Hello all , I'm a newbie and I'm attempting to leach gold from an ore that has sat for years and I'm not sure It has gold or if it's just pyrite help?

[Eliasar Cardona]

I've tried multiple times with out success to take 200 grams of ore and add 4 cups of hydrochloric and 2bcups of Clorox is it that I'm supposed to be heating this mixture , it's very gassy and it's about 9 degrees outside so any help would be appreciated .
Also when panning this ore it's seems that there is a reddish purple sulfide that is primarily in my pan is this my gold ?

 

[Eliasar Cardona]

Here's some examples of this ore

 

[Yggdrasil]

I've tried multiple times with out success to take 200 grams of ore and add 4 cups of hydrochloric and 2bcups of Clorox is it that I'm supposed to be heating this mixture , it's very gassy and it's about 9 degrees outside so any help would be appreciated .
Also when panning this ore it's seems that there is a reddish purple sulfide that is primarily in my pan is this my gold ?

This is wrong in many levels.
Why do you expect it to have Gold in it?
Have you had an assay done?
You NEVER use HCl/Bleach on ores and if you use it you never use it like this.
I'm out on the road so I will respond more later.

Edited to correct wording.

 

[Fender145]

The first priority is safety. Are you doing this indoors? Are there fumes coming off the HCl/bleach mixture? If yes and yes, take that stuff outdoors right away. Those are corrosive acid fumes that can damage your lungs.
I think you need to halt what you're doing and start over. You'll want to get that acid mix separated from the rocks. Can you safely pour the acid/bleach mixture out of your container, leaving the rocks behind? Be sure to wear eye and face protection and gloves, at the least. Pour the liquid into another acid-resistant container, leaving the rocks in the original container. This should halt the gassy reaction. Report back after you have done this.

 

[Fender145]

Actually the fumes are probably chlorine gas. Chlorine is created by the reaction of HCl and NaOCl (hydrochloric acid and sodium hypochlorite, the bleach.) It is highly toxic to breath. Remember chlorine gas artillery shells were used by both armies in WWI to kill enemy soldiers on the other side.

 

[goldshark]

I've tried multiple times with out success to take 200 grams of ore and add 4 cups of hydrochloric and 2bcups of Clorox is it that I'm supposed to be heating this mixture , it's very gassy and it's about 9 degrees outside so any help would be appreciated .
Also when panning this ore it's seems that there is a reddish purple sulfide that is primarily in my pan is this my gold ?

Never put raw ores, or rocks, into an acidic environment. The technique for testing your rocks, at home, is this. Crush rocks into 50 mesh powder. Pan to concentrate rocks into heavy concentrate. Look in pan for fine Gold. If you have visible Gold, this is a much smaller amount to deal with. If many sulphides occur, you will need to "roast" them. Many threads on this technique. After roasting, your pyrites will need to be further ground to remove the oxide coating on any potential Gold. Again view under hand lens. When in doubt search the forum, there is much info already discussed. Please do your search here. It has been discussed under many threads.

 

[minero74]

Hellos Welcome to the Forum

Please stop the process before hurting Youself.

You use way too much bleach
and is very dangerous.

Please be very careful when using
HCL+Bleach.
it’s produce a very lethal greenish/yellow gas
called Chlorine.
If You breath it long enough may kill You.

water with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
will neutralize the chlorine gas and the acid.

There is other process that will give You better result.
and if You do it the right way.
You can reduce a lot the gas emission .

Follow what goldshark reply to You.
Do the step by step goldshark reply to You.

 

[Ultrax]

If your ore ( or sulfides) contains a lot of silver, chlorine (bleach + H₂SO₄, HCl+H₂O₂, AR etc.) will not help you correctly identify the amount of gold.

Use a standard geological iodine test.

Pour 100 grams of crushed ore and 100 ml. alcohol medical 5% iodine + potassium iodide (I₂ + KI) solution into a tightly closed(!) plastic beaker and heat it to 50^oC with constant shaking. Leave the mixture overnight in a warm place.

After this, filter the iodine solution from the ore, and wash the ore with a small amount of pure ethyl alcohol. By evaporating this solution (under a hood or in the open air - iodine vapor is toxic) and calcining the cup to 250^oC-300^oC, you will get a more or less approx. the weight content of gold and silver in your ore.

