Is all that glitters GOLD? How to select plated filled scrap

[kadriver]

Are there values in the rinse water?

How can I get the values out of the rinse water?

Filter and wash?

Thanks - kadriver

 

[Barren Realms 007]

Are there values in the rinse water?

How can I get the values out of the rinse water?

Filter and wash?

Thanks - kadriver

There is possibly values in your wash water. After you finish your processing let everyhing settle to the bottom (24-48 hrs) and then siphon off the liquid and test the material on the bottom if ti is gold then process it.

 

[Harold_V]

Are there values in the rinse water?

How can I get the values out of the rinse water?

Hoke discusses solutions, and how one sends them to the "stock pot".

Stannous chloride is your friend.

Solutions should *always* be tested for traces of values. If they are in solution, they are sent to the stock pot, where they are cemented. If they are not in solution, but found to be in suspension, you can generally allow the solution to sit idle for a day or so, at which time anything of value should be found sitting on the bottom.

The exception to the above is when working with silver bearing solution. For example, if, after cementing, you find your solution still displays a slight amount of silver (determined by a drop of HCl in a small sample, yielding a white cloud), salt or HCl should be added to the solution, then it should be allowed to settle, at which time it can be separated from the resulting silver chloride and discarded appropriately.

Harold

 

[kadriver]

Thanks Harold, I have completed about 18 hours of continuous stripping in that cell.

i have disassembled it and put it and the rinse water up for the next day or two.

In my photo there was a thick brown colored mass coming from the lead cathode. Can anyone tell me what the brown scum is?

After about 2 hours I checked the cell with a flashlight. I could not see through the liquid, but there is about 1/2 inch of dark mud all over the bottom of the cell.

My cell was wider, and not as deep as Lazersteves.

I stripped the whole case full of flatware, all the pins (I used a copper basket I fashioned out of 1" copper tube with a copper cap brazed to it). I also stripped about 10 pounds of scrap plated costume jewelry.

When I seen that 1/2 inch of mud, I got real excited about what the cell will yield in terms of gold metal - should I be excited, or is 1/2 inch going to give me 10 grams?

Also, I dissolved some gold plated silver jewelry this evening after I put the cell up for the night.

After the silver had dissolved I let the container coll outdoors. When I went to get it i was amazed to find these beautiful crystals in the bottom. Can someone tell me what they were?

 

[Harold_V]

My money on the crystals is they're silver. Now we need the opinion of someone that knows chemistry, to explain to me why I'm wrong! :lol:

Try this. Remove a trace of those crystals, dissolve in distilled water, and see if you can cement silver with copper.

I expect the sludge you recovered is going to be very light in weight---not much in the way of values. Please do keep us posted, however, for I may be very wrong.

Harold

 

[Oz]

Maybe I missed something in his posts but that 2nd picture sure looks like silver nitrate to me. Did that come out of a sulfuric stripping cell? He did mention gold plated silver.

I have cemented silver on copper from sulfuric before, but I have never tried concentrating it in solution to grow crystals in a sulfuric acid solution.

 

[kadriver]

OZ - No, the crystals came from a completely different process. I dissolved some gold plated, silver jewelry in nitric acid AFTER I had completed using the stripping cell.

Sorry, I should have put that picture under a different post to avoid confussion.

When I wokw this morning those crystals were one of the first things to pop into my head - SILVER NITRATE CRYSTALs - must be. They sure were pretty.

I have already dissolved them in boiling water so I could remove the gold foils that were left after boiling in nitric acid.

Thank you all - kadriver

 

[kadriver]

I recovered the gold from the cell.

The amount was very small just as Harold said it wouold be - but not too bad.

I have included a picture of the gold after i boiled it in Nitric acid.

the large container is from the cell, the small one is from the rinse water for the cell. I think I could have recovery more from the rinse water if i would have applied some patience.

Also, I used too much aqua regia to dissolve the gold. It took nearly 12 spoons of urea to neutralize the AR.

Then I was startled to see what appeared to be precipitation in the filter. I thought it was lead because I noticed it after I added the sulfuric acid before filtering.

When I added water to rinse the filter the precip dissolved. Then I realized that the AuCl was saturated with urea. I added more distilled water and it all dissolved - my inexperience, but I learned another lesson tonight.

I dropped the gold and will wash & rinse tomorrow.

I actually did four seperat processes for this batch:

1) gold plated silver jewelry
2) gold filled and rolled scrap (using lazersteves dvd)
3) inquarted karat gold scrap jewelry (with graphite stirring rod)
4) harvested the stripping cell.

Stirring the molten golld 7 silver with that graphite stirring rod was really a unique sensation.

I did each process individually, then combined then just before adding aqua regia. Unfortunately i did not get a good weight on the stripping cell gold before I tossed everything together.

The stripping cell looked at least like a couple of grams.

I may run the gold powder through a second refining to get it as pure as I can.

Thanks for looking.

kadriver

 

[Harold_V]

Well done!

Congrats.

Harold

 

[kadriver]

I started with the stripping cell and kept adding gold as I got it.

I added some more karat scrap jewelry today and added it to the other four processes already in progress. I got this bar for my efforts.

Thanks to this forum I have gained a little confidence in my refining.

Sorry I did not take the time to get the weight of the gold from the cell.

Thanks for looking

kadriver

 

[Barren Realms 007]

Congrat's, nice looking color there.

 

[butcher]

UREEKA

 

[kadriver]

Please notice that there is a little bit of frosting on the surface of the bar.

Is this normal, or are there impurities that are causing this?

Thanks - kadriver

 

[Harold_V]

I noticed the slight frosting, and would attribute it to something that doesn't oxidize, and of very low percentage. I might suggest that it may be traces of silver chloride, although that's just speculation. Washing the gold with ammonium hydroxide can serve to limit, if not eliminate, any traces of silver. The color of your bar is very good as far as I'm concerned.

You could have poured a smoother bar by heating the mold (more, if you already did) and playing a reducing flame on the surface of the ingot as it cooled slowly. that prevents the irregular surface you produced. You may have poured the gold on the cold side, too, considering it froze rapidly. All in all, you did very well.

Harold