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Hello All. New to this site and I must say it is very cool! Never knew there was so much gold in so many things. I have searched and read this site until cross-eyed but cant quite find the answer I need. I have read Mr. Hokes advice as well as other info on this site. I thought I was close but the thread changed.I am not very good at chemistry either. I have a lot of remnant hot stamping foil. It was made by M. Swift company and is marked "Flawless"(or at least some of it is). Their website tells me it is either 22k or 24k pure. I'm guessing it was made by the vacume/sputtering method. I can get it off of the Mylar carrier by soaking for a few minutes in rubbing alcohol. When I do so I end up wuth the goop I have attached pictures of. Looks like brown sludge with sparkles. My question is this. How do I get rid of the impurities, which should only be the adhesive used in manufacturing the film??? I am sort of scared of acids/chemicals but will try. Will cooking in lye give me the desired results?? I do not want to waste anyones time so if I am overlooking something on this site just let me know and I will go back and look some more. Thanks in advance for any tips you can offer or point me to. Also would be nice to hear if I am wasting my time. Thoses little gold sparkles sure are pretty! I dont intend to be a full time recycler, just out of work and trying to stay afloat at the moment,, it sure looks fun though.
Thanks
Piglet80
p.s. Cant upload the photo, will go to the help section for advice and send later.
 
Can you describe what you've done accurately.
you can post photos, list your scrap and the used chemicals.
 
I see from the M. Swift & son company website they will pay you for the gold content minus a refining charge. Marketing what you refine without a reputation for quality has been a barrier for the hobby refiner.

Have you inquired what they charge?

http://www.mswiftandsons.com/hotdie.html
 
Piglet80 said:
I am sort of scared of acids/chemicals but will try. Will cooking in lye give me the desired results??
Click to expand...
You should fear and respect lye far more than many of the acids you may use in refining. Not to make light of acids, but lye is very unforgiving. A splash of lye in your eyes is pretty much a guarantee of blindness, whereas a little acid in your eyes may be forgiving.

The important thing is to learn to deal with all of these chemicals safely-----otherwise you would be far better served to not get involved.

Harold
 
could you try incinerating a small amount to see if it will oxidize? Hate to see values burn up with impurities. Then once incinerated, maybe a dilute nitric soak to catch any impurites left leaving the gold flake. Given the large sizes available , and many other manufactures makeing crap foils, I wonder what the real values of this are. IE. the 0.03 cents per square inch I have been quoted by many a persons here, for foils.

Any takers on an assay by one of the Gods of this site, LOL , Harold, Steve, Chris???

Nick
 
nicknitro said:
Hate to see values burn up with impurities.
Click to expand...
That doesn't happen to elemental gold. What you must be concerned with, however, is particles being carried off with the gasses (smoke). A filtered fume hood solves that riddle, and, in my opinion, is a must for gold refining.

Harold (who is no longer involved in refining)
 
Before I get disemboweled,

Sorry Lou,
I just have a lot more experience getting help from Harold, Steve, Butcher, CHris and Noxx. I'm still learning as a newbie, lifelong learning.

Harold, so I take that as a "No" to my last invitation on the other thread I posted. LOL " Harold is out of Refining."

Harold has mentioned filtered fume hood more than once that I have seen. I was just worried about the "adhesives" involved.

Oh yeah, is it a Mylar backing? This is the same type as mettalic ballons, no?

Nick
 
Hello everyone. Thanks for all of your help. I will post what I KNOW so far, which isnt much. Unfortunately my experiments will have to be put on hold for a week or so as I am leaving the US for a interview. This is what I have done or know.

The backer is a clear Mylar tape, at least most of it is. I have had this 30 drum packed full of this stuff for over 25 years. Some of the backer looks different,(older) and is probably a polyester from what I have read.
I have dissolved everything off of the tape leaving me with a gold/brown powder once all the alcohol evaporates. You can clearly see some very shiney gold specks in it. When cooked with a propane torch it just turns to a lighter brown powder. I know, my torch is not hot enough.

When the foil is burned whole it does put off a very black acrid somke and I end up with the same brown powder. All of the mylar/polyester seems to go away. Once again, not enough heat.

Thanks for the tips on the lye Harold. I have the right safety gear and give everything like that its due respect. When I get back to the US I am going to try the dilute nitric and see if I can get the gold to drop out of the solution. I am also going to borrow an acetylene rig and see what happens just burning it. I will let you all know how it works out. I had contacted M Swift a few years back and they couldnt really tell me much without seeing it and running it. The big problem was how much of the gold was left on the tape AFTER the logo was embossed. Every die had different shapes and consumed more/less of the gold. I was also a little concerned about just sending someting off that I had no idea of what the true value was.

Just out of work now and trying to fill my days with fun stuff. I hope to send you some cool pictures of some great gold before long. Thanks again.
 
You could prepare two identical samples by weight from the same sheets one for you to process and one for them. Track your costs and see which yields the best return.

Good luck on your interview.
 
Great Advice qst42know,

I don't think you will need oxy/acetylene for anything you are dealing with Piglet. A standard propane torch, or even Mapp gas torch should be fine for any melting purpose.

Check out some of the topics on incineration posted here. I feel you will lose less values that way then burning the foils.

Also look into topics on Nitric Safety, and use for removing impurities only. The gold will not have to be dropped out, as nitric alone will not dissolve gold.

As a side note. I'm not sure if that would be the best way anyways. Maybe an HCL wash of the incinerated foils would be sufficient. Filter wash repeat.


At any rate, keep reading, and good luck on your interview.

Nick
 

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