Panning Gold from incinerated and crushed RAM Chips

[haveagojoe]

Has anyone had any luck panning the bond wires out of chip ash? I've just been watching this video:

I haven't ever got into recovering gold from chips so far, I have a collection of chips which has been sitting in HCl for ooh probably 10 years now! My idea was to dissolve the legs off but obviously nothing happened in HCl and I just left them and forgot about them. In the video he mentions removing base metals with a magnet after incineration, which seems much more sensible. I'm thinking maybe it's time to do something with my forgotten collection, I also have more chips in my scrap pile which I could add to the batch. I've avoided messing with chips so far as I didn't fancy dealing with a lot of ash in AR, but after panning would be a whole different story as most of the ash would be gone.

I'm thinking I could then classify the ash by sieving and then pan it a bit, it wouldn't need to be perfect since it's going into AR anyway. I've never tried panning before and I'm curious.

 

[haveagojoe]

Also wouldn't HCl/Bleach be more appropriate for the first refine? AR seems like overkill and I'm much more comfortable with HCl/Bleach, and it seems like it would work well as the wires are so fine.

 

[Shark]

Use a catch basin to save material that gets lost in the panning. Maybe do a small batch of a pound or two and practice with it first. I have done it and been fairly successful and I have tried it and not been so lucky. Panning is one of those skills that takes practice. Check @patnor1011 post on chips as well. He uses a home made sluice and goes to much detail in using it.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Also wouldn't HCl/Bleach be more appropriate for the first refine? AR seems like overkill and I'm much more comfortable with HCl/Bleach, and it seems like it would work well as the wires are so fine.

For bond wires AR is the way to go.
The alternative methods lack a bit of oomph to take the wires in a reasonable time.

 

[haveagojoe]

Use a catch basin to save material that gets lost in the panning. Maybe do a small batch of a pound or two and practice with it first. I have done it and been fairly successful and I have tried it and not been so lucky. Panning is one of those skills that takes practice. Check patnors post on chips as well. He uses a home made sluice and goes to much detail in using it.

omegageek64 has another video where he shows panning in more detail:
He uses another pan to catch the material as you suggested. I'm gonna have to get a pan, I've wanted to try it for a long time and having some chip ash to play with would be a good excuse.

 

[FrugalRefiner]

I'm gonna have to get a pan, I've wanted to try it for a long time and having some chip ash to play with would be a good excuse.

The big box hardware stores sell large black plastic concrete mixing tubs that are a good size for this. They're built to handle the weight and the abuse.

Dave

 

[haveagojoe]

home made sluice

Just saw this video, it's got to be the best way to do it I've seen, far better than a sluice, I never saw it done this way before: The video is HERE

@4metals check it out, would be good to share this one

 

[4metals]

Nice idea, I will leave this video here as this is all in the same topic as the 2 video's posted from our video section. I added the link to your post so it is direct.

I would suggest he use a much taller jar and place it on a stir plate so the stirring would keep the fines agitated and it could all be done in one pass. It would have to have the magnetic fraction removed first because the spin bar is a magnet.

 

[haveagojoe]

The fines seem to be agitated adequately by the inflow of the water alone, the inlet tube is bent at an angle at the bottom to make them swirl. The second jar is just for safety in case anything makes it out of the first one.

Comments below the video suggest running it directly from the tap rather than a pump, and pinching the end of the inlet tube flat to make the inflow jet fan out to improve the swirling. Using the tap would also give controlled adjustment over the flow rate so the swirling effect could be easily tuned. A taller jar would probably be a good idea but to be fair it seems to work pretty much perfectly as it is. I think it's a beautifully simple idea which could revolutionize this part of the process. It's somewhat similar to the Blue Bowl in principle, but better I would say. I'm completely sold on the idea!

MrFlyon also has a video about melting gold with a ZVS induction coil- something I've wondered about for a long time but couldn't afford to try out. It would be great to have him onboard here, perhaps he could be invited?

 

[4metals]

The fines seem to be agitated adequately by the inflow of the water alone, the inlet tube is bent at an angle at the bottom to make them swirl. The second jar is just for safety in case anything makes it out of the first one.

If they were agitated adequately he wouldn't have had to remove it and agitate it 3 times.

I only post videos for which I have received written permission and I do not know how to contact MrFlyon. He doesn't have that many followers or views as the other 3 I posted video's for but he has to start somewhere. His video is good.

 

[haveagojoe]

If they were agitated adequately he wouldn't have had to remove it and agitate it 3 times.

Perhaps you're right actually yes, the swirling motion being driven from the outside edge of the swirl means there will always be a dead spot in the center where material will gather, and a magnetic stirrer would solve that.

But without a stirrer I'm wondering if perhaps it would work if the inlet tube descended centrally and divided in two at the bottom, where it could then form two jets pointing in opposite directions. I'm thinking larger gauge pipe (common 15mm), cut about an inch and a half lengthways and then each half twisted opposite ways, a bit like propellor blades. Using the larger pipe would also mean a hosepipe fitting could be attached easily at the top, and a tank fitting could be used where it passes through the lid to make it properly watertight. I will have a go at making one to try.

 

[haveagojoe]

A bit rough but this is kinda what I mean. If the end sat directly on the bottom of the jar I think it would create a vortex without the dead spot.

Also, if the jar were placed on a dinner plate raised up a bit on a block inside a large tub, it wouldn't even need a lid and we could do away with the second jar, the water could simply be allowed to spill out over the lip of the jar, deposit any stray gold in the plate and then run over the edge of the plate to collect in the tub. Not as beautiful but extremely easy to make. The inlet pipe could just be held by hand, and so could be used to give it a stir too if necessary.

It would be neat to have an inline valve or tap fitting at the top end of the pipe below the hosepipe fitting, that way the user could adjust the flow at the point of use so it could be used on a long garden hose at any distance from the watersource outlet.

 

[4metals]

The ability to create the vortex and prevent a dead zone whether by making a nozzle as you have shown or by using a spin bar is critical. Another thing that is critical for good separation is having the material classified by size. A large variation is particle size will adversely effect the efficiency of a blue bowl type device.

If using a nozzle an adjustable flow rate or if using a spin bar an adjustable rotation speed can be varied based on experience processing different particle sizes. It could grow into quite the science project.