Platinum gold ore

[kurtak]

Bornite copper is near to the platinum deposits so I will stay further away from it to not contaminate the platinum with the copper ore.

Per the bold print - What is the copper content of the copper ore (10% 20% 30% etc. etc.)

I ask because if the copper content of the copper ore is high enough the copper ore could (at least in part) become your collector for the Au/Pt in the Au/Pt ore

In other words - IF (the BIG IF) the copper content is high enough mixing the two ores together may (or not) give you your needed copper collector in the smelting &/or provide enough copper (from the ore) that you don't need to add as much actual copper to the smelt for good collection of the PMs

Not sure if &/or how well this would work - just thinking

What is the copper content of the copper ore

Kurt

 

[Alondro]

Shhh, I'm working on a torch that will cut 1" slab steel with a willow branch and a blow dryer. You missed the point, the higher O2 content increases the rate of oxidization with any given fuel.

There are simpler and cheaper ways to do it that buying oxygen tanks. Just increase the air flow. And that's my point about furnace construction and placement of the crucible. You can build a furnace that is basically a giant chimney, it acts naturally like a blast furnace. Large chunks of wood are the best fuel once it's gotten hot, because there are large air spaces between them which accelerates the draft even more the hotter it gets.

You can get a wood fire just about to the melting point of iron in such a furnace, but at that temp cheap brick and clay will crumble after a single use.

I save the gas and proper crucibles for the refining steps, and perform basic incineration and ore roasting in the cheap builds. Saves a fortune in the long run. Heck, I often find mountains of bricks discarded at demolition sites. And scrap wood is everywhere here in NJ. There's literally TONS more than I can ever use within just a few miles of me. I performed 3 full aluminum melts with just 3 trunk loads of scrap wood from a crawl space a buddy and me were clearing out after a pipe froze and burst. And what I took was only a small fraction of the total amount of wood that had been shoved in that space! I even found 1/4 inch walled 4-inch diameter cast iron drain pipe sections in that crawl space that work fantastically as tube incinerators.

There's all sorts of free material out there that one can stumble across which will save money. It's just a matter of keeping eyes peeled for opportunities.

No need to spend money and ruin good equipment on the basic first steps of these ore and smelting processes when there's so much free stuff that's going to be thrown out otherwise! Just look up ancient historical methods. Archaeologists have done many recreations of these methods, and other people have taken that info and modernized them with simple additions not known long ago. So those old methods are now quite efficient for the small mining business. They wouldn't work for large-scale industry, but they're great for one or a couple people processing ore or electronics scrap.

 

[Nountaineer]

Never heard of that. The problems occur when you let pressure off too quick. The tank will freeze, same concept as refrigeration. You can put a couple tanks together on one line and reduce the volume by half. I've had tanks grow frost and lose pressure while melting ice or torching down modified bitumen roofing. If you put the flame on the bottle to thaw it out, you have to be careful not to activate the pop off valve or you'll have more fire that you want

As a refrigeration mechanic I am familiar with the cooling off of the liquid in association with the change of state from liquid to gas. Using two tanks is a good idea. It was also necessary while evacuating to use two tanks occasionally.

 

[Nountaineer]

Per the bold print - What is the copper content of the copper ore (10% 20% 30% etc. etc.)

I ask because if the copper content of the copper ore is high enough the copper ore could (at least in part) become your collector for the Au/Pt in the Au/Pt ore

In other words - IF (the BIG IF) the copper content is high enough mixing the two ores together may (or not) give you your needed copper collector in the smelting &/or provide enough copper (from the ore) that you don't need to add as much actual copper to the smelt for good collection of the PMs

Not sure if &/or how well this would work - just thinking

What is the copper content of the copper ore

Kurt

Sorry for missing your post Kurt. The bornite copper ore is running between 15 and 20 percent and I have accidentally added it to my charge and found oxidized bornite in my slag. I would need a method to convert the bornite to the metal to make that work I think.

 

[kurtak]

Sorry for missing your post Kurt. The bornite copper ore is running between 15 and 20 percent and I have accidentally added it to my charge and found oxidized bornite in my slag. I would need a method to convert the bornite to the metal to make that work I think.

