I made poor mans AR solution to process some old military comm. pins. I heated the solution until the reaction was pretty much done, solution was very black. I then added some clean copper and heated,to drop metals. The copper dissolved and I was left with Green crystals. What are they and what happened to all of the metals, are they in the crystals? Thanks
I made poor mans AR.. HELP!!
- Thread starter Robonca
- Start date
Help Support Gold Refining Forum:
TomVader
Well-known member
I guess the pins were karat gold? Why did you dissolve them in AR? And then why did you add copper to this solution? If you don't have answers to these questions it's because you haven't studied the process of refining precious metals. I suggest putting your "mess" away in a safe place and doing some research before you continue. Haven't you read posts almost exactly like your own over the time you've been a member here and the replies they've recieved?
It is not recommended to run scrap directly in AR before removing the base metals first. From your description of the reaction you made a concentrated solution of copper chloride(s), then added copper at the end. You should have used nitric acid as a first step to remove the bulk of the copper, then went after the gold using poorman's AR.
A black saturated solution typically contains no values as the copper concentration in effect cements everything out. In your first run the black liquid should be tested with stannous chloride and properly processed depending on the results of the test. Assuming the test was negative, you should have allowed it to settle, siphoned off the black liquid, then run the solids in AR to dissolve any values that may have cemented from the saturated solution. If the black solution tested positive, you should add a solid copper buss bar until the solution tests negative, then proceed as described for a negative solution.
Saturated copper solutions are easy to identify by adding a few drops of tap water which cause a whitish colored cloud to form in the black solution around the water droplets if the solution is saturated. A solution that is saturated with copper seldom, if ever, contains any precious metals values. Colored crystals are the result of saturation and should be separated from the liquids and dissolved in an appropriate solvent. Once a sample of the crystals are redissolved the liquid formed can be tested with stannous. It is not uncommon for colored crystals to contain values in solid form entrained in the structure of the crystals. For this reason it is important to get the crystals back into solution and filter out the solids which may contain values.
Steve
A black saturated solution typically contains no values as the copper concentration in effect cements everything out. In your first run the black liquid should be tested with stannous chloride and properly processed depending on the results of the test. Assuming the test was negative, you should have allowed it to settle, siphoned off the black liquid, then run the solids in AR to dissolve any values that may have cemented from the saturated solution. If the black solution tested positive, you should add a solid copper buss bar until the solution tests negative, then proceed as described for a negative solution.
Saturated copper solutions are easy to identify by adding a few drops of tap water which cause a whitish colored cloud to form in the black solution around the water droplets if the solution is saturated. A solution that is saturated with copper seldom, if ever, contains any precious metals values. Colored crystals are the result of saturation and should be separated from the liquids and dissolved in an appropriate solvent. Once a sample of the crystals are redissolved the liquid formed can be tested with stannous. It is not uncommon for colored crystals to contain values in solid form entrained in the structure of the crystals. For this reason it is important to get the crystals back into solution and filter out the solids which may contain values.
Steve
Thanks to all, I processed all of this mess, and dropped the gold with SMB, then washed several times in HCL, H2SO4, and hot distilled water. Came out with a nice tan powder that clumped well. What is the best way to melt the gold and make it really shine?
Thanks Patrick
Thanks Patrick
The shine does not come from the melt, but comes from getting the gold pure before the melt, refining the gold twice, and using Harold's gold washing technique is one way to make the gold pure, before you melt it, and with a clean melting dish and preparing the hot dish with a fine sprinkle coating of borax so the gold will not stick to the dish, and melting the pure gold it will shine when cooled.
You can learn about the gold washing procedure from Harold, read the topic getting gold pure and shinning in the help needed section.
You can learn about the gold washing procedure from Harold, read the topic getting gold pure and shinning in the help needed section.
