Non-Chemical please help... anyone who can help me please.thank you.

[francis]

Good day Harold. I am very interested in refining gold, but honestly i dont know how to refine scrap gold ( rings, bracelet, necklace etc.. ). My uncle got rich because of refining gold, i tried to ask him often times regarding the process of refining gold but he keeps on saying that someday he will teach me if he is not busy anymore. Harold i cant wait that time, i did some research on the internet but i only got the basic information about gold but anyway i am thankful then. But what i want to know is how to refine the scrap gold.... for example, i have 10 grams of 18k gold how many grams of silver will i add in order to get some ?k. and how many volume of nitric acid will i use? will i use the glass container for the miture or i will just use the stainless container? please help...i know you have more knowledge about this business .. i am humbly asking for your help.
Thank you so much!!!

 

[Lino1406]

studying basic chemistry

 

[goldsilverpro]

I can't see how basic chemistry would be a necessity. I think you need to know stuff like: what materials are attacked, or not attacked, by what chemicals. For example, you need to know that neither glass or stainless steel are attacked by nitric acid, of any strength. Spend a week, or so, studying the forum, to try and gain that sort of knowledge. Ask questions. Keep notes.

 

[goldsilverpro]

Here's a general formula for the amount of silver (or copper) to add to reduce the gold to 25% (inquartation). This formula works for any karat, as long as you know what the karat is:

[(the karat) X (jewelry weight) X (.1667)] - (jewelry weight) = weight of silver to add

In the case of your 10 grams of 18K gold:

[18 X 10 X .1667] - (10) = 20 grams of silver to add

or,

18 X 10 X .1667 = 30

subtract 10 from 30,

30 -10 = 20 = the amount of silver to add

Proof:
(1) You have 18/24 X 10 = 7.5 grams of gold
(2) After inquarting, you will have 10 + 20 = 30 grams total weight
(3) 7.5/30 = 0.25 or, 25% gold

I might mention that it takes 3.4 times more nitric acid to dissolve a gram of copper as it does to dissolve a gram of silver.

 

[Harold_V]

i am humbly asking for your help.
Thank you so much!!!

Francis,

The very most help I can offer is to point you to Hoke's book. It is now available as a download from the net, but owning a hard copy is very nice, allowing you to study refining at your leisure.

You can download a copy of the book by following this link:

http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=bbf3605938d177072edf8d1c6ca1365a

The problem with answering your questions as posed is that you will learn how to process any given similar material, but you may not grasp the theory involved. By reading Hoke, you will understand what is done, how it is done, and when to do it, but most importantly, it will detail why it is done. When you understand the theory---you will be able to make decisions when confronted with variations.

The book is written in plain English, so you need not have an understanding of chemistry in order to learn how to refine.

I would caution you that there are some processes recommended that should be avoided. Safety was not much of a concern when the book was written. Today it is not acceptable to use gasoline for incinerating wastes, for example.

One of the theories that will be discussed in the book is the one about inquartation. The entire concept revolves around the idea of lowering gold content to approximately 25% (quartering), so base metals can be totally removed by dissolving with nitric acid. In order for the amount of metal to be added, one must understand the amount already present in the gold alloy.

Please get the book and start reading. When you have questions that you may not be able to answer by reading the book, turn to the forum. There are many of us here that have experience or chemical knowledge that can be of assistance.

Good luck with your venture.

Harold