I have never worked with bornite ore so can't say for sure - but bornite is a copper sulfide ore so I assume you would have to treat it somewhat like a gold sulfide ore in order to reduce the (metal) sulfide to actual metal

Like gold sulfides - roasting the ore to drive off the sulfur in order to reduce it to metal should work

However (& I assume here) where roasting gold sulfides makes a direct reduction from the sulfide to actual gold - with copper sulfide roasting will likely produce a copper oxide as copper is more easily oxidized by heat & air whereas gold is not easily oxidized by heat & air

So - the copper oxide would need to be further reduced from its oxide to actual metal --- so adding a source of carbon (charcoal, flour, sugar) to the smelt should further reduce the copper oxide to actual copper --- in other words ore (after roasting) plus flux plus carbon source in the smelt) --- or you may be able to make direct reduction of sulfide to copper by using a carbon source in the roasting step

Another possibility may be to directly smelt it with iron in the smelt (nails, nuts, bolts, rebar) I have used smelting with iron to reduce silver sulfide (recovered from picture fixer solutions) to reduce silver sulfide to silver - I just don't know how it would work for reducing copper sulfide in ore to copper

So I would try ----------

1) smelting (direct) with iron = ore plus flux (soda ash is needed in this flux) plus iron

2) roasting with a carbon source = mix wood chips &/or sawdust in with ore to reduce copper sulfide to copper during the roasting - then smelt as normal with flux

3) roast without carbon source - then add carbon source to the smelt (ore plus flux plus carbon)

See what gives best results

Kurt

 

[Nountaineer]

Thank you, I have been thinking about roasting sulfides and I made a BTU saver. Can I roast with this setup? I can line the bowl with ceramic wool for increased heat. I suppose that magnetic iron such as magnetite would not be suitable?ICan I roast with this?

 

[goldshark]

You need something that looks like a steel dish, depressed slightly in the middle, raised edges around perimeter, preferably. The main purpose is to heat the sulfides to around 700 F, while exposing to as much Oxygen as possible. More than 700 F acts like seering a steak on the grill. Makes the inside sealed inside an almost impenetrable outer crust. What you have will work eventually, but is very inefficient. The crucible is too confining, not exposing enough material to the atmosphere. Fine grinding is necessary, around at least 20 mesh. Large pieces will decrepitate, pop like popcorn, and fly off the roasting surface. A steel plate will work much better then the crucible, just lay a 2' x2' sheet on the bricks in lieu of the barbecue grill, 1/8" will work. Raking is necessary to constantly expose new surfaces to the air. As usual, don't breath any fumes.
I don't know what you mean by" Magnetite would not be suitable ". Suitable for what?

 

[Nountaineer]

Thank you, I was referring to Kurt's post about working with the bornite ore and adding iron such as bolts, nails etc. I have magnetite iron that also contains some pms. I was wondering if it could be useful. Didn't the old timers use a cast iron frying pan? I have a rusty one for that.

 

[Nountaineer]

I have never worked with bornite ore so can't say for sure - but bornite is a copper sulfide ore so I assume you would have to treat it somewhat like a gold sulfide ore in order to reduce the (metal) sulfide to actual metal

Like gold sulfides - roasting the ore to drive off the sulfur in order to reduce it to metal should work

However (& I assume here) where roasting gold sulfides makes a direct reduction from the sulfide to actual gold - with copper sulfide roasting will likely produce a copper oxide as copper is more easily oxidized by heat & air whereas gold is not easily oxidized by heat & air

So - the copper oxide would need to be further reduced from its oxide to actual metal --- so adding a source of carbon (charcoal, flour, sugar) to the smelt should further reduce the copper oxide to actual copper --- in other words ore (after roasting) plus flux plus carbon source in the smelt) --- or you may be able to make direct reduction of sulfide to copper by using a carbon source in the roasting step

Another possibility may be to directly smelt it with iron in the smelt (nails, nuts, bolts, rebar) I have used smelting with iron to reduce silver sulfide (recovered from picture fixer solutions) to reduce silver sulfide to silver - I just don't know how it would work for reducing copper sulfide in ore to copper

So I would try ----------

1) smelting (direct) with iron = ore plus flux (soda ash is needed in this flux) plus iron

2) roasting with a carbon source = mix wood chips &/or sawdust in with ore to reduce copper sulfide to copper during the roasting - then smelt as normal with flux

3) roast without carbon source - then add carbon source to the smelt (ore plus flux plus carbon)

See what gives best results

Kurt

In a previous smelt I added all of my leftover material and inadvertently added the oxidized bornite and did add some extra flour and had some copper attached to some of the pieces in that incomplete smelt. It appears that it worked without doing a specific roasting.