Non-Chemical New member - melting help please

[kernels]

Good morning from New Zealand, I have been lurking on the forum for a while and have come across a bit of a stumbling block I would appreciate any advice on. Or just point me in the right direction if it has been dealt with before!

As my first ever gold refining experiment, I started with 100g of ram fingers . . . Expected return was around 0.5g to 1g of gold.

Recovery with AP went textbook . . .

Refining with AR and SMB went textbook . . .

I made the mistake of trying to filter my settled brown powder with a couple of coffee filters, the powder was so fine that it ended up in the fibres of the filter, so I figured the best bet would be to dry the filters and incinerate them when I melt the gold.

This morning it was time to try and melt the power / filters. I have a home-made little gas kiln that I directed 2 x MAPP gas torches into, I also used about a teaspoon of Borax.

The problem I now have is that the gold did not naturally 'clump' together, so I ended up with a few chunks of glass with specs and clumps of gold through it, as well as some bits still stuck in the graphite crucible.



Two questions for the wise ones ->

1 - What technique can I employ to avoid this problem in the future ? Just melt greater quantities ? Don't use Borax ?
2 - What is the best technique to recover the gold that is currently in the glass ? Crush the glass with a mortar and pestle and re-dissolve in AR ? Leave it as is and throw it in the next melt ?

Thanks !

 

[4metals]

Your question is about melting, smelting is something different.

You will be best served by thinning your flux. Check out this thread.
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=85&t=22135

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Topher_osAUrus]

Ive ran into this problem as well.

You could dissolve the borax with hot water. Or nitric, or sulfuric. Then take the bb's and melt them with very very little borax.

Try not to melt gold with filter papers. While it can be done, its best to leave pure gold pure. And when youe trying to burn off the carbon in a melt, the powder gold can easily be lost.

 

[kernels]

Thank you both for the valuable advice 4metals and Topher, I have bought the additional chemicals to thin my flux, I think this will be a good experiment either way. But will give the crushing and dissolving plan a try first.

 

[Topher_osAUrus]

Thank you both for the valuable advice 4metals and Topher, I have bought the additional chemicals to thin my flux, I think this will be a good experiment either way. But will give the crushing and dissolving plan a try first.

What will you be using as a thinning agent?
-fluorspar?

I dont know if I would try to crush or just use hot water to dissolve what i could, then refresh the water after a good hard boil.

I dont like to *experiment* with my hard earned gold though.
But, to each their own.

Hope you get it resolved.

-toph

 

[kernels]

Thank you both for the valuable advice 4metals and Topher, I have bought the additional chemicals to thin my flux, I think this will be a good experiment either way. But will give the crushing and dissolving plan a try first.

What will you be using as a thinning agent?
-fluorspar?

I dont know if I would try to crush or just use hot water to dissolve what i could, then refresh the water after a good hard boil.

I dont like to *experiment* with my hard earned gold though.
But, to each their own.

Hope you get it resolved.

-toph

Yes, totally agree. I'm looking at this first batch as my education batch, so I'm not being too hard on myself about the mistakes I've made along the way. I'm gathering raw materials now for my second batch which will be ten times the quantity (although still only 5g yield). Prefer to make the mistakes and pay for the education now

Just to confirm, will that 'glass' from the borax dissolve in boiling water ? Going to go try it now . . .

edit - yes, I ordered some Fluorspar, anhydrous borax (mine popcorned badly) and soda ash. All fairly cheap and readily buy-able here

 

[Topher_osAUrus]

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=23727

That is a thread with a senior moderator's input, it is a good read.

But, yes, it should do just fine.
You may want to remove the old and put fresh water on it after an hour or two if some remains.

 

[kernels]

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=23727

That is a thread with a senior moderator's input, it is a good read.

But, yes, it should do just fine.
You may want to remove the old and put fresh water on it after an hour or two if some remains.

Thanks mate, you're a legend, has been going for a short while now and is working great ! Will go have a look at that thread now.

 

[Topher_osAUrus]

Legend? Hah. No. But thank you.

I am merely sharing what others have been generous enough to share with me and everyone else.

Best of luck.