how to process HCl wash and one other question

[bcouth]

hello,

i posted for the first time last night, and i was really pleased with the quick responses. it sure makes me feel welcome here; thanks, all. i have two more questions tonight if you all have time to address them. thanks in advance for any help.

1) after dissolving gold in AR, i water it down and let the flux/trash settle for between 12 and 24 hours prior to decanting. i noticed that a lot of bright, gold powder is dropping out of solution with the trash. i recovered it with another AR bath, and it represented roughly 5% of the gold that i processed. is this normal? for reasons that i can't quite explain, i always dilute the AR with more water than required (7x versus 4x). could the extra water be lowering the pH to the point that the gold is falling out of solution? or am i letting the trash settle for so long that some gold ends up settling, too?

2) after dropping gold from AR, i have been washing the gold with HCl. i keep the used HCl in a separate waste container. i am ready to process it for values, and i can't seem to find any posts on the message board that detail how to do it. i imagine that i water it down, lower the pH, and hit it with some SMB? can someone detail the process for me?

thanks, and
bcouth

 

[lazersteve]

1. From your description it sounds like your 'flux' may still contain some base metals or base metal compounds that are cementing the gold back out of solution.

2. Adding water and SMB after filtering should precipitate the gold that is taken up by the HCl.

Steve

 

[bcouth]

thanks, boss.
i have definitely been using a dirty baking dish to inquart my gold. it makes sense that the borax glass stuck to the gold would have some base metals in it that are exposed after the gold is dissolved in AR. such a simple solution to my problem; i really appreciate you taking the time to help me (and everybody else!).
thanks, and
bcouth