getting the lead out!

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pwa

Active member
Joined
Jan 24, 2012
Messages
34
Hi to all, I am stuck on a problem.I have removed some silver with a lead overlay on it with nitric.I then cemented it with copper after diluting.The lead would make it near impossible to filter beyond a paint filter.The clarity of solution was zero,after a lot of dilution and settling out I got about 5 lbs of dry material thats a rust color.Nothing like what I have done in the past.
So would I need to covert this back ag chloride to remove the lead? try to burn off some of the lead first?Or chuck it to the learning curve and let the refinery deal with.I do have more to strip,maybe the chloride was the place to start.Sorry if the ? are kinda ignorant but after reading the form for 4 hrs my brain ready to explode.Thanks in advance for any help.I humbly approach the mountain for wisdom:)
 
To separate lead from silver, stay in the chloride state. Hot water will dissolve the lead chloride and leave the silver chloride intact
 
Ok, I will try that with my next batch.My goal is just to get the silver as clean as possible before having it refined.Do you know if the lead would inhibit the cementing with copper? Or give me a false negative when tested with a little salt.I dont want to leave any values behind.The cementing was very slow going, I dont know if it was the lead or if it was to cold in my shop.I dont know at what temperature cementing slows.
I put on my safety gear and melted the lead contaminated silver material with a torch in a crucible.By appearances it came much cleaner than I thought it would.Vaporization did a pretty good job,only the heel and a thin shell had garbage stuck to it.I think that will have to do for this batch.
Thanks for the reply
 
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