Gold and silver (if any) will be in the form of clearly visible, beautiful needle-shaped crystals on the perimeter surface of the dry salt sediment.

 

[wccurtis89]

I was scolded on this forum for using nitric acid on an ore of Silver. After reading this post I can see why.

Why on Earth did you think that anything about your process was safe, correct, or even close to something you should be doing? I did hundreds of hours of reading, and research, before I ever considered using caustic acids to extract PM's, and I did it with my Dad who has a very strong understanding of chemistry and safety.

I am blown away.

 

[Yggdrasil]

I was scolded on this forum for using nitric acid on an ore of Silver. After reading this post I can see why.

Why on Earth did you think that anything about your process was safe, correct, or even close to something you should be doing? I did hundreds of hours of reading, and research, before I ever considered using caustic acids to extract PM's, and I did it with my Dad who has a very strong understanding of chemistry and safety.

I am blown away.

The OP has not been back since his first post.
I hope he did not continue with what he was doing.
Hopefully he is in good health.

 

[spoke27]

If your ore ( or sulfides) contains a lot of silver, chlorine (bleach + H₂SO₄, HCl+H₂O₂, AR etc.) will not help you correctly identify the amount of gold.

Use a standard geological iodine test.

Pour 100 grams of crushed ore and 100 ml. alcohol medical 5% iodine + potassium iodide (I₂ + KI) solution into a tightly closed(!) plastic beaker and heat it to 50^oC with constant shaking. Leave the mixture overnight in a warm place.

After this, filter the iodine solution from the ore, and wash the ore with a small amount of pure ethyl alcohol. By evaporating this solution (under a hood or in the open air - iodine vapor is toxic) and calcining the cup to 250^oC-300^oC, you will get a more or less approx. the weight content of gold and silver in your ore.

Gold and silver (if any) will be in the form of clearly visible, beautiful needle-shaped crystals on the perimeter surface of the dry salt sediment.

I'm trying to follow what you wrote. Can you explain the test you wrote here a little more? Heating alcohol to 50C? How safe would it be? ? Do you have a visual of a positive result? That would be great to see. What kind of results does it give for PGM? For example, what results does it give for sulfur ores?
What should be the mixing ratio of medical iodine and potassium iodide?
Thanks in advance for the answer

 

[Ultrax]

I'm trying to follow what you wrote. Can you explain the test you wrote here a little more? Heating alcohol to 50C? How safe would it be? ? Do you have a visual of a positive result? That would be great to see. What kind of results does it give for PGM? For example, what results does it give for sulfur ores?
What should be the mixing ratio of medical iodine and potassium iodide?
Thanks in advance for the answer

1) "tightly closed(!) plastic beaker and heat it to 50^oC" - it is safe. Don't use open fire. Heat in a water bath.

2) Gold and silver (if any) will be in the form of clearly visible, beautiful needle-shaped crystals on the perimeter surface of the dry salt sediment - if you have any significant gold quantity in your ore, visual result will be great

3) This test is NOT applicable for PMs.

4) Sulfide ore must be pre-calcined. Otherwise, the results will be underestimated.

5) I₂ : KI best ratio (1 : 4), but medical 5% iodine-iodide ethanol solution is also OK. You can use it as-is.

The overall gold recovery is about 95%.

 

[Martijn]

1) "tightly closed(!) plastic beaker and heat it to 50^oC" - it is safe. Don't use open fire. Heat in a water bath.

2) Gold and silver (if any) will be in the form of clearly visible, beautiful needle-shaped crystals on the perimeter surface of the dry salt sediment - if you have any significant gold quantity in your ore, visual result will be great

3) This test is NOT applicable for PMs.

4) Sulfide ore must be pre-calcined. Otherwise, the results will be underestimated.

5) I₂ : KI best ratio (1 : 4), but medical 5% iodine-iodide ethanol solution is also OK. You can use it as-is.

The overall gold recovery is about 95%.

not knowing anything about this test: How safe is this test to perform by someone that does not understand chemistry at all? Any precautions to take or safety concerns / hazardous substances involved with the liquids or resulting salts?

