Accidentally became very interested in PM refining

[Im@619]

My name is Allen and I’ve been watching this trend of electronic e-waste and gold refining for about a year now. What I do is I buy storage units and I recently stumbled on an auction with about 12 pallets of old computer towers and severs among other type of electronics. So I what I did is go watch a few YouTube videos ordered some chemicals and thought I had it down, until I went and dissolved some of card fingers in a solution and made a mess. Now I found this forum and I’m here trying to learn how I can fix what I’ve done.

 

[4metals]

Welcome to the forum. I'm sure a list of threads and books to read will be arriving shortly. In the mean while tell us what you did and what you now have. The more detail you give the better we can help. Remember some of the things folks get off of you tube are down right scary, and we are not mind readers, so the more detail you give, the better it is for you to get useful suggestions.

 

[Im@619]

Understandable well I cut about 2 pounds of ram fingers, I put a liter of water and liter of hcl and about 400 ml of hno3. I let it sit for about 40 minutes then I strained it to take out the ram cards. I then filtered the solution and used urea to neutralize the solution, it didn’t and nothing happened no fizzing no bubbling. I found that to be off because I had followed the instructions from the clip I was watching his method was working for him. I still went ahead and added the SMB and let it sit overnight. When I went to filter the solution nothing came up so I knew the hno3 was still active. I doubted my self and added some more urea thinking I did something wrong or maybe didn’t put enough urea, but still nothing changed so I went online looking for answers till I ended up here.

 

[GoIdman]

Understandable well I cut about 2 pounds of ram fingers, I put a liter of water and liter of hcl and about 400 ml of hno3. I let it sit for about 40 minutes then I strained it to take out the ram cards. I then filtered the solution and used urea to neutralize the solution, it didn’t and nothing happened no fizzing no bubbling. I found that to be off because I had followed the instructions from the clip I was watching his method was working for him. I still went ahead and added the SMB and let it sit overnight. When I went to filter the solution nothing came up so I knew the hno3 was still active. I doubted my self and added some more urea thinking I did something wrong or maybe didn’t put enough urea, but still nothing changed so I went online looking for answers till I ended up here.

Hi, welcomt to the forum.

First, i believe you didn`t watch Sreetips on youtube but rather some random rooftop refining with some plastic containers and people with sandals working with chemicals. In this case Youtube is your enemy.
Second... working with RAM fingers does not require HNO3 (allthough refining can be done with AR), it is enough if on firt step you use HCl and H2O2 to loosen the foils (Also called AP or acid peroxide in general), after the foils came off You can use HCl and bleach to dissolve the foils then drop with SMB)
Third...try to watch Sreetips on youtube (if you dont want to read or learn yourself) if you want to see how things are done properly with safety and good explanation of the process you are watching.

Be safe,

Pete

 

[Im@619]

Hi, welcomt to the forum.

First, i believe you didn`t watch Sreetips on youtube but rather some random rooftop refining with some plastic containers and people with sandals working with chemicals. In this case Youtube is your enemy.
Second... working with RAM fingers does not require HNO3 (allthough refining can be done with AR), it is enough if on firt step you use HCl and H2O2 to loosen the foils (Also called AP or acid peroxide in general), after the foils came off You can use HCl and bleach to dissolve the foils then drop with SMB)
Third...try to watch Sreetips on youtube (if you dont want to read or learn yourself) if you want to see how things are done properly with safety and good explanation of the process you are watching.

Be safe,

Pete

You are absolutely correct, I was watching people with sandals working with chemicals,although their yield wasn’t much but the method was much faster. I’ve watched sreetips doing the AP solution, but that may take weeks until the foils come loose and since it was my first time I wanted to see results quick. I really don’t mind reading to gain understanding so if one would show me where to go read I’d really appreciate it.
What I’m wondering now though is whether or not my solution is still curable?
Thanks for all the help and tips in advance.

 

[Yggdrasil]

My name is Allen and I’ve been watching this trend of electronic e-waste and gold refining for about a year now. What I do is I buy storage units and I recently stumbled on an auction with about 12 pallets of old computer towers and severs among other type of electronics. So I what I did is go watch a few YouTube videos ordered some chemicals and thought I had it down, until I went and dissolved some of card fingers in a solution and made a mess. Now I found this forum and I’m here trying to learn how I can fix what I’ve done.

