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Check this thread guys.
It is basically by just adding sugar.

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=944&highlight=ammonia+silver

The nights are still cold here.....but the days are just plain beautiful!
Randy
 
Man, I got so much reading and experimenting to do now, and then comes the suger and ammonia. But is it ever interesting.

Randy: Amen to the sights, the sky just dazzles the bleak woods and fields. It is so windy here that the gaggle of turkeys that hang around behind my place are down in the canyon. When the wind dies down, you can hear their chatter drifting up the land. This whole area is a bird sanctuary, so as far as I know they ar pretty well protected. But the deer are feeding and they are magnificent creatures. Phill

QST - are you a ham ?
 
If at the rinse stage you have anything but the slightest trace of silver you have already botched the job. The silver should have been thoroughly filtered out before precipitating the gold.

No I'm not a ham, but I am a bit of a smart-ass at times. :lol:

Qst42know is short for quest for knowledge.
 
QST:

Yeah, well my retorts ( pardon the pun ) haven't exactly garnered any awards.

Quest for knowledge - cute - ! Phill

Shows you where my mind is - I assumed the hcl/ammonia wash was done after the precipitation, not before. I have no idea where I picked that up, but how on earth does a person do the hcl/ammonia thing with a solution, which is what I have after a leaching ?
 
OK Phill, I thought I had found the thread that mentions what you are asking about. Only thing is the post by Harold was made on January 19, and you Started this thread on January 5. Plus there is no mention of ammonia, but, here it is anyway.

Harold said this:
There's a bit of logic involved in adding HCl (or sulfuric) when you boil a solution that is slow, or refuses to settle. Often there are substances that may choose to settle out as well. By adding acid, you tend to keep them in solution. Think of it as a pre-wash to the future wash of the recovered values. It can do no harm, which makes it a good idea.

Now, to keep this in the conext with which he made this statement, here is the thread: http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=34654&highlight=#34654
 
qst42know said:
If at the rinse stage you have anything but the slightest trace of silver you have already botched the job. The silver should have been thoroughly filtered out before precipitating the gold.
Click to expand...


I think fixinator was asking if the silver could be recovered from the ammonia rinse solution?

The above was to imply at the rinse stage of a gold precipitation there shouldn't be enough silver to recover from the ammonia.

This thread has been all over, now I'm getting confused. :?
 
OK, hopefully I can clear up some of the confusion. Sometimes there is a substantial amount of silver chloride to get out of the mix. Is it wise to use ammonia in mid process to remove the silver and then filter and acidify to re-precip?
 
More specifically...processing high silver content computer scrap with acid peroxide produces a sludge that is high in copper, lead, iron and sometimes silver. Would it be wise to wash this sludge with ammonia before further processing? Is there any reason not to do this before washing with sulphuric or processing with HCl/clorox or aqua regia?
 
I don't think rinsing silver sludge with ammonia will do anything but dissolve it and put it back into solution with what ever contaminates that are present.

I believe there is a safety issue dissolving quantities of silver in ammonia?

Lou?
 
Gentlemen:

I am not working with electronic scrap and my ore has no silver in it to date. I don't care for scrap, all my work is in raw ore. Straight from mother nature - so to speak. So in essense, as per my original questions on this post, I am looking for a purifying of the ppt's before smelting.

Qst - on your post of Tues 2/3 you said that ammonia is good for disolving lead. Well, if that is the case why don't I just stick to sulfuric acid ? Phill
 
EVO-AU said:
Qst - on your post of Tues 2/3 you said that ammonia is good for disolving lead. Well, if that is the case why don't I just stick to sulfuric acid ? Phill
Click to expand...

No, I did not.

I said, do your rinses while hot.

Traces of Lead chloride will remain in solution while hot and precipitate on cooling. You pour off the rinse solutions while still hot to remove the last traces of lead from precipitated gold.

Sulfuric does not dissolve lead.

A small amount of Sulfuric is used before you precipitate the gold solution. This should allow you to remove the bulk of the lead. It forms lead sulfate which is a solid that can be filtered out of the gold solution.

This is done before you drop the gold not in the rinsing.

Please excuse me for being blunt but are you following some accepted method for processing your ore or making it up as you go along?
 
EVO-AU said:
I sent Twigg a button about a year ago and a jeweler friend of his said it was about 90 % pure. So I know that this ore is rich. Or like I told Randy, I've probably got a bunch of pockets rich and nil. By the way, that button, about 3 or so grams came from a total ( before processing ) of about six #'s or ore.

