I'm sorta new here, but have a rough chemical knowledge.
& have been scrapping Copper & Ali metal for about 12 years, most of it in the last 3-4 years.
I have been on Scrapmetalforum.com for 2 years & here for a few months.
Money & knowledge is the main goal, another 'string to my bow' & a way of financing it.
So, I had a small sack of computer ribbon & stripped off all of the gold connectors & after cutting the silver bits off, ended up with 220 grams of gold plated connectors.
That got put in a 500ml flask & 250mls HCL added, after the boiling slowed down I put it on a low heat, venting the HCL vapor off thru a hose into the sink plughole.
Which didn't stop everything around me from rusting....
The HCL got real dark green, nice, but no 'free gold' in sight.
Once the HCL got weak I poured it off & added another 250mls HCL & kept boiling it.
Now Gold flakes were seen rising up the side of the beaker & I should have picked them out I guess.. Its my first time.
Kept boiling till the HCL got weak again.
What I originally thought was going to happen was the copper & tin part of the pins would all dissolve, leaving me with a coloured acid solution with gold flakes all thru it.
Then I would filter it to get the gold flakes & then melt it to a Gold button.
Nah...
So I poured out the HCL, added more & noticed the 'snow globe' effect of fine gold flakes in the first two solutions, with some settled onto the base of the flask.
It got boiled untill I could see no more Gold on the pins, they were just a common reddish Copper colour now.
The solutions dark green, lightly acid still.
Murky green/brown dust at the bottom of the eroded copper pins.
So I poured off the solution & started washing the pins.
As they got washed, the gold flakes rose in the clean water, so I poured it into a plastic bottle before they dropped, so they could settle out.
Did that for about 5 litres of water, wish there was a gold magnet.....Takes ages to settle.
Centrafuge would be faster, I actually have one but its small.
Thats as far as I am at the moment.
I will keep washing the pins & work on the solutions soon.
I got Gold, thats what I want, its my first time & learning is more important, recoverys a close 2nd.
I'm thinking, settle out gold etc.
See if neutralising the solution to see what drops out makes a difference.
& have been scrapping Copper & Ali metal for about 12 years, most of it in the last 3-4 years.
I have been on Scrapmetalforum.com for 2 years & here for a few months.
Money & knowledge is the main goal, another 'string to my bow' & a way of financing it.
So, I had a small sack of computer ribbon & stripped off all of the gold connectors & after cutting the silver bits off, ended up with 220 grams of gold plated connectors.
That got put in a 500ml flask & 250mls HCL added, after the boiling slowed down I put it on a low heat, venting the HCL vapor off thru a hose into the sink plughole.
Which didn't stop everything around me from rusting....
The HCL got real dark green, nice, but no 'free gold' in sight.
Once the HCL got weak I poured it off & added another 250mls HCL & kept boiling it.
Now Gold flakes were seen rising up the side of the beaker & I should have picked them out I guess.. Its my first time.
Kept boiling till the HCL got weak again.
What I originally thought was going to happen was the copper & tin part of the pins would all dissolve, leaving me with a coloured acid solution with gold flakes all thru it.
Then I would filter it to get the gold flakes & then melt it to a Gold button.
Nah...
So I poured out the HCL, added more & noticed the 'snow globe' effect of fine gold flakes in the first two solutions, with some settled onto the base of the flask.
It got boiled untill I could see no more Gold on the pins, they were just a common reddish Copper colour now.
The solutions dark green, lightly acid still.
Murky green/brown dust at the bottom of the eroded copper pins.
So I poured off the solution & started washing the pins.
As they got washed, the gold flakes rose in the clean water, so I poured it into a plastic bottle before they dropped, so they could settle out.
Did that for about 5 litres of water, wish there was a gold magnet.....Takes ages to settle.
Centrafuge would be faster, I actually have one but its small.
Thats as far as I am at the moment.
I will keep washing the pins & work on the solutions soon.
I got Gold, thats what I want, its my first time & learning is more important, recoverys a close 2nd.
I'm thinking, settle out gold etc.
See if neutralising the solution to see what drops out makes a difference.