agua regia over the years...

[ogretowman]

I have a quantity of agua regia with an unknown amount of electronics scrap and jewelry scrap in it. It has been moved 3 times otherwise it has been undisturbed for 28(twenty-eight)years. The liquid is a dark green wth a grayish sediment. How do I proceed. I know that aqua regia breaks down in a short time. Any information will be greatly apreciated! Thank you, Ogretowman

 

[solar_plasma]

What you have is a dirty stock pot. Start here:

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=5677&p=230319#p230319

Hoke's books will tell you how to deal with it. Those and the other links are a good starting point to get the knowledge you need for this task. Be prepared for having to read for some weeks. When it starts making sense, read again and ask if you loose direction.

 

[bswartzwelder]

Just out of curiosity, how much do you have? You might want to consider removing anything that hasn't dissolved and then filter the rest to get rid of anything which hasn't completely dissolved. If it hasn't dissolved by now, most likely it won't dissolve by leaving it in the soup any longer. It sounds like there are several different types of things in there and they will need to be treated differently. Jewelry gets treated one way electronic scrap another.

Treat the remaining liquid like Solar_Plasma suggested. Above all else, start reading as suggested. You have had this stuff around for 28 years, another 6 months or a year of studying should get you started in a safe manner.

 

[Geo]

Before there are any more comments, I would like to ask a couple of questions.

How do you know the solution contains anything of value? If you are relying on someones say so, I have a gold mine that's full of gold I have been trying to sell.

Have you tested the solution with stannous chloride? If not, please do not post something like this until you have tested it.

If you have tested it with stannous chloride, why didn't you start out with those results first?

What is your level of skill in recovery and refining? Are you a beginner or is this just a complicated circumstance? This is something that all of us should learn about before beginning a process is how to deal with a solution with mixed metals.

Search for the term "stock pot" and how to maintain and recover from it.

 

[METLMASHER]

If the solution is degraded sufficiently, will the metals precipitate - from lack of acidic strength to hold them in solution?

If so, the testing may give a false negative.

 

[solar_plasma]

False negative would mean, there is gold in solution, but the test does not show it.

All values have cemented out and are blended with the other solids. Nevertheless, it has to be tested to know for sure. We could tell how to treat the waste solution and how to recover the values from the solids, if it is worth the effort at all. But he wouldn't even be able to do properly and safely what we tell him, if he doesn't have basic skills. Reading Hoke and the safety section and ask then is all he needs at first place.

 

[Geo]

This subject came up on the forum a couple of years ago. Gold chloride will not decompose for a very long time. There was a story about a scientist in Poland that dissolved a big amount of gold into solution before the Nazis invaded and when they came looking for valuables, ignored the vessels full of auric chloride. The gold stayed in solution until the wars end when it was recovered.

 

[g_axelsson]

If the solution is degraded sufficiently, will the metals precipitate - from lack of acidic strength to hold them in solution?

If so, the testing may give a false negative.

Ehh what? It isn't the strength of the acid that holds the metal in solution. When a metal is dissolved it is dissolved. Period.
We try to use up all the acid in our processes, the acid is destroyed when it is dissolving metals, use enough metal and the acid is totally used up, leaving the metals in solution.

This subject came up on the forum a couple of years ago. Gold chloride will not decompose for a very long time. There was a story about a scientist in Poland that dissolved a big amount of gold into solution before the Nazis invaded and when they came looking for valuables, ignored the vessels full of auric chloride. The gold stayed in solution until the wars end when it was recovered.

It was a Hungarian chemist living in Denmark that did it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_de_Hevesy

Göran

 

[Geo]

Thank you Göran. Sometimes my memory fails me.

 

[Long Shot]

Will be interesting to see how this one turns out. Maybe there is a jackpot in there!

 

[bswartzwelder]

He never said how much solution he had. Could be there is a pint or quart sized mason jar.