At a loss

[Can’t let it go]

Inherited lab equipment from a friend that died in Afghanistan who used to refine gold from computer scrap. I’ve been trying my hand at it and have run into trouble parting gold plate from skinny pogo pins. First batch I trimmed till my fingers couldn’t take it anymore and I parted with nitric n filtered it and it looks fine like any pics or videos I’ve seen. Second batch I just cut off silver looking pins and pulled the springs out bt some pieces of the silver looking pins remained. When I put nitric to it, got a lot of blue and when trying to filter it, was left with hard blue like crystal stuff, don’t know what it is? Could only filter part of it cuz filter was hard n jammed up. Took other half of it and filtered and got the same. So I took the second half and out nitric to it again and got mustard. Should I just throw the mustard and the blue crap away?

 

[eaglekeeper]

Pictures of what you have as of now may help.... I'm not sure what you mean by "mustard"?

 

[Yggdrasil]

Inherited lab equipment from a friend that died in Afghanistan who used to refine gold from computer scrap. I’ve been trying my hand at it and have run into trouble parting gold plate from skinny pogo pins. First batch I trimmed till my fingers couldn’t take it anymore and I parted with nitric n filtered it and it looks fine like any pics or videos I’ve seen. Second batch I just cut off silver looking pins and pulled the springs out bt some pieces of the silver looking pins remained. When I put nitric to it, got a lot of blue and when trying to filter it, was left with hard blue like crystal stuff, don’t know what it is? Could only filter part of it cuz filter was hard n jammed up. Took other half of it and filtered and got the same. So I took the second half and out nitric to it again and got mustard. Should I just throw the mustard and the blue crap away?

You DO NOT throw away anything.
First and foremost, if it is indeed trash, we deal with it as waste and dispose of it properly. Read the link I sent you.
Next since your description is at best sketchy we do not know if there is value in it.
I think you have made Metastannic acid, the one thing we really do not like.
So my guess is that you have a mix of Copper Nitrate and Metastannic acid, put it aside and we can deal with that and the rest of your stuff later.
For now save all liquids and solids in safe container until you have done the homework I sent you.
And as Dave said, pictures tells a thousand words.

 

[nickvc]

It’s possible you created copper nitrate crystals especially if you didn’t add plenty of distilled water, take your remaining material put it into a beaker cover well with distilled water and bring to a boil , if the blue crystals disappear then allow to cool a little and filter while still at least warm.

 

[Can’t let it go]

You DO NOT throw away anything.
First and foremost, if it is indeed trash, we deal with it as waste and dispose of it properly. Read the link I sent you.
Next since your description is at best sketchy we do not know if there is value in it.
I think you have made Metastannic acid, the one thing we really do not like.
So my guess is that you have a mix of Copper Nitrate and Metastannic acid, put it aside and we can deal with that and the rest of your stuff later.
For now save all liquids and solids in safe container until you have done the homework I sent you.
And as Dave said, pictures tells a thousand words.

 

[Can’t let it go]

My apologies, when I said throw away I didn’t mean literally

 

[Can’t let it go]

It’s possible you created copper nitrate crystals especially if you didn’t add plenty of distilled water, take your remaining material put it into a beaker cover well with distilled water and bring to a boil , if the blue crystals disappear then allow to cool a little and filter while still at least warm.

Thanks, trying that now

 

[eaglekeeper]

I agree with Nickvc, the blue crystals should dissolve in hot water. Use plenty of water or it may crystalize out in your filter and clog it up as it cools.

Was any of your material magnetic, if so the yellow solution may be iron.

 

[Can’t let it go]

Thanks, trying that now

It’s a lot better than it was after boiling it in distilled water. Has light blue milky junk in the bottom all with a lot of gold. Will AR take care of that?

 

[Can’t let it go]

It’s a lot better than it was after boiling it in distilled water. Has light blue milky junk in the bottom all with a lot of gold. Will AR take care of that?

I agree with Nickvc, the blue crystals should dissolve in hot water. Use plenty of water or it may crystalize out in your filter and clog it up as it cools.

Was any of your material magnetic, if so the yellow solution may be iron.

