Panning Gold from incinerated and crushed RAM Chips

[patnor1011]

here is video of my small sluice with pump in closed loop system and I will try to look up picture of my small drain pipe sluice too - it is somewhere on the forum.



found post with drain pipe sluice:
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/help-in-ridding-ash-from-chips-with-water.20428/#post-209816

 

[offtrailhiker]

I recently burned 25# of female plugs for a brass recovery test. Earlier tests showed 15-30% brass recovery and scrap yards show little interest in the whole plugs. The plugs also contain fine Cu wires that get lost in the ash. Setups similar to those offered in this thread may prove effective for said Cu recovery. Thank you!

Edited to correct recovery datum.

 

[kurtak]

Has anyone had any luck panning the bond wires out of chip ash?

Panning chip ash is actually "one" of the better ways to concentrate the ash down to a concentrate of the bond wires before ether leaching or smelting the concentrate for the gold

The problem with panning is that it is a somewhat slow process because you can only pan 1/2 a cup to a cup of ash at a time --- so in as much as it is actually one of the better methods for concentrating chip ash it is really only feasible (time wise) for "small" batch concentrating - like 1 - 5 pound chip batches - 10 pounds at most

What is VERY important about concentrating the carbon/ash down to its actual "bond wire concentrate" is getting the carbon/ash reduced down to a uniform particle size before "washing" the carbon ash to get your concentrate

That means ALL over size MUST first be removed before washing the carbon/ash

The particle size of the carbon/ash needs to be 80 minus mesh in size - in other words the carbon ash needs to go through (at least) an 80 mesh screen (200 mesh will work) - & that is because a piece of carbon/ash large then 80 mesh in size can/will hold a bond wire & that piece of carbon/ash holding that bond wire can/will wash away

So you NEED to screen (sift) the carbon/ash after milling the incinerated chips

Here is a listing on ebay for 100 mesh (which will work) sifting screen

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1263810145...BP4ZW4hVQiqbo3Pv7Sx4R7tHlg==|tkp:BFBMsqzNse5k

As a side note; - the chips "do not" need to be turned to complete ash before concentrating - they (the chips) just need to be completely "carbonized" so that they can be milled to fine powder --- it is only important that all carbon gets turned to "ash" before leaching - which can be done after concentrating

Also - I recommend you read this thread where I posted a great deal of info on processing/concentrating IC chips

https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/ic-chips-gold-recovery.31682/

For what it is worth I used to process 500 - 600 pounds of IC chips per year (in 30 - 50 pound batches) it was "one" of main sources of gold for my 10 year of making a living at recovery/refining of precious metals

Kurt

 

[kurtak]

erhaps I'm thinking about it the wrong way round though- the principle of the blue bowl

A blue bowl (&/or any "other" version thereof) is one of the worst ways to try to concentrate bond wires - as I explained on page 3 of the thread I proved a link to in my last post

Kurt

 

[Darkthirty]

I recently burned 25# of female plugs for a brass recovery test. Earlier tests showed 15-30% brass recovery and scrap yards show little interest in the whole plugs. The plugs also contain fine Cu wires that get lost in the ash. Setups similar to those offered in this thread may prove effective for said Cu recovery. Thank you!

Edited to correct recovery datum.

Put the plugs in the freezer overnight and smack them with a 2# drilling hammer

 

[kurtak]

Again this is predicated on all of the material being of similar mesh size.

Yes - when concentrating the bond wires from IC chips this is VERY important - ALL over size material in the incinerated (then milled) carbon/ash MUST be removed before going to the "washing" part of the process of the carbon/ash to get to your concentrate

If you do not get rid of the oversize - the oversize will most certainly cause "interference" (turbulence) during the washing that allows the ultra fine gold bond wires to lift & wash away

Kurt

 

[haveagojoe]

A blue bowl (&/or any "other" version thereof) is one of the worst ways to try to concentrate bond wires - as I explained on page 3 of the thread I proved a link to in my last post

Kurt

Yes I've heard they are painfully slow...
What do you think about the MrFlyon video though? Not convinced? It's not clear to me whether it's using a blue-bowl style principle of a vortex or whether it's just aggitation. It does seem to work for him though, it's at least intriguing, don't you think?
I do think panning would be the most straightforward though, at my scale at least.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Yes I've heard they are painfully slow...
What do you think about the MrFlyon video though? Not convinced? It's not clear to me whether it's using a blue-bowl style principle of a vortex or whether it's just aggitation. It does seem to work for him though, it's at least intriguing, don't you think?
I do think panning would be the most straightforward though, at my scale at least.

The most important task his contraption does and fast is the remove the finer ashes.
This means that later panning or other gravity separation can be simplified.
Maybe even enough as it is to go straight to smelting or even dissolving after a secondary incineration.
All these processes are material specific and need to be assessed every time with the material at hand.
Hmm. No step by step here either

 

[haveagojoe]

Maybe even enough as it is to go straight to smelting or even dissolving after a secondary incineration.

That's what I thought, if there's only silica left with the bonding wires as he claims, although I would think there might be bits of copper, which the magnet wouldn't catch.