I always get at least a tiny bit from every batch. But if this HCL washing, boiling or whatever can improve my results - so be it !!!

Anybody else have anything to offer ? Phill
Click to expand...

:shock: Dang :shock: You're getting on average about half a gram per pound? That's awesome. I would love to run a small batch of your ore for you if you're interested. I have a small company specializing in developing environmentally sound methods of processing refractory ores. Send me a PM if you're interested.

Jeff Sargent
 
do a web search on solubility rules, this may help you to understand what metals are soluble, silver chloride is insoluble, in dilute Hcl solutions, also lead sulfate is insoluble,
 
butcher said:
do a web search on solubility rules, this may help you to understand what metals are soluble, silver chloride is insoluble, in dilute Hcl solutions, also lead sulfate is insoluble,
Click to expand...

From AK Williams:
Rules of Solubility

Nitrates, chlorates, and acetates of all metals are water-soluble. No exceptions.

All Sodium, Potassium, and ammonium salts are soluble in water. No exceptions.

Chloride salts of all metals except Lead, Silver, and Mercury 1 (ous) are water-soluble. E.g., Mercurous Iodide is insoluble. Water insoluble Chlorides, Bromides, and Iodides are also insoluble in dilute acids.

Carbonates, Phosphates, Borates, Sulfites, Chromates, and Arsenates of all metals except for sodium, Potassium, and Ammonia are water-soluble.

Sulfides of all metals except for Barium, Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, and Ammonia are water-soluble.

Oxides and Hydroxides are water insoluble except for Sodium, Potassium, and ammonia. (Hydroxides of Calcium and Barium are moderately soluble in water.
 
Hi all,

I am interested in the role of amonia in cleaning black gold powder/sludge.

I have sludge from the sulphuric cell. It is gold, silver maybe a trace of copper and lead or tin. I have been following the wash / rinse procedure prescribed here.
Hcl wash hot, water 3x, amonia.... when I get to the second or third water wash the sludge starts becoming a nice black powder that stays together well and settles quickly. Then I add amonia and I get Black ink! It stays suspended even after heating.
What am I doing wrong? I am trying for clean gold powder berfore Putting in AR.
Thanks, John
 
QST: I misinterpeted your words. No harm done. As for making things up. I probably run a half dozen tests on each step before and after the run. Us yankees are known to be stubborn and would rather spend the extra time then to come up with a result and not know where it came from. Once something works for me, I pretty much stick with it, but I am very cautious. I learn from my mistakes,but then again - the fewer the better. Phill

Randy/Butcher/Qst: What would a good oxidizer be to mix with the hcl to clean the ppt's ? Remember now, this is ore, not scrap .............

Got to run, have to put in a temp post at a house site while the weather is decent. Phill
 
Ignatz61 said:
Hi all,

I am interested in the role of amonia in cleaning black gold powder/sludge.

I have sludge from the sulphuric cell. It is gold, silver maybe a trace of copper and lead or tin. I have been following the wash / rinse procedure prescribed here.
Hcl wash hot, water 3x, amonia.... when I get to the second or third water wash the sludge starts becoming a nice black powder that stays together well and settles quickly. Then I add amonia and I get Black ink! It stays suspended even after heating.
What am I doing wrong? I am trying for clean gold powder berfore Putting in AR.
Thanks, John
Click to expand...

The rinse procedure described was for gold precipitated from AR or HCL/CL.

From the top of page 18 in the 1st handbook is a quote from Steve to use HCL/CL on the black gold powder. Perhaps Steve will elaborate on the process for you.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2887935/GOLD-REFINING-FORUM-HANBOOK-VOL-1
 
EVO-AU said:
I sent Twigg a button about a year ago and a jeweler friend of his said it was about 90 % pure. So I know that this ore is rich. Or like I told Randy, I've probably got a bunch of pockets rich and nil. By the way, that button, about 3 or so grams came from a total ( before processing ) of about six #'s or ore.
Click to expand...

Phill

Using one of the refining processes found throughout this forum there is no reason your button couldn't have been 99.9+ pure.

I have no experience in processing ore. There are many here that have. Knowing the exact nature of your ore would help them help you. Photos of the minerals before crushing perhaps can help identify the right process?
 

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