It’s filtering quickly. Has a yellow film in the filter along with the gold

 

[Can’t let it go]

I didn’t do anything with the blue chunks, don’t see any gold in it other than a flake or two

 

[nickvc]

If you again add distilled water and boil it should dissolve those crystal chunks allowing you to filter off any trapped gold flakes. It’s possible that there is more gold in there than you think as if the gold has broken down into very small pieces you can’t actually see it as gold but as a black powder.

 

[Can’t let it go]

I’ll try it today

 

[Can’t let it go]

Well it seems the yellow is metastatic acid which from what I read can be separated but is virtually impossible and not worth the trouble for a few grams of gold. Is there a way to avoid it from the start without having to to individually separate every single pin by hand that would take a week to do?

 

[Can’t let it go]

Sorry, word perfect respelled metastannic

 

[Can’t let it go]

Well after more reading, if you have metastannic acid in part of the batch then it’s in all of it right? I also read a thesis from Hsiang on how to get rid of it, it takes all kinds of dfrnt stuff, calcined sodium carbonate, sulfur, sodium sulfite, acetic acid, then sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide solution, and on and on and on and on. Not worth the time or the ingredients only to be left with more filters with gold and other junk in with it. I also read someone that said you can use Lye with water half an inch over the junk and warm it but still have to filter again, so there’s more filters with gold and junk along with junk in it. Another guy said you can Remove tin by incineration, but after you do the process he said, you still have to filter the mess and there you are again with gold n junk in the filter. I don’t see how any of that works unless I’m hand picked every single speck of gold out, you’ll still have Tim present. Wouldn’t you have to somehow ionize the tin to filter through so then your left with only gold in the filter? Or should all these dfrnt processes be done after using AR? As it stands now I have abt 8 filters with gold and junk in a beaker. Isn’t there a way to rid the tin altogether?

 

[Yggdrasil]

Well after more reading, if you have metastannic acid in part of the batch then it’s in all of it right? I also read a thesis from Hsiang on how to get rid of it, it takes all kinds of dfrnt stuff, calcined sodium carbonate, sulfur, sodium sulfite, acetic acid, then sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide solution, and on and on and on and on. Not worth the time or the ingredients only to be left with more filters with gold and other junk in with it. I also read someone that said you can use Lye with water half an inch over the junk and warm it but still have to filter again, so there’s more filters with gold and junk along with junk in it. Another guy said you can Remove tin by incineration, but after you do the process he said, you still have to filter the mess and there you are again with gold n junk in the filter. I don’t see how any of that works unless I’m hand picked every single speck of gold out, you’ll still have Tim present. Wouldn’t you have to somehow ionize the tin to filter through so then your left with only gold in the filter? Or should all these dfrnt processes be done after using AR? As it stands now I have abt 8 filters with gold and junk in a beaker. Isn’t there a way to rid the tin altogether?

Roast it, dissolve in HCl and filter.
Thats it.
To avoid it, do not let Nitric and Tin meet

Let your suspected Tin bearing scrap have a day or two in HCl and then heat it to a dull red heat before Nitric.

Metastannic acid is whitish dirty grey, but will hold on to the liquid so it wil be yellow, green or blue depending on the liquid it is in.
And it is in/the solids not in a clear liquid.

Edited spelling

 

[Can’t let it go]

Roast it, dissolve in HCl and filter.
Thats it.
To avoid it, do not let Nitric and Tin meet

Let your suspected Tin bearing scrap have a day or two in HCl and then heat it to a dull red heat before Nitric.

Metastannic acid is whitish dirty grey, but will hold on to the liquid so it wil be yellow, green or blue depending on the liquid it is in.
And it is in/the solids not in a clear liquid.

Edited spelling

Thank you much

 

[Can’t let it go]

Thank you much

So, with the entire mess I’ve created along with gold foils in at least several filters I boil in HCI, that will in turn put the gold in solution (like a type of AR process) then filter? Then precipitate with SMB?

 

[Yggdrasil]

So, with the entire mess I’ve created along with gold foils in at least several filters I boil in HCI, that will in turn put the gold in solution (like a type of AR process) then filter? Then precipitate with SMB?

HCl alone or Nitric alone will not touch Elemental Gold.
But the Gold Chlorides in the filter will be soluble in HCl or water alone.
So if you have powders or foils in the filter you will need an Oxidizer along with the HCl to dissolve the Gold.