newby first step

[Geo]

well it seems like i keep getting gold out of my solution, i do a stainous and it keeps showing theres something in there, so i put in some mre smb and the next day there is more brown dust in the bottom, i thought it would all drop a lot faster. when i get it all i guess i`ll dry the dust in my skillet with a half inch of sand in the bottom then i`ll be ready to make my first button thanks to all the help on this forum :mrgreen:
the copper piece i put in the other solution ( green slurpy ) has black dust fallen to the bottom, theres also like a gas stain floating on top of the solution, is that black dust the gold :?:

after the first refining do another if you want really pure gold,it doesn't take as long to dissolve the gold powder as it does the foils.also when you dropped your gold with SMB did the liquid go clear then turn black? there is something to be said about putting an excess of SMB, a little more than is needed isnt a bad thing.if you do put too much it will make a black fluffy substance that floats forever but not to worry just put the whole container in a catch pan and add some water to the pan and place on your hot plate for a couple of hours and it will break up and settle to the bottom.this will also hasten the drop rate on your gold powder.
ok, the AR. all your values will be in the black powders on the bottom. i dont think it will be floating as ive never seen it before. wait till your sure no more will drop then rinse with water and incinerate powders. place powders in a glass vessel and add equal amounts of 50ml of water and nitric acid to remove base metals then after the reaction stops decant used solution and add a drop of nitric to see if you get a reaction, if not rinse again incinerate again the dissolve with hcl+cl.

 

[TXWolfie]

have a qwick question is it the same borax that they use for soap making, I know they do use it for certain types of soap so maybe it could be found in any arts and craft stores.

 

[Geo]

yes it is. i use twenty mule team borax. its sold in the laundry supply section at the market.

 

[callicom]

well after passing through nitric and washing out the gold i dropped out of my lime slurpy with the addition of water and putting a copper piece in the solution, i added the gold to what i already had. the whole thing was sitting in water so i evaporated the water out and ended up with brown dust ( kind of a little lumpy) and a little bit of yellow mustard dust also that had made a ring around the glass. i scraped everything into a folded paper and it weighs 3 g, its more than i was expecting if its all gold. i wonder if the mustard looking stuff is pure gold :?:

 

[Geo]

you have powder from two different processes, one with hcl and one with nitric acid. you cant wash the acid completely away after these processes so you must incinerate the powder to a cherry red and keep it there for a few minutes to rid the powder of any residual acids. if you dont it will create a weak AR in solution and you will lose values.

 

[callicom]

so you recomend that i burn it red hot and go through ar as a final purification, i thought i was done :!: ho well i might as well do it right, but i don`t understand why i would get a weak ar :?: my second batch of pins is almost done and i plan to be more rigorous now that i`m aquainted with the processes you gave me, i probably did lose values in these first tryals, thanks geo :mrgreen:

 

[Geo]

actually you should incinerate and then rinse in fresh hcl to remove any oxides then rinse with boiling water a couple of times, then refine again. im just learning the proper steps to pure gold myself through the teachings of Harold and a few other long time members (thanks guys).

 

[callicom]

hey Geo, my second batch of pins and fingers is about all dissolved, i had to take a couple of gallons of liquid out so i could add hcl. i filered the couple gallons and ended up with black dust in the filters, is this gold dust :?: or am i just wasting my time with this stuff :?:

 

[Geo]

try to dissolve a small bit with nitric acid, if it dissolves its not gold and if it doesn't then it is gold. be sure to incinerate your sample first to remove hcl because you will make AR and that will dissolve the gold and you will think it was something else besides gold. AP will dissolve a small amount of gold, thats the yellow color you see when you put the peroxide in the solution. when the solution saturates with copper the gold will be pushed out.

 

[callicom]

i`m thinking now that when i stopped the bubbler and poured out the 2 gallons i didn`t wait to let it settle and i know there`s a lot of foils i washed out the filters with the black dust, but since all the pins were not all disolved there might be copper dust also mixed in there so i`ll have to incinerate and go through nitric as you say. is it possible to incinerate with an acetaline oxi braising tip, i don`t have one of them ovens :?: also is it possible to test the ap to see if there is still gold in there since the stanous is out of the question :?:

 

[Palladium]

Do you not have any stannous chloride?

 

[Palladium]

If the pins aren't completely dissolved then any gold that would have been in solution has plated back onto the pins as a black residue.

 

[Geo]

you can use that tip, just dont melt any of the material. you just want it to get cherry red for about one minute.

 

[Geo]

by the way, make some stannous chloride with lead free solder. cut a length of 5-6 inches and fold it to fit a small glass bottle with a dropper preferably but at least with a plastic lid and warm in hot water for a few minutes and you have your stannous chloride.

 

[callicom]

Do you not have any stannous chloride?

the ap is already black with base mettals, i tried a stanous and it was black obveously and i couldn`t tell you if there was purple in there if my life depended on it 8)

 

[Geo]

stannous chloride will detect very small amounts of gold. place a couple of drops of the AP in a clean container and dilute with a little distilled water till it clears enough to do the test.

 

[callicom]

by the way, make some stannous chloride with lead free solder. cut a length of 5-6 inches and fold it to fit a small glass bottle with a dropper preferably but at least with a plastic lid and warm in hot water for a few minutes and you have your stannous chloride.

yea i saw this info, you had posted it to healp some other guy`, but meanwhile i have some stanous i ordered online.

 

[callicom]

stannous chloride will detect very small amounts of gold. place a couple of drops of the AP in a clean container and dilute with a little distilled water till it clears enough to do the test.

there`s alway a way :!: now if my life depends on it i guess i`ll live :lol:

 

[callicom]

If the pins aren't completely dissolved then any gold that would have been in solution has plated back onto the pins as a black residue.

this is some ap i had to pour off to add some more hcl, this stuff has been bubbling for 12 days now and i just keep adding hcl a quart at a time since the original gallon i put in, i`m doing this to make sure my solution is completely saturated and the gold drops out. there`s barely any pins left now, mayby a quater cup

 

[Palladium]

Here's a trick you might try. I use plastic disposable white spoons as a spot dish alternative. When i have trouble doing a test because of the solution color i test some in a spoon. After the test sits for awhile. How long you ask? Couldn't tell you. It really depends on the gold concentration and how long you let it sit. Overnight is best for low concentrations. I'm usually in no hurry. After it sits for a couple of hours you can wash the test solution off the spoon and if you see a purple stain on the spoon then Bingo !!!