you are going to use copper chloride etch (popularly called AP) then I would recommend to separate the magnetic pins from the copper based pins. The iron in the magnetic pins will mess with the copper chloride etch.

Use straight HCl for magnetic pins (iron, kovar) as it will dissolve it straight away, but it will take some time. Heat will increase the reaction rate or you could just wrap the beaker with saran wrap and leave it for a couple of weeks in a safe place. It will emit acid fumes so don't keep any metal objects in the vicinity.

The copper chloride etch will work better on copper based pins.

To use copper chloride etching on pins is not a method that scales up well and it produces a lot of waste to take care of, but on a hobby scale it is a relatively safe and easy process. On an industrial scale you use cyanide or just melt it into a copper ingot (refiners bar) and sample it before sending it off to a copper smelter.

Göran
 
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