bbigpat,
Welcome
Save that blob of copper to cement with, or use in your stockpot.
(You will read about that later).
Start with Hokes book, many members have a link to free download in their signature lines, or can be found in book section.
In general chat section read the welcome to new members, guide to the forum (follow links), and the general reaction list.
Be sure to study dealing with waste in the safety section, and study on safety, much of the gases are deadly, their are dangers that can cripple a man for life, study before you decide to start up that hotplate.
The forum has a wealth of information, and if you study it you can gain a knowledge hidden from most all men throughout history.
Add a bar of copper to what you have now (note the solution will need to be treated for waste later) store it in a safe place, cover it but not so the dangerous gases cannot escape, keep your powders wet until you understand how to deal with them, the gases are corrosive so do not store in your tool shed.
Also note ammonia can form explosive compounds with metals, do not let them dry out, always acidify them. I noticed you mentioned adding ammonia to the big mess you have made.
I also seen something mentioned about testing and it showed about 22K can you explain how you done this? Was this done on a metal, and how was it done, filing deep into the metal, a scratch test and a known karat gold needle and acids solution to compare how the gold marks on the stone reacted? Or how?
Find a post by Laser Steve visit his web site his website has a good search engine for the forum, his documents and videos will be helpful, you will also find other members with web sites, that are also very helpful like Samuel-a Gold N Scrap.
After you are ready start your experiments with using Hokes Book getting acquainted experiments, and start with an easy material to work with like memory fingers.
Study well the different processes and learn which one to use with what material your working with, study the processes all the way through this includes pretreatment, recovery and refining, each material is different and it can take different methods from beginning to ending.
Do not rush out and beginning to buy things you think you might need, wait until you know you need them, much of the supply's you can start with can come from kitchen equipment in second hand stores, Chemical you can start a list, begin looking for them (but again do not spend money on them until you know you need it) some of the chemicals can be made, or found in places like your grocery store, Hardware store, farm and feed store or pool supply.
You have a lot of home work, keeping a note book is a good idea, I would start the notebook with removable pages like a three ring binder, this way as you learn the old notes can be re-written or thrown out and new notes can be inserted (my note book is a mess of good and bad notes, almost too complicated to rewrite).
While you study keep your eyes out for free scrap, buying scrap before you learn can get costly and be a mistake as you have seen already. High grade scrap like karat gold or sterling is what you really would like learn how to find it and test for it, buy at a fair deal if you can it will produce better yield for a lot less trouble once you understand how, once in a blue moon you can find a piece of sterling silver someone missed in a second hand store.
I say 80% is study, 20% lab practice and learning, but it can all be fun and rewarding if you work safely.
At first expect this to be very confusing, it will come to light in due time, you will be learning a new language, and a complicated science, do not rush it, do not worry there is a learning curve, it will take time, gold has patience (it can endure forever), you will need to learn to be patient to get that gold.
