Gold plated tubing - large

[MooseMan]

Hello all.

I have several gold plated tubes, approx. 8" by 1" as pictured (Fist for scale!) That are gold plated.
The tubes are copper with a silver coloured layer that I assume is nickel (?) With the gold plated on that.



As the gold layer is very bright I assume they are flash plated so extremely thin?
What would be the suggested approach to recover the gold from them?
I have I think, 8 of them.

And on the same subject, I have a dozen or more exactly the same but silver plated, and several of different other metals. I'll deal with all of those separately. For interest they were manufactured late 90s for a science exhibit to demonstrate the conductivity of different metals.

 

[kurtak]

Cyanide - or iodine/iodide leach - to much base metal to dissolve away for the little bit of gold foils you would recover

Cyanide - or iodine/iodide would strip (dissolve) the gold from the base metal without dissolving the base metal

The silver plated ones could be run in a "plain water" electrolytical cell

Kurt

 

[MooseMan]

Thank you Kurt, I'll shelve them until I feel ready for that process then, and look into the plain water silver cell.

 

[kurtak]

and look into the plain water silver cell

Here you go - everything you need to know about using plan old tap water with a cell to recover silver plating

https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/processing-silverplate-with-h2o-cell.16591/
Kurt

 

[kurtak]

Read the first page of the link I provided (that gives the "general" idea - then skip forward to "the bottom" of page 7 & look for post by "solar_plasma" & everything he posted after that

The bottom of page 7 is where solar_ plasma first started using the H2O cell & from there he took it to a relatively large scale with very good success

Kurt

 

[goldshark]

Most plating is only about 10 microns thick. Figure out the area of the tubes x the thickness of PMs ,to get total mass. I hate to be discouraging, but the cost may exceed the recoverable Gold. If you decide to indulge yourself with more recovery in the future, then it may pay to invest in the recovery method of choice.

 

[MooseMan]

Thanks for the link Kurt, I've read the whole thing and feel comfortable with being able to run that H2O silver cell.
When I have time I'll set one up as I have what's required.

And goldshark I appreciate the franknes, I'll shelve the gold tubes for a future project I think.

 

[nickton]

Perhaps put them in a pile for future reverse electroplating? I also bet cutting them into smaller pieces would help.
I don't understand how people would even consider using a cyanide leach however. Way too dangerous IMHO.

 

[MooseMan]

Thanks Nickton. Yes I'm putting them to one side for now and I'll hopefully have more similar material at some point to run them with.
I was going to saw them in 3 or 4 sections (Keeping the filings) and put them in AP if that was the suggested best option.

 

[kurtak]

I don't understand how people would even consider using a cyanide leach however. Way too dangerous IMHO.

Because it is hands down the very best way to recover gold plating &/or very fine gold from fine milled ore

It is also very safe - IF you know what you are doing

It is only dangerous if you don't know what you are doing

It has been discussed & used extensively by some members of this forum (including me)

The hard part (for most members) is not learning how to use it safely - (ALL the info is here on the forum) rather the hard part is getting it because it requires getting properly permitted to buy it

If I was to get back into refining (as a living) cyanide is the ONLY way I would go for gold plating

IMO - the sulfuric cell is more dangerous then cyanide

Can cyanide kill you - yes - but only if you have no clue what you are doing & do something REALLY STUPID like drop a teaspoon of cyanide directly into a beaker of acid - in which case you will be dead before you can say - "oh sh!t"

Kurt

 

[Shark]

Falling down steps can kill you, cars can kill you. Many things can kill us, this is why we study and learn to do even the smallest of things safely. I had a cousin that was a drill instructor for several years. I had never seen a man more afraid of explosives than him, until he explained about teaching the FNG’s how to throw grenades. Then it all made sense. Scary stuff! But, he done his job and never had anyone injured. Training and knowing how and when to react saved several of those guys lives as well as his.