Have 1kg of weird stuff

[yusuf1986]

So I have about 1 kg of sludge, this is from the river which I've been saving for 18 months now. I would like some help on how to refine this stuff, I hope you guys can really help me out so I could get the best amount of gold out of the sludge. Basically I will use the muriatic acid bleach then sodium meta bi sulphate method.Hypothetically speaking if I somehow get the gold measured in the solution, for 500 grams....how much bleach and how much muriatic acid will be needed? Also, How much meta bisulphate will be needed? For the muriatic acid...does higher concentration equate to better yields? What type of SMB should I use?

Appreciate it

 

[goldsilverpro]

Before attempting to process this, leach a very small amount (2 or 3 grams) and then test a drop of the resulting solution with stannous chloride solution (search). This will tell you if gold is present or not in the leach solution. If the test is negative (no purple or black), either there is no gold in the material to start with or the particular leach solution you used isn't working for that particular type of material.

 

[bswartzwelder]

If you really meant sodium meta bisulfAte, then you might as well throw everything away. Sodium meta bisulfate will not cause your gold (assuming you have any) to precipitate. What you need is to read the forum, read Hoke, and study until you know the right chemicals to use. You also need to test with stannous chloride and a known good gold solution. Both are easily prepared.

 

[nickvc]

May I point out you have no clue to what else is in your sludge... Has it got arsenic or other poisonous substances?
What is your health worth?

 

[butcher]

if this came from a river, panning the material would be the best way to recover gold, if the "sludge had any gold to begin with.

 

[yusuf1986]

Ok guys, I've got the process down. I finally got the solution with electrolysis. I bought some ferrous sulfate from ebay. I just want to ask the chemists out there a quick question. How much ferrous sulFate should i use for every gram of gold in solution? My cousin states that 4 oz should be good for about 200 grams, I know if measurements are wrong then I'm sure I will lose some money.
To answer your question on health.....I'm doing everything outside on a half acre ranch with a hazmat suit.

 

[g_axelsson]

From your description I would say that you don't have a clue on what you got, how to process it or even why you do certain things. Your post doesn't make sense in any ways.

Do you even know if you have any gold in the original material or in solution?
What type of testing have you done?
How can you know how much gold you have?
How did you put gold into solution?
Which oxidizer are you using?
How did you remove it?

As for how much ferrous sulfate to use, do some research on copperas.
Here is a start with some links at the end http://goldrefiningwiki.com/mediawiki/index.php/Copperas

Göran

 

[yusuf1986]

Never mind, I got the answer from a prospector. Sometimes a man asks a question and only a few can answer with one sentence and no criticisms. Thanks everyone 4 the help.

 

[nickvc]

Never mind, I got the answer from a prospector. Sometimes a man asks a question and only a few can answer with one sentence and no criticisms. Thanks everyone 4 the help.

I hope the prospector is very successful and knows all the recovery techniques to get your values which we are assuming are there.