okay to first state that i have read over hokes book. ( thank you for making it available). okay i think i have missed something please enlighten me. i have not started the larger scale gold and silver refining yet because i want to get a basic routine and understanding of what i need to do so i started only by dissolving silver... a 1964 silver quarter in roughly 60% nitric acid solution. okay so now i have my blue silver nitrate along with the 10% copper from the quarter also dissolved. I added non iodinated NaCl until i stopped getting the AgCl precipitation(the solution has turned green now along with the precipitate in the bottum). Next i filtered the AgCl in a coffee filter with plenty of water. next i let it dry then commenced to trying to melt it with my torch in a crucible and i got zero silver metal left over. Where did i go wrong ? from what i figured was the Ag and Cl heated would created Ag metal and Cl gas? Its okay, you can call me a dumb @$$ if i made a newbie mistake lol just lemme know which one i made and how to correct it. ....................Also to add to this. would precipitating the silver be easier with the copper method than the NaCl?
I think I made a mistake?
- Thread starter mattw204
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In my opinion, working with silver chloride should be avoided when possible. I processed thousands of ounces of silver, using copper for recovery. Very little silver chloride was processed, and what little was was converted to elemental silver by the use of aluminum. There are other methods, but direct melting isn't one of them. All you manage to do is lose the silver, and you put your health at risk in the process.mattw204 said:
Melting with soda ash (and borax) will reduce the silver chloride to elemental silver, but it's terribly hard on the vessel in which you melt, so unless there's an exceptional reason to pursue that avenue, it's not recommended.
Hoke is a wonderful book to learn processing, but she treats silver with considerable contempt. There are other books that can serve you well in that regard. One of them is the book written by Butts & Coxe. I recommend it highly.
Harold
Geo
Well-known member
lazersteve has a video on his website that shows you how to convert silver chloride into elemental silver.its at http://www.goldrecovery.us i havent tried it though but i have used copper to reclaim silver from silver nitrate.good luck.
I would dilute the nitric a bit 60% HNO3, you will be making more NOx gases, adding water will help these to convert to more nitric in solution, instead of just gassing off as red fumes, Some H2O2 peroxide is also very good here to make your nitric go further, converting keeping gas in solution and making nitric from what would be lost.
cementing silver from silver nitrate solution with a copper buss bar is the best solution, the cemented silver is elemental silver metal, and can be melted directly, and in my opinion makes a cleaner silver bar than conversion of silver chloride will (just my opinion),if palladium it will also cement from, a nitric solution.
Silver chloride will need conversion to elemental silver, this fluffy silver salts can hold other metals, can be converted by several methods caustic soda (lye) (sodium Hydroxide) and kARO corn syrup (dextrose, sugar), the caustic will also oxidize other base metals that you may not have eliminated prior , which can show up in the final melt. another conversion method dilute H2SO4 and iron or the HCl and aluminum.
chlorides of silver or gold will vaporize easily sending your values up in smoke.
If I have chloride metal salts I will neutralize them with sodium hydroxide makeing salt water and rinse away this salt water before I roast (incenerate) any powders, salt can also convert metals to metal chloride salts (chemical reaction) in the roast at these temperatures so rinsing away this salt water is important. other wise my gold may go up in smoke as yellow fumes, and silver in white clouds.
although they say melting silver chloride with borax, and soda ash will convert to metal, I have not had any luck with it, maybe getting it too hot too fast? as my losses still seemed high.
cementing silver from silver nitrate solution with a copper buss bar is the best solution, the cemented silver is elemental silver metal, and can be melted directly, and in my opinion makes a cleaner silver bar than conversion of silver chloride will (just my opinion),if palladium it will also cement from, a nitric solution.
Silver chloride will need conversion to elemental silver, this fluffy silver salts can hold other metals, can be converted by several methods caustic soda (lye) (sodium Hydroxide) and kARO corn syrup (dextrose, sugar), the caustic will also oxidize other base metals that you may not have eliminated prior , which can show up in the final melt. another conversion method dilute H2SO4 and iron or the HCl and aluminum.
chlorides of silver or gold will vaporize easily sending your values up in smoke.
If I have chloride metal salts I will neutralize them with sodium hydroxide makeing salt water and rinse away this salt water before I roast (incenerate) any powders, salt can also convert metals to metal chloride salts (chemical reaction) in the roast at these temperatures so rinsing away this salt water is important. other wise my gold may go up in smoke as yellow fumes, and silver in white clouds.
although they say melting silver chloride with borax, and soda ash will convert to metal, I have not had any luck with it, maybe getting it too hot too fast? as my losses still seemed high.
