2nd attempt AP method

[ahdex]

hi there everyone,
this is my second attempt using AP methods on gold fingers and now im having issues.
i have attached a photo, im left with gold flakes and aton of blue powder.
can anyone advise me how to remove them?

thank you

 

[ahdex]

just to add, i tried filtering but the blue powder are caught too.

 

[Martijn]

Welcome to the forum adhex. Add a bit of HCL. It will dissolve.
Your AP was a bit cloudy when you filtered? Leave the air bubbler in longer and add some HCL until it's nice and bright green before you filter. The blue powder is white Copper 1 Chloride with a bit of dissolved Copper 2 Chloride which makes it blue when dilute (from filtering and rinsing)

Where did you learn this process, here on GRF?
Do you know how to deal with waste? https://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1300

Martijn.

 

[ahdex]

I've been watching a ton of YouTubes.
I guess my hcl is not concentrated enough? It's only 10% .

Ah how does bubbling help during soaking? I have never bubbled. I just stir it once in awhile

 

[Alabama938]

Bubbling introduces fresh oxygen which drives the Reaction forward, much the same way peroxide does

 

[ahdex]

thank you. i will try and update here if i am successful.

 

[1mysurveymail]

Simple HCL should fix this, and redissolve the copper.

Everyone starting out or using AP needs to follow this simple rule...

"STOP adding water to your AP recovery"

The second rule is old computer jargon, "garbage in, garbage out."

Everyone has their own way to recover Au with AP. The equipment used varies from person to person, based on what "containers" they are using. Your volume of AP should NEVER be diluted by putting rinse water with those flecks of Au that bypassed your filter back into your AP bucket. Just leave those flecks in your AP. IF you dilute your AP (raising the Ph, the tin and other base metals will come out of solution). Simple concept. Hard to avoid the temptation to get evey little fleck back into your AP from your rinse water. STOP doing that. .

I use two nesting 2 gallon buckets. I have extra buckets for running parallel recovery batches.




The inner bucket has 1/4" holes drilled into it.


Use a bubbler, and even the darkest AP will be emerald green after a few days with the bubbler running
This allows an "air bubbler" hose to get underneath. With AP a simple cheap aquarium air bubbler is your best friend! Then I filter using actual coffee filter baskets with actual coffee filters.


First filtration, one filter. Second filtration, two filters, Third filtration, three coffee filters.

Then only after the coffee filters have dripped all the way out do I put the baskets over a "rinse cup" container to rinse them with tap water from a spray bottle.




This trash water has tin and copper, and, "YES" some tiny flecks of gold. I usually use a small, medium or large pyrex measuring cup to rinse the filters clean. Then place an overturned glass bowl over the "rinse cup" water to keep the rain out and let it evaporate (80%) in the sun. I do this on a sacrificial scrap plywood sheet, outdoors in the Florida sun.


Then that concentrated (laden with tin and copper rinse water goes into my slowly evaporating "larger rinse pot" for long term recovery.

If " Frugal Refiner " would show me where to post a more in depth, step by step tutorial on how to do AP, but more importantly, WHAT NOT TO DO during AP recovery, I have been gathering photos, and have purposefully done a few steps wrong to show what it looks like, and how to correct it... Think of it being an additional chapter if St. Hoke ever got her hands on E-waste.

 

[Topher_osAUrus]

Post it saint hoke

 

[Palladium]

If " Frugal Refiner " would show me where to post a more in depth, step by step tutorial on how to do AP, but more importantly, WHAT NOT TO DO during AP recovery, I have been gathering photos, and have purposefully done a few steps wrong to show what it looks like, and how to correct it... Think of it being an additional chapter if St. Hoke ever got her hands on E-waste.

Tutorials can be posted here >>>> Tutorials

 

[FrugalRefiner]

Tutorials can be posted here >>>> Tutorials

Yep!

If you need any other help, send me a PM.

Dave

 

[Martijn]

I've been watching a ton of YouTubes.
I guess my hcl is not concentrated enough? It's only 10% .

Ah how does bubbling help during soaking? I have never bubbled. I just stir it once in awhile

Forget youtube for a while when it comes to chemistry.

The effective etchant in AP is CuCl₂
It can etch metallic copper into slightly soluble CuCl₁. Which in solution is dark or cola brown.
HCL and oxygen convert it back into CuCl₂ which is bright emerald green. If you don't add an air bubbler, the oxygen in the open air will convert it at the surface, but much slower.

To keep up with the base metals being dissolved, you need an air bubbler to provide enough oxygen. This also creates a flow of fresh AP over the items to dissolve. Keep a lid on it with a hole for the hose to contain splatters.
If it turns brown or shows white slimes, add some HCL.


Martijn.