HCL/Peroxide disposal method

scavenger · Jun 21, 2007

Hi from New Zealand. Great forum u got here. I was using the of H/P disposal method using old puter iron and I noticed after washing the resulting sludge off the iron in a separate bucket there was a lot of precipitated shining gold mixed with the copper. Seems the gold had clung to the iron as there was none in the copper that had dropped in the original bucket. The H/p mix was 1part 6% peroxide to 2part HCL. Does anybody know how I can easily separate this gold from the copper without having to dissolve it again? Thanks.

lazersteve · Jun 21, 2007

Scavenger,

The copper powder dissolves quickly in HCl and will leave the gold flakes behind. You'll end up with a solution full of copper again. Try a small sample to get used to how it works. It won't hurt to dilute the HCl to keep the fumes down.

If you had the right setup you may be able to gravity separate the two. I'm not really sure how you would go about this, but maybe one of the prospector types can help you out.

Are you sure the flakes are gold? I've seen copper form very small shiny flakes that almost appear golden when dropping the copper using iron.

Good Luck,

Steve

goldsilverpro · Jun 21, 2007

Have you used peroxide of that strength before? If not, please realize that it will produce severe burns, even worse than full strength nitric or muriatic. The burns are painful. The strongest I've used was only 35% and I got several fairly bad burns from it. They penetrate pretty deep. Remember that the processes on the forum use peroxide that is 3% (17 times weaker). Adjust your proportions accordingly.

Welcome to the forum.

scavenger · Jun 21, 2007

I'll be careful. I'm going to dilute it down to 25% and do a small batch to see how it works out. I can get nitric very cheaply over here ($20 for a gallon) but I'm afraid of accidently inhaling the fumes and dying 2 weeks later etc..
Is it really that bad? The peroxide/hcl seems a lot safer alternative to me.

lazersteve · Jun 21, 2007

Scavenger,

Just in case you didn't get a copy of this with your peroxide, here's the MSDS:

50% H2O2 MSDS

Please study this very carefully before you begin your work.

Steve

goldsilverpro · Jun 21, 2007

It is very important that the container is vented. Either don't tighten the cap completely or drill a small hole in the cap. The oxygen is released continually and pressure can easily build up. Keep the container out of the sun.

scavenger · Jun 22, 2007

Thanks for the info Steve. Interesting to note that SMB neutralizes the peroxide. I dissolved a little copper with Hcl and found gold dust left. I had been using this HCL/Peroxide solution for about 3 weeks to do cpus and fingers. I was filtering the mix and regenerating it with extra peroxide and a fish tank bubbler. I think some of the gold must have been dissolved into the solution and then dropped when I added the iron. I wonder if SMB would drop out dissolved gold in well used HCL/Peroxide. Cheers Dave

lazersteve · Jun 22, 2007

Scavenger,

Yes SMB will drop gold as a fine brown powder from AP. You'll still need to redissolve it with AR or Hcl-Cl to reach the greatest purity.

Steve

Freiman · Sep 26, 2012

Hi Steve

Just want to thank you for this and many other of your posts!
I´ve justed started up again with "alchemy" and learned about the peroxide-method only a few days ago. And have made a lot of mistakes. LOL
But I think I´ll be able to correct the mistakes - and spare lots of chemicals - thanks to you.

Best site I´ve found for many years! :0)

Best Regards
Peter

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