copper sulphate crystals

[cableman]

I have dissolved 2 small ingots, total of about 100 grams of pretty much unknown materials. I show amounts of gold using stannous chloride but the solution is extremely high in content of copper. I first dissolved the ingots in ap nitric to attempt to separate the base metals from the precious which I believe to be only gold but making no assumptions at this point. I seem to have inadvertently made blue crystals. I believe the term is copper chloride crystals. My main question is do I remove these crystals and continue with my recovery or is it possible for pm''s to be caught in the crystals therefore needing me to redissolve them. I had them dissolved in a high nitric solution but when I exhausted the nitric and tried to precipitate I got some extremely dirty powder. More than likely a dirty mix of gold, metals, trash, etc. I then proceeded to allow the powder to settle well, siphon off remaining liquid (saving) and since I had already used nitric I did not use hcl washes but only hot water washes and then added my hydrochloric and nitric to make aqua regia to redissolve the powder. the solution has always stayed a light blue in color except for my first precipitation using smb when it turned a little black before returning to the blue after the powders dropped. My main question is do I remove the blue crystals and precipitate again attempting to clean my contents of the solution or do I need to use the crystals also. I know I am new and this was just an experiment for me to see if I could take the ingot and recover some clean gold out of the mixed materials. I am not really set up to incerate or that would be maybe my first choice of action. Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated. I am not looking for all the answers; just a push in the right direction. I can provide pictures of the whole process from start to finish as a documentary to this sort of test although I am pretty sure you don't really need a new one on this procedure but it may help to see what I started with and pictures of solution, etc. If I cannot get any direction on how to proceed I am thinking of diluting my aqua regia solution, making sure the acids are used up and precipitating again with smb. Any advice is greatly appreciated but I don't won't to come off like I am looking for the answer without research. I have read and read and still have much more to learn. So far my only experiments have been a successful run of gold fingers using Steve's AP method which was only a small amount but turned out well as I followed his instructions. And I tried a failed experiment with some fiber cpu's but I was using poor mans nitric and wasn't really ready for that procedure yet. After this test I am going back to the cpu's with a different approach than before. I have read a lot about that subject since my last attempt and have found where I made several mistakes along the way but enough of that, if anyone has any direction to point me in with my current situation I am very grateful.

 

[acpeacemaker]

I first dissolved the ingots in ap nitric to attempt to separate the base metals from the precious which I believe to be only gold but making no assumptions at this point. I seem to have inadvertently made blue crystals..

You saying ap nitric, is that in reference to poorman's nitric, or was this just nitric? Nitrate salts can also trap your goods as well.

 

[cableman]

No I meant the good stuff from chemical warehouse, I think what; about 80%

 

[nickvc]

If you dissolved all the metals in nitric and there was no sediment or powders left then you had no gold in those bars, not sure why you tried to precipitate the solution as gold will not dissolve in nitric alone. The copper nitrate crystals will dissolve in hot water so I'd suggest dissolving them and see if you have any powders which could be the gold.
You didn't state where the bars came from I hope they weren't melted pin bars from eBay as the likely hood of finding much is very slim.

 

[cableman]

They might as well as been melted bars from ebay but I got them from a friend (not a close friend) for nothing and he basically removed the pins from some cpu's and melted them not realizing that you have to boil in hydrochloric to separate the gold from the inner material; usually copper or kevlar? I believe. Anyway I knew it was a mess of bonded materials it was just an experiment to see if I could separate them at all for any kind of recovery. Most of the pins must have been copper because of the high copper content; thus the crystals and I just wanted to know if there was any value in keeping the crystals for other uses or if any worthwhile gold might have been trapped in the crystals. I had no misunderstanding that there would be little to none of worthwhile content. As I said I just wanted to experiment at trying to separating bonded materials if I ever needed to in the future when it mattered. Maybe that sounds kinda stupid to experienced guys like you on here but when you are new to this I would rather learn in circumstances that aren't costly until I am comfortable to perform certain tasks when there really is some worthwhile gold on the line. I had plenty of nitric that I got at a good deal so it wasn't an expense there just my time. I thank you for your interest and comments on my post and will try to make my next post one worthwhile of a positive gold recovery story from some cpu's.

 

[nickvc]

Trouble is your trying to help a friend, that I understand but your messing with a real complex of metals that won't easily be separated. Pins come in a variety of alloys not all suited to nitric so you onto a loser before you start, most pros would fail to sort this in a simple process . The gold content is going to be very low and the costs be way more than the value recovered especially if you include your time.
If your doing this as a trial to prove yourself then carry on if not abandon the whole thing life's too short.

 

[Ayham Hafez]

I have chemical engineer friend told me that he produces copper sulphate crystals with following quantities per 1 kg of pure copper.
Nitric acid 68% 696 ml
Sulphuric acid 98% 860 ml
Water 1040 ml

I think it's much better to use rather than using only nitric acid, question is does PM's trapped in the copper sulphate crystals? Like silver and palladium.

When I use sulphuric with nitric usually I add water before solution be cold to avoid forming copper sulphate crystals, but when think that copper sulphate crystals is just copper sulphate with water so why to dissolve those crystals? Or PM's will be part of those crystals?

EDITED DOR SPELLING

 

[Ayham Hafez]

I have chemical engineer friend told me that he produces copper sulphate crystals with following quantities per 1 kg of pure copper.
Nitric acid 68% 696 ml
Sulphuric acid 98% 860 ml
Water 1040 ml

I think it's much better to use rather than using only nitric acid, question is does PM's trapped in the copper sulphate crystals? Like silver and palladium.

When I use sulphuric with nitric usually I add water before solution be cold to avoid forming copper sulphate crystals, but when think that copper sulphate crystals is just copper sulphate with water so why to dissolve those crystals? Or PM's will be part of those crystals?

EDITED DOR SPELLING

Anyone have any idea ?

 

[Martijn]

There will be no pm's in the crystals.
There can be traces of pm's in the solution trapped in between crystals.

 

[Ayham Hafez]

There will be no pm's in the crystals.
There can be traces of pm's in the solution trapped in between crystals.

So washing crystals with cold water after been crushed will be enough to remove PM's from them.

 

[Martijn]

I would try to get the precious metals out before crystallizing copper sulfate.

 

[Ayham Hafez]

I would try to get the precious metals out before crystallizing copper sulfate.

The issue with this is the difficulty to evaporate the solution incase we are dealing with large amount of copper sulphate solution, since solution has sulphuric acid we can't use stainless steel pot to boil and evaporate

 

[Martijn]

There are glass lined piping and equipment available. They're used by sulphuric acid producers.

 

[Ayham Hafez]

There are glass lined piping and equipment available. They're used by sulphuric acid producers.

Are the granite pots resistant to sulphuric and nitric acids?

I remember I boiled some iron with sulphuric acid using a pot similar to granite pot, but I'm not sure if its granite or ceramic pot since it was brought from scrap shop, it was fully resistant to sulphuric acid.