3) This test is NOT applicable for PMs

i guess you mean PGM's?

Heating alcohol to 50C? How safe would it be? ?

The temperature where alcohol releases enough vapors to form a mixture in the air to be able to be ignited is way under 50C,you can light alcohol vapors from a liquid at 12 C. Called the flashpoint.
The ignition temperature is 400C though, so no sparks or open fire near alcohol vapors. Nothing scary at 50 C, and a lid will extinguish any flame very easily.

Use ventilation to avoid buildup of dangerous concentrations and you're fine.

 

[Yggdrasil]

I'm trying to follow what you wrote. Can you explain the test you wrote here a little more? Heating alcohol to 50C? How safe would it be? ? Do you have a visual of a positive result? That would be great to see. What kind of results does it give for PGM? For example, what results does it give for sulfur ores?
What should be the mixing ratio of medical iodine and potassium iodide?
Thanks in advance for the answer

If you find heating plain Alcohol to 50deg C, you need to find something else to do.
I find that there might be more dangers with sublimating the Iodine if one don't have proper ventilation.

Of course it has its dangers, but less than most things we do.

Producing home made Alcohol boils it at close to 100 C, Alcohol evaporates at 86 and there can be some fumes.
Only if errors are made things go wrong. like forgetting to start the cooling.

 

[Ultrax]

not knowing anything about this test: How safe is this test to perform by someone that does not understand chemistry at all? Any precautions to take or safety concerns / hazardous substances involved with the liquids or resulting salts?

If a person does not understand chemistry at all, he/she, in principle, should not be involved in ore testing.

If we draw an analogy, I won't ask a person (who does not understand construction at all) to build my house. That would be strange, wouldn't it?

No one has canceled the need for basic qualifications in any science.

 

[Yggdrasil]

If a person does not understand chemistry at all, he/she, in principle, should not be involved in ore testing.

If we draw an analogy, I won't ask a person (who does not understand construction at all) to build my house. That would be strange, wouldn't it?

No one has canceled the need for basic qualifications in any science.

Absolutely correct, especially the last line is valid for almost if not all activities in here.

 

[Martijn]

If a person does not understand chemistry at all, he/she, in principle, should not be involved in ore testing.

If we draw an analogy, I won't ask a person (who does not understand construction at all) to build my house. That would be strange, wouldn't it?

No one has canceled the need for basic qualifications in any science.

I agree, and find the test very valuable information.
But we also do not provide step by step tutorials to avoid the inexperienced to be exposed to dangers, which beginners are generally not ready for. In this line was my question.
This leach is based on iodine, and i wonder are there any concerns to using it compared to the usual chemicals we use?
Like this one Yggdrasil was considering:

I find that there might be more dangers with sublimating the Iodine if one don't have proper ventilation.

 

[Martijn]

The average by You Tube educated Joe and Jane walking in the hills finding a rock will google this post and go ahead and try it, without asking any safety question.

 

[minero74]

The key in His process is the Reddish purple sulfide He get in His Pan.

I never seen that reddish purple sulfide before,and I have no idea what it is.

maybe can be mercury sulfide??

I Know that Arsenic sulfide color can range from yellow to orange.

But that sulfide He get in his pan
can be something very dangerous.

some kind of sulfide can release harmful gases like H2S.
and H2S is a poison gas and in low concentration smell like rotten eggs.

If any one of You Guys Know something about that kind of sulfide He describe in His post
can You please explain to US.

 

[Yggdrasil]

The key in His process is the Reddish purple sulfide He get in His Pan.

I never seen that reddish purple sulfide before,and I have no idea what it is.

maybe can be mercury sulfide??

I Know that Arsenic sulfide color can range from yellow to orange.

But that sulfide He get in his pan
can something very dangerous.

some kind of sulfide can release harmful gases like H2S.
and H2S is a poison gas and in low concentration smell like rotten eggs.

If any one of You Guys Know something about that kind of sulfide He describe in His post
can You please explain to US.

There is no extra information so we have no means or information to give meaningful advice.
Additionally the OP has not been back after he posted these two posts.