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Non-Chemical Lead Vs. Nickel for collection.

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NuggetHuntingFool

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 2, 2008
Messages
224
Location
Michigan
A few questions.

I know that Nickel collects all the Pt groups.

Does it also collect gold and silver?


Has anybody used copper as a collector before?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of lead, copper, and nickel?


Thank you.
 
Nickel is not only more difficult to dissolve, but it is also about 22 dollars per pound, and thus highly expensive. I've used copper before when making small anodes for electrowinning.

Lead is cheapest, and is the lowest temperature to use. It has toxicity issues, but is simple enough to use and works very well at dissolving PMs.
 
F. E. Beamish wrote an excellent series of books on the analysis (all methods are covered) of the noble metals in the '60's and '70's. They include an outline for a fire assay method for the collection of all 6 PGM's using nickel sulfide. The collection is at least as good as when using lead, although neither are as complete as when using the best direct acid extraction methods. Perhaps, the NiS collection can be adapted to a larger scale. Here's Beamish's procedure:

(1) Basic Flux mix for up to 50 g of ore: 60 g of fused borax; 30 g soda ash; 32 g nickel carbonate; 12.5 g powdered sulfur
(2) At a temp. of 1832 deg F., fuse for 75 minutes
(3) Pour into an iron mold. Separate the button from the slag.
(4) Shatter the brittle button in a hydraulic press. Grind until fine.
(5) Overnight, dissolve away the NiS using 400 mL of conc. HCl, at low heat. The PGM's remain as sulfides, which are easily treated with acids.
 
What about copper as a collector?

Just curious...


Also, will nickel, lead, and copper all extract the big three? Au, Ag, Pt (groups)


Which is better for which, or are all three effective if done right?


Thanks
 
Well, I'm no expert.

I'm assuming once the PM's are collected a type of acid is used to dissolve the copper or perhaps even the PM's. Then recovered later.
 


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