Assistance needed after SMB

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NuclerEMP

Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2019
Messages
10
So to make it short, after processing computer parts successfully and then HCL +Bleach successfully, and SMB process ended with a very dark liquid, allowed to settle and was left with a very dence layer at the bottom of jar. After filtering the powder that was put through a few filters to get the fluid almost clear since the black powder seemed to blend with the liquid easily. I dried out the filters but with too much heat and the filters flaked and mixed with the powder, I put in water to rinse but am now left with a black liquid mess. Did a basically lose what I have processed or is there a way to chemically rinse the powder again?
Also the black powder is a sign of the gold correct??
Can too much SMB make more of a mess in the solution that not??
First time processing and I may have done a little too much for the trial :(
 
And be specific. Detail is paramount in understanding what you did right and, more importantly in this case, what you may have done wrong.

Time for more coffee.
 
I processed mostly just gold trimmings from PC's. I had removed as much other metals as possible including breaking down even the cpus to mainly the gold parts. The only other metal that made it into the mix other that what the gold coated was some cpus that had gold under the metal plate on the CPU. The initial HCL+peroxide bath was the parts in a large gallon jar. I was left with an emerald green solution with a ton of gold flakes. I filtered this solution 2 times and put the filters into a second jar with the HCL+Bleach solution and was left with a very bright yellow solution. (mustard color clear) After squeezing out the filter I placed a couple table spoon amounts of SMB into the solution and noticed it did not change color as seen in some videos, which is a major mistake of mine so I added like 2 more spoonfuls into the solution and waited a few hours. When i checked again the solution was black, almost no light could go through. After another hour or so it had settled to about a 1/4" thick layer of black powder on the bottom. I started to filter the sediment out and noticed the liquid and sediment would mix together easily so I ended up using about 6 total filters to get the liquid clear. In the filters it was black and not brownish like it looked in some of the videos, but I proceeded anyways, I dried the filters in an oven but I dried it too far, even the filters became brittle and burnt. I put everything in a small clear bag and it was all a mess at this point so I mixed some HCL and bleach again and this time it is way lighter yellow than before, like way lighter. This is where I'm at and feel like I lost all the gold that was retrieved the first pass. Sorry for the long story.
 
You do not mention testing any of your solutions(or filters) with stannous chloride to see if they are positive for gold. You also did not say how much of the gold trimmings and cpu's you processed (1lb, 110 lbs, or 6 peices?). As long as you didn't throw anything away it is all still there but you may be making it harder(more expensive) to get it back in one place. A picture is nice, but look up testing with stannous to know for sure. It sounds like most of the gold would be in the light yellow solution but some residual could be in the others as well. You probably just have much less gold powder than it looked like you should when it was all in foil form.
 
I am in the process of ordering stannous chloride because this is my first time I wasn't fully prepared. I am not going this for business but more for experimenting with this as it seems very addictive to do so. I do still have each of the liquids saved for testing.
 
Also forgot to mention it was about 2 lbs of scrap that I started with which is definitely not what I should have done.
 
2 pounds of mixed material with PCB and CPUs in it will yield very little gold. It will be all over at this stage. Some of it will be cemented on whatever undissolved metal remains in your batch, some of it will most likely be still present in solutions you created and it also seems you created colloidal gold when you added too much of smb.
What you need to do is that you need to combine all of your solutions and reduce volume by slow evaporation. Then test for gold with stannous.
Also, you should try to inspect your material as if it contains any pieces of undissolved metal it likely needs to be processed again.
There may be some gold in your black mess but there also will be quite a lot of other metals there. If you used just water to make it then again evaporate as much of it as you can and use warm hydrochloric acid to remove as much of base metals as possible. Test with stannous so you will be sure you do not put gold in solution. Whatever remains on the bottom will contain some of your gold.

Remember you are chasing about a gram of gold perhaps two if you are lucky so the more solutions you create the longer and harder it will be to find and get them out.
 