Welcome.
A little late but here are the links in question:

We ask our new members to do 3 things.
1. Read C.M. Hokes book on refining jewelers scrap, it gives an easy introduction to the most important chemistry regarding refining.
It is free here on the forum: https://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=19798
2. Then read the safety section of the forum: https://goldrefiningforum.com/forums/safety.47/
3. And then read about "Dealing with waste" in the forum: https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/dealing-with-waste.10539/

Suggested reading:
https://goldrefiningforum.com/forums/the-library.101/
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/when-in-doubt-cement-it-out.30236/
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threa...le-read-this-before-you-post-about-ore.33333/


Forum rules is here.
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/gold-refining-forum-rules.31182/

 

[Yggdrasil]

Understandable well I cut about 2 pounds of ram fingers, I put a liter of water and liter of hcl and about 400 ml of hno3. I let it sit for about 40 minutes then I strained it to take out the ram cards. I then filtered the solution and used urea to neutralize the solution, it didn’t and nothing happened no fizzing no bubbling. I found that to be off because I had followed the instructions from the clip I was watching his method was working for him. I still went ahead and added the SMB and let it sit overnight. When I went to filter the solution nothing came up so I knew the hno3 was still active. I doubted my self and added some more urea thinking I did something wrong or maybe didn’t put enough urea, but still nothing changed so I went online looking for answers till I ended up here.

It is usually not a good Idea to dissolve Precious metals unless you dissolve all base metals too.
Either first or during the dissolving as one risk the PMs to cement out on remaining base metals.
As you have Nitric already use a dilute hot acid like 50/50 Acid Water and the let this dissolve the base metal until all the foils are loose.
The drawback is that it has to be clean without any solder as Tin forms a hard to filter paste.

Or use the Cupric Chloride etch.
Straight HCl and bubble air through it, no need for Peroxide.
It is temperature dependent so if it is cold outside one may need weeks.
In warmer temperature it can be done in days.

 

[Nugget]

Welcome Allen! We're glad to have you join us!

 

[Shark]

I wanted to see results quick

That is never a good idea until you have gained some experience and knowledge. The up side, you are in the place to gain the knowledge.

 

[GoIdman]

You are absolutely correct, I was watching people with sandals working with chemicals,although their yield wasn’t much but the method was much faster. I’ve watched sreetips doing the AP solution, but that may take weeks until the foils come loose and since it was my first time I wanted to see results quick. I really don’t mind reading to gain understanding so if one would show me where to go read I’d really appreciate it.
What I’m wondering now though is whether or not my solution is still curable?
Thanks for all the help and tips in advance.

I think we all have crossed that road to see quick results, at least I have done it when I have joined this community.

I understand that AP process may take weeks, but it is presumably the most foolproof procedure you can make and a clean one too. (
I is very straightforward, and if you master this process, you can move to the next one.
No hurry, gold will not evaporate from your beaker and if you are patient enough, you will see clean results sooner than you think.

Use the search function, read what @Yggdrasil has given you, and start clean.

Store safely your current solutions until you can clean them up properly.

Start small to master the process then scale it up in time when you are confident of using the chemicals safely.

Believe me, it does`nt matter if you recover 1 ton of gold but you destroy your health or die.

Be safe,

Pete

 

[4metals]

If you bid on and purchase the contents of storage containers you are undoubtedly skilled at sorting out what you have and dealing accordingly.

As far as computers and electronics the shops I have worked with in South America have crews disassemble computers and sort out the innards. They separate the steel cases and racks into a gaylord for steel. and the muffin fans into a storage bin for those as well. There are also aluminum heat sinks. All of the things removed can be sold for scrap value while you are slowly progressing towards what you are looking for, circuitry with precious metals. If you were to patiently do this type of sorting at your own pace you will accumulate specific types of e-scrap. Different types of e-scrap require different techniques. You will be able to make better decisions about how to proceed when you quantify what you are collecting and how much of it you have. In the meanwhile, you can sell off the aluminum heat sinks, power cords, batteries, muffin fans, end even working hard drives.

You may have accidentally developed an interest in this but don't accidentally get yourself into a chemical mess by jumping too soon. Be informed, read about different methods here on the forum, and when you are ready, then refine.

 

[Im@619]

If you bid on and purchase the contents of storage containers you are undoubtedly skilled at sorting out what you have and dealing accordingly.

As far as computers and electronics the shops I have worked with in South America have crews disassemble computers and sort out the innards. They separate the steel cases and racks into a gaylord for steel. and the muffin fans into a storage bin for those as well. There are also aluminum heat sinks. All of the things removed can be sold for scrap value while you are slowly progressing towards what you are looking for, circuitry with precious metals. If you were to patiently do this type of sorting at your own pace you will accumulate specific types of e-scrap. Different types of e-scrap require different techniques. You will be able to make better decisions about how to proceed when you quantify what you are collecting and how much of it you have. In the meanwhile, you can sell off the aluminum heat sinks, power cords, batteries, muffin fans, end even working hard drives.

You may have accidentally developed an interest in this but don't accidentally get yourself into a chemical mess by jumping too soon. Be informed, read about different methods here on the forum, and when you are ready, then refine.

I’m truly grateful for your kind advise