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That's exactly as it should be. There's a considerable amount of water in your solution which must be eliminated before you can expel the unused nitric. If the vapor cloud coming off has any color, that would be an indication that you are evaporating too quickly. When the solution is condensed enough, it will become thick like a syrup, at which time you'd introduce some HCl. That expels some of the nitric, which you'd see as the familiar brown cloud.

Absolutely not! The only thing you should add to the solution if you hope to consume the free nitric would be more gold. If you use a base metal, it will cement gold. That, too, would work, but it requires a perfect balance of base metal, so that the small amount of gold that would be cemented would then, in turn, be dissolved by the free nitric. Hitting the proper balance isn't likely, so don't go that route. Besides, you'd be introducing base metals to your solution that are in direct conflict with your objective, that of purifying the gold. Use a piece of gold, or evaporate properly. Both work well, and should be understood by you.

I can't address your clumped SMB, but I used copperas in refining, although I preferred SO2 gas. Copperas is a good choice if you have any doubts.

Harold

<blockquote data-quote="Harold_V" data-source="post: 144464" data-attributes="member: 4">That&#039;s exactly as it should be.&nbsp; There&#039;s a considerable amount of water in your solution which must be eliminated before you can expel the unused nitric.&nbsp;&nbsp; If the vapor cloud coming off has any color, that would be an indication that you are evaporating too quickly.&nbsp;&nbsp; When the solution is condensed enough, it will become thick like a syrup, at which time you&#039;d introduce some HCl. That expels some of the nitric, which you&#039;d see as the familiar brown cloud.&nbsp;&nbsp; Absolutely not!&nbsp;&nbsp; The only thing you should add to the solution if you hope to consume the free nitric would be more gold.&nbsp;&nbsp; If you use a base metal, it will cement gold.&nbsp; That, too, would work, but it requires a perfect balance of base metal, so that the small amount of gold that would be cemented would then, in turn, be dissolved by the free nitric.&nbsp;&nbsp; Hitting the proper balance isn&#039;t likely, so don&#039;t go that route.&nbsp; Besides, you&#039;d be introducing base metals to your solution that are in direct conflict with your objective, that of purifying the gold.&nbsp; &nbsp; Use a piece of gold, or evaporate properly.&nbsp;&nbsp; Both work well, and should be understood by you. I can&#039;t address your clumped SMB, but I used copperas in refining, although I preferred SO2 gas.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Copperas is a good choice if you have any doubts. Harold</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Harold_V, post: 144464, member: 4"] That's exactly as it should be. There's a considerable amount of water in your solution which must be eliminated before you can expel the unused nitric. If the vapor cloud coming off has any color, that would be an indication that you are evaporating too quickly. When the solution is condensed enough, it will become thick like a syrup, at which time you'd introduce some HCl. That expels some of the nitric, which you'd see as the familiar brown cloud. Absolutely not! The only thing you should add to the solution if you hope to consume the free nitric would be more gold. If you use a base metal, it will cement gold. That, too, would work, but it requires a perfect balance of base metal, so that the small amount of gold that would be cemented would then, in turn, be dissolved by the free nitric. Hitting the proper balance isn't likely, so don't go that route. Besides, you'd be introducing base metals to your solution that are in direct conflict with your objective, that of purifying the gold. Use a piece of gold, or evaporate properly. Both work well, and should be understood by you. I can't address your clumped SMB, but I used copperas in refining, although I preferred SO2 gas. Copperas is a good choice if you have any doubts. Harold [/QUOTE]

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