Help with gold dust

[saintk]

I am trying to figure out a way to make gold powder. I realize that usually the goal of the refining process is to produce bars or other solid forms of gold.

Is there some way to modify the basic process described on the site so that I wind up with fine grained gold powder?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Geo]

normally, and i could be wrong, but gold precipitates as a fine powder. ive never seen gold precipitate in a bar. im not saying it doesnt, maybe in an electrolytic cell.

once you dissolve gold into solution and precipitate it out, you will have your gold powder.

you could trade for it or buy some from another member, maybe.

 

[patnor1011]

I believe that he is looking for golden yellow gold powder not tan/brown precipitated gold.
That may be interesting to know if somebody sell that and what will be the price.

 

[lazersteve]

Good lab technique and an oxalate can give you tiny gold 'flakes', but technically it's still just precipitated gold powder.

Rubbing high purity gold powder between two hard surfaces will also produce a gold shine to the powder.

I would think that naturally occuring gold 'flakes' are truely small crystalline gold, but I could be wrong.

Steve

 

[Irons2]

Good lab technique and an oxalate can give you tiny gold 'flakes', but technically it's still just precipitated gold powder.

Rubbing high purity gold powder between two hard surfaces will also produce a gold shine to the powder.

I would think that naturally occurring gold 'flakes' are truly small crystalline gold, but I could be wrong.

Steve

Native Gold is pretty soft and usually comes in rounded grains, unless you are close to the source. The closer you get, the better chance of finding
crystalline specimens, assuming it is a primary deposit an not just another recycled Placer deposit.
I enjoy dissolving Gold ore to see what kind of microscopic Gold crystals I can recover. Also had good luck recovering Platinum Group metals with the same method.

Digested Stardust is fascinating, under a Microscope.

 

[goldenchild]

I think he is looking for a fairy dust type of gold. Not the precipitate that we are so accustomed to. To get that you would probably have to actually melt your gold into a bar and then grind it with sandpaper. The grit of the sandpaper would determine the size of the dust. You could also use a file but that would obviously contaminate the gold. Or maybe you could use a file and then use nitric to get rid of the ferrous filings. A good containment system is obvious.

 

[Geo]

i agree with the file. you could remove the iron with magnets.

also as an option, while traveling and prospecting, i stopped and toured a few gold mines in Georgia. they all sell that type of gold dust.

that being said, ill tell you what the use the mines put this towards. they use it to salt the dirt they sell to tourist at their panning stations. i really dont agree with the practice, but of the few mines that would speak on it says its the only way they can guaranty gold content of the dirt they sell. i call it a scam when the sell a five gallon bucket of dirt for $40.00 with $10.00 worth of gold dust sprinkled in it.

 

[saintk]

Thanks for the input from everybody.

Quite a laugh but I didn't mean to imply that you could precipitate a gold bar, just that a bar was the end result most people seem to be after (or something similar).

What I get from the feedback is that the usual result of the process with good technique is a dark brown powder that is gold.

I thought somebody said this but I might be wrond, can you rub this powder and make it the shiny yellowish color? What makes it brown instead of the yellow metallic color when it precipitates?

I need the shiny yellow stuff for art work that I want to start doing. I thought of just sanding it off like was suggested but that seemed labor intensive if there was a way to chemically produce a meaningful amount of shiny gold powder.

Do the Georgia mines just mine it that way or do they grind it off a larger chunk?

Here is what I am trying to get to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSQFlL4pwq0&feature=channel&list=UL


Any further thoughts?

 

[lazersteve]

Fine gold flakes can be had if you use AP with lots of agitation when processing finger boards. With proper washing the purity may be high enough to use the finely divided foil powder directly in your project.

You'll need to do some testing to see how this form of gold compares to the type in the video.

Steve

 

[Geo]

placer gold comes out of the ground and is screened to the size of gold dust. most placer mines sell gold dust of most any quantity. i would shy away from buying gold dust online or from Ebay. depending on the state you live in, theres gold mines all over the U.S. theres more states that have gold than states that do not.

definitely take what Lazersteve has suggested. gold foils can be produced by yourself or even purchased from another member here on the forum. gold foil from the AP process will make beautiful gold flakes.

 

[qst42know]

Have you seen 4metals post for an atomizer?

Molten gold poured through a pressure washer, fine gold sand is the result.

To get better answers it would help to know your application.

 

[eeTHr]

Rubbing high purity gold powder between two hard surfaces will also produce a gold shine to the powder.

Here is what I am trying to get to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSQFlL4p ... el&list=UL

It appears that since you will be burnishing it anyway, normally precipitated (well refined) gold powder would have a good probability of working for layering onto the Gesso.

 

[qst42know]

I scrolled back up and saw the video.

Gold precipitated with oxalic acid has a more metallic look to it than an SMB precipitate.

I haven't done any calligraphy. It would be interesting to see your results.

 

[steyr223]

I just did another one of my (almost a gram) boards
No bubbler just 2/1 ratio hcl/peroxide very little agitation
Got a good amount of gold dust(which I dont get) but
I think any gold plated pcb would do