Is there supposed to be visible copper?

[othercompguy]

I have done my very first finger gold recovery. This was from a mix of ram, slot cpu fingers and various ISA/PCI card fingers.

I am curious about the visible copper in my pile. I followed the videos but I still see copper, is this normal, am I freaking out?


It isn't much but I figure I have old computers, space and down time to pick off this stuff so I thought I would give this a go. This forum and LazerSteves videos were the only way I would have even tried this. Once I get the hang of the fingers thing I will move on to other stuff I have laying around the shop (that shop is a computer repair center in case you were wondering).

 

[Militoy]

I'm not sure I can spot the copper in your photo - but assuming you clearly see copper - why not soak your foils a bit longer in a little bit of straight HCl to dissolve it?

 

[othercompguy]

Thanks, I'll give it a try

 

[rmi2416]

It may not be copper. In a semi related post some one mentioned that your AP solution at first might take on some of your gold hence the yellow tint at first. But as the AP solution becomes saturated with copper it will push the absorbed gold back out. The gold that has been pushed out is a brownish metallic color might be mistaken for copper. It is my understanding that there should be no copper left because the it is all in the solution. Hope that helps and maybe can at least bring a different perspective. Here is a link where I believed it was said http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=10076

Regards,
Ross

 

[othercompguy]

better picture:


the filter was clear (like in the video). It is likely I am a noob over reacting but just wanting to make sure before moving to next step (after some more serious reading of course).

 

[Claudie]

The green you see looks like solder mask, that is to be expected at this point.

 

[aflacglobal]

Hcl alone won't dissolve copper. Try adding a little hydrogen peroxide to the mix.

 

[lazersteve]

Your foils look perfectly normal to me at this stage.

I would not add any HCl or peroxide to them, simply move on to the HCl-Cl stage now. Go easy on the bleach and heavy on the stirring.

Steve

 

[Harold_V]

I have harped on incineration endlessly. In a case such as this, incineration would eliminate the material, which would benefit from a wash in HCl after incineration, and before dissolving the values. Benfits include a higher quality of gold precipitated, and a solution that filters much easier.

Harold