copper wire plated with gold,rhodium and nickel

[arthur kierski]

i have copper wires plated over with au, rh, ni and sometimes with more cu-----30 grams of these wire became 300grams of the thick mixture of metals----how would one act to separate the gold and rh from this wire--?----i thought first to break the thick wire with a hammer to smaller pieces------- this material is from a 1 year work from a plating shop------i expect a yeald of 2ounces of gold and1ounce of rh,the rest should be ni,cu,and perhaps ag(i forgot to ask the plating shop owner if he plated ag also)

 

[leavemealone]

The easiest way would be to sell whole to a refiner.....but at a significant loss.
You could always dissolve your base metals in Hcl and melt the remaining metals,assuming you have a torch capable of those temps(an oxy/acetylene torch would work fine),then you could sell the PM's and PGM's to a refiner at a significatly reduced loss.
Johnny

 

[goldsilverpro]

Arthur,

Are these the same wires you had about a month ago? The problem is that there is layer after layer of these alternating metals. If the wires came from someone doing decorative plating on jewelry, etc., the Au and Rh layers are probably quite thin and shouldn't interfere too much if you try to dissolve the base metals. As 4metals suggested the last time we discussed this, I would first try to pulverize it as much as possible and then use hot nitric - 50/50 or a little stronger. If you're lucky, all that will be left is the Au and Rh. Everything else you mentioned will dissolve in the nitric.

 

[arthur kierski]

thanks gsp for the reply---it is not the same material as i tried a month ago----the material of last month was a real pain in the .... as you americans says-------this is really copper wires that the guy hangs his fantasy jewellery for plating----he uses this wire many many times (repeatedly) for gold ,rh and perhaps ag plating----i think he uses ni and copper pretreatment before plating with au or rh-------- i will do as you remember me(4metals advice) and then pass the results for curiosity
thanks as always
Arthur

 

[arthur kierski]

gsp,i did as recomended and the results were dissapointing to me(but real) ---the process was fine and i ended with:102grams of silver,6grams of rhodium and 2,3grams of gold----in the thread i told that i expected ounces of gold and rhodium---unfortunatelly was not ounces but grams----but at least i learned definitelly how to deal with plated copper wire
thanks again
Arthur

 

[goldsilverpro]

Costume jewelry is plated very thin, Arthur. It's sometimes called "color" gold. They plate until they get a gold color. Rhodium on jewelry is often even thinner. You just overestimated it due to your experiences with electronic gold. You'll know next time. Failure is sometimes the best teacher. Lot's of silver, though - big deal!