Big mess

[GingerJack80]

Before everyone jumps on the bash wagon. I’m aware I’m in over my head, and I should have educated myself more before I started messing with dangerous chemicals. I’m hoping this mess will help me understand what I did wrong and what I need to learn more about.

I have this mess in a jar. This is what I have after trying to recover precious metals from E-waste, a couple silver plated platter, and an attempt to purify copper.
I was trying to do too many things at one time. I was going to give up so I filtered all the liquids I had and moved all the solids in to one jar. The leftover liquids are in a five gallon bucket with a bunch of bare copper wire and a bubbler.

I want to try again. But I’m not sure where to start.

What metal should I start with? Gold, silver, or copper? I want to get rid of the copper first because there is by far more copper than anything else. But I’m not sure if copper is the right place to start.

please be gentle

Jack

 

[FrugalRefiner]

Welcome to the forum.

You've already made the first step in recognizing you have somewhat of a mess on your hands. For that, I usually refer people to When In Doubt, Cement It Out. That will allow you to recover any precious metals that may be in your solutions, though you're already working on that.

Don't worry about starting with copper. As you'll see in the link above, we use copper to recover any precious metals in solution. The copper can be recovered later, though it will be contaminated with other base metals when the solution is treated for waste. Although copper sells for a couple of dollars per pound, it doesn't compare to the value of the gold and/or silver.

Yggdrasil will probably be along soon with some good links on safety, dealing with waste, etc.

Dave

 

[Yggdrasil]

View attachment 60728
Before everyone jumps on the bash wagon. I’m aware I’m in over my head, and I should have educated myself more before I started messing with dangerous chemicals. I’m hoping this mess will help me understand what I did wrong and what I need to learn more about.

I have this mess in a jar. This is what I have after trying to recover precious metals from E-waste, a couple silver plated platter, and an attempt to purify copper.
I was trying to do too many things at one time. I was going to give up so I filtered all the liquids I had and moved all the solids in to one jar. The leftover liquids are in a five gallon bucket with a bunch of bare copper wire and a bubbler.

I want to try again. But I’m not sure where to start.

What metal should I start with? Gold, silver, or copper? I want to get rid of the copper first because there is by far more copper than anything else. But I’m not sure if copper is the right place to start.

please be gentle

Jack

As requested, here is the links.
I'm on the reod now so I hope it comes out right.

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: Screen Readable Copy of Hoke's Book
2. Then read the safety section of the forum: Safety
3. And then read about "Dealing with waste" in the forum: Dealing with Waste

Suggested reading: The Library


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

Edit to correct text

 

[GingerJack80]

As requested, here is the links.
I'm on the read now so I hope it comes out right.

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: Screen Readable Copy of Hoke's Book
2. Then read the safety section of the forum: Safety
3. And then read about "Dealing with waste" in the forum: Dealing with Waste

Suggested reading: The Library


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

Thank you I can actually read that PDF