New guy on the block

[super_sora]

First post and stuck. Was attempting to refine some old 23k gold plated stuff found at a thrift shop and to make a long story short I was successfully able to get the gold off but I think I made an error in mixing the aqua regia and now everything is dissolved but when attempting to precipitate, I’m getting no reaction.

I have 2 theories on why, I either have too much nitric acid or there is still copper in solution.

As of right now I have about 2L of fluid with dissolved material, most of it being a mix of aqua regia and water. It has been sitting a few days since I’ve mixed the reaction as well.

My solution is also a lime green color. And the other a bright blue.

Thanks in advance

 

[Johnny5]

I'm going to make a preliminary assumption,
By your story, I am guessing that you do not have enough gold to show a visible drop.

How many pounds of material did you begin with? If it was basic EP jewelry you would have needed several pounds just to see a noticeable drop, and even then that would depend on your nitric being fully spent first.

 

[Shark]

While I am off on the numbers it does keep me from assuming wild numbers as well as volumes.

Think of really good gold plate as 5 cents per square inch. Now do the math and figure out how much a nickel's worth of gold would be in weight or volume. Actually seems really small when looking at it this way. And I used to be pretty good at recovering and refining in lots that would produce only a couple of tenths of a gram.