It was fully trimmed to the edges of any gold color and also CPUs were fully stripped including removal of metal top piece, except for those with gold underneath. Nothing larger than a few millimeters was in the container. So I ended up with almost 2 lbs of finely trimmed pieces, not sure if that makes a difference. Also I'm understanding the HCL+Peroxide to dissolve most the metals and then the HCL+Bleach to dissolve the gold, so can you just go straight to the HCL+Bleach and just dissolve the gold?
 
NuclerEMP said:
CPUs were fully stripped including removal of metal top piece
Click to expand...
That green fiber board the CPU is sitting on contains copper inside the board, it will cement back any gold in solution and now it's hiding inside of your plastic board.

NuclerEMP said:
Also I'm understanding the HCL+Peroxide to dissolve most the metals and then the HCL+Bleach to dissolve the gold, so can you just go straight to the HCL+Bleach and just dissolve the gold?
Click to expand...
No. Just asking that question shows me that you haven't gained the knowledge you need to refine yet. Go back and study the chemistry and processes so you understand why it won't work.

Btw, did you test your liquid with stannous before adding SMB?

Göran
 
I totally agree that I need a massive amount of study. I am a hands on person who learns by doing, so this is why I was try while learning so I am able to experience the mistakes.
If you don't learn to fail you'll always think you're doing it right.

The cementing on the board makes total sense, but would that happen in the first stage? (HCL +Peroxide)
 
NuclerEMP said:
The cementing on the board makes total sense, but would that happen in the first stage? (HCL +Peroxide)
Click to expand...
Yes, if you dissolve any gold. HCl + peroxide might do that.

Still no answer if you used stannous to test your liquid for dissolved gold.

Göran
 
I too think you had colliodal gold in the "black" solution with the smb. But I want to know if you put the cpu heatsinks with the gold flash plating in your original solution. They are probably nickel coated copper that your gold might cement to; but unless you used a lot of peroxide, you shouldn't have put much into solution. I think the foils you filtered and redissolved was most of your gold. The second set of filters that got burnt (black) may still have gold-bearing solution trapped in them(not much) and I would fully incinerate them to white ash and process them later when you have accumulated more of them. Test all of the solutions with stannous when you get it and it will save you extra work(filters too). post your results.
 
Thank you for the replies. The stannous I ordered got delayed so I'm in the process of making some, hopefully it works but either way I have some on the way.
Also at this point I have 3 containers with solution that I was planning to just try cementing with copper, is this wise?
 
How did you try to make the stannous. I would not cement on copper until you get some. Why make more work if you don't need to. keep the solutions and be patient. You still have the cpus and heatsinks and the little bag of filters right?
 
I actually dont mind the extra work since it is forcing me to learn, and at the same time teaching me the patience that I need for the future. I am dissolving tin in HCL and hoping to have a batch that works. I did start with cementing in one container which is amazing to see how the solution went from an emerald green to an amber color. (NO CLUE WENT ON THERE) I actually dont have any of the CPU/heatsinks since the only one that went in had no gold left on it and other than that all the trimmings were pretty clean, that is prior to me knowing that some may have cemented in the board, even though they were pretty small.
I am definitely going to wait and see now if any solution tests positive for gold, hopefully my homemade SC works otherwise I'm waiting on Amazon.
 
NuclerEMP said:
I am dissolving tin in HCL and hoping to have a batch that works.
Click to expand...
It should work just fine. I made my stannous by dissolving tin split shot sinkers in HCl for years before I actually bought sone stannous chloride crystals.

Dave
 
I to have been trying the scrap refining I tried the shor method 1st because it was less toxic only it foamed over this nasty green foam so after foam went away the color was black green filtered used urea then tested it was brown so added smb it was clear but solution was still very dark green with greenish grey powder at the bottom so tried another batch with muratic bleach and peroxide no urea again green with grey powder then tried straight gold pins with aqua regia urea and smb with same color on bottom no gold color in the water I bought bonide stump out for smb maybe it had something else in it testing is clear after smb but no brown dirt also tried cleaning several times it's still greenish grey help
 

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