Help with a newbie

[Drowningbodacius]

hi everybody!!
my name is Drowningboda, i am a novice chemist but new to gold refining so
i have a bunch of scrap gold, everything from gold platted copper finger( ddr ram sticks), jewelry, cpu pins, gold plated coax tv prongs, Gold plated ethernet prongs, e.t.c, E.t.c, e.t.c
so i have pretty much every freaking base metal you can think of in my feed
im wondering could i dissolve the base metals by doing this process
1. soak feed in HCL (hydrochloric Acid) for 24 hours
2. strain and wash
3 soak HCL treated feed in HNO³ (nitric acid) for 24 hours
4. strain and wash
that should remove all of the base metals that could contaminate my (Hydrogen Gold Chloride ) 1 and 3 when i place the feed in my Royal Water ( aqua regia ) to be dissolved. or am i going about this the wrong way?

 

[Drowningbodacius]

so what? no one understands what i talking about or is this forum just a load of hokum? i thought i could get some help here

 

[butcher]

Hokum, is that your process?
It does not sound like a good idea.
Basically you would end up putting your gold into solution with base metals, which is not a good idea, if you spend a little time studying the forum you will understand why, and the proper way to separate, recover and refine your materials.

The first book to read, and study is Hoke's book (found in the book section).

You will find the forum a very good place to learn, and very helpful members, you are expected to do your homework and be respectful of other members, have you read the forum rules?

The general reaction list, guide to the forum and welcome to new members is very helpful (in general chat section).

 

[RESET]

Each of your ETCs need to be processed differently. Listen to Butcher. Hold on to what you have, keep collecting more, READ! and read again. Your gold isn't going anywhere. If you were expecting a quick ROI, you should just sell what you have collected. Nothing about gold recovery is quick.

Your process is pointed in the correct direction, you have the right idea to remove base metals first. However, there are more efficient processes based on the type of material being recovered. Read the help wanted forum, where you posted this question, and you will see that several other people have asked the same question and usually get the same answer. Read a little further and you will see that the ones that made an effort to learn got the help that they truly needed.

Registering and calling the forum Hokum in the same 24 hours won't get you any favors. The forum helps those that help themselves.

 

[Drowningbodacius]

well thanks for the replys guys!!
sorry about the hokum thing i usually dont have good luck with forums ( i dont know why) but i did read up on the process alittle more and have een pointed in the direcion i need to go.

i was really trying to find a way to where i wouldnt have to seperate my feed it almost a pound of various scraps all jumbled together. so you can imagine my disdain for having to seperate all of it into different piles, as i dont know what kind of metals are under the plating.

 

[Drowningbodacius]

i read lasersteves doc on the AP method and that seems like the best route to go. i watched a vid where a guy placed whole ram chips and a couple of cpu' in the AP solution and it dissolves the base metals into thte solution to leave behind the gold foils for recovery with out dissolving the gold like the aqua regia method. im just wondering what anyones feed back is on the idea.

 

[butcher]

Drowningbodacius,

You will find this forum not like others, welcome to a great place to learn, with a great group of people.

Separation of materials can help to eliminate many problems,

Acid peroxide (copper II chloride leach) is a great tool for many materials.

Usually the material your working on works better with certain processes, many times which of the processes used is chosen by the materials and conditions involved.

Do follow my advice above it will help you get going in the right direction.

One of the easiest processes for learning is gold foils from memory fingers trimmed close (no solder), the forum and Laser Steve's web site will help you get that process going.

I suggest you do the getting acquainted experiments in Hokes book, and get acquainted with testing for values in solution, understanding the book and these experiments will put you miles ahead in this game.

Keep tin (solder out of solutions) unless you just love trying to deal with problems.

Oh also remember patience is one of the best tools in this work.

You have a gold mine of information here in the forum relax and enjoy exploring this gold mine you will collect many valueable nugggets along the way.


I hope you find this advice helpful.
Just us hokum’s trying to help you were we can. :lol:

Edit word used with wrong meaning.

 

[no1special]

Also, during your trial and error phase, until you actually get base metal free gold (be it leaf, powder, or foils depending on process) DO NOT throw ANYTHING away. I just melted my first button , a 4.5g beauty which i had tested at a jewler to be >22k, from a clump of cpu pins that thought i had alreay harvested the gold from and had dumped into a tub full of the ram sticks (after fingers were removed) and cpu heat shields and fiber boards that the pins came from (a couple hundred fiber cpu's.) I thought this was my throw away tub and wondered why my gold yield was just over a gram. And now i am back in that tub cutting the flatpacks off the rams and have found most of what i had lost.

 

[Drowningbodacius]

thanks for the advice all.
what i have been doing is popping the fingers off of the boards with a soldering iron ( they come off super easy that way) so all i have is the foils and the copper underneath them so i dont have to deal with large buckets and large ram fingers. I also use the same methods on the cpu pins and i did seperate the foils and pins from the other metals by using a magnet (thanks to lazersteves tut on the ap method) i have been reading hokes book but im a visual learner so its hard. i do have a program called Crocodile Chemistry that actually allows me to run simulations using the same chemicals as i wold use in real lif. the programs a huge lifesaver so i can test the processes and theories before i actually do the real thing.

im am going to be saving up as much material and studying in the mean time ntil next month when i get my chems and do the actuall thing so when i do ill post pics and the result im soooo happy about being welcomed into the forum with open arms so thanks abunch guys

 

[butcher]

Just cut off the circuit board close to the fingers, the gold flake will fall off when the acid peroxide dissolves the copper underneath, Laser Steve's strainer bucket in a bucket works great for these,

I think you will find that the real reactions may be different from a simulation with a computer, but that may help to get a general idea, doing Hokes experiments when you are ready will be a huge help in getting an understanding.

Just have fun work at whatever pace your comfortable with, study the process well, and the safety issues involved, understand how to deal safely with the very toxic waste you generate, get a good understanding before attempting to recover or refine, one step at a time and before you know it you will be up and running.