Pounds of Gold (I) Chloride

[Luckyrip]

So, I have a friend that has recently come across 2 lbs of gold (I) chloride, AuCl, due to the death of a family member involved in photography. He has enlisted my help in attempting to recover pure gold powder - and eventually ingots, of the gold contained within the AuCl, but I have no idea where to start.

I've done a fair amount of research (googleing) now, yet have not yet found a good tutorial on the process, so I've come here to see if anyone could point me in the right direction. I've also noticed people don't seem to differentiate between gold (I) chloride and gold (III) chloride, and that makes me nervous when I find bits and pieces of tutorials.

Any help is much appreciated.
Lucky

 

[butcher]

This should be easy to do, but first you need to prepare yourself, this would be a simple process but with a lot of details if you want to be successful without hurting yourself or others here is my suggestion to get the gold out of this mix. Test solution to be sure your not wasting your time.


First studying Hokes Book.
Study the safety section.
Study dealing with the waste.
Study stannous chloride.
Study elimination of excess nitric.
Study precipitating the gold.
Study washing the gold.
Study melting the gold.

 

[Dr. Poe]

That's a lot of reagent. If it were mine, I'd dissolve it into concentrated muriatic acid. Add a drop or two of hydrogen peroxide. Let it sit for an hour in the dark. Pour into an equal volume of hot water. Since it's reagent grade pure any reduction agent will bring it down. The hardware store sells a product called "Iron out". It's sodium bisulfite, a sulfur dioxide gas producer when added to acid mediums. If you don't have peroxide, just let sit a while. 3HAuCl2 -> 2Au + HAuCl4 + 2HCl
The "iron out" will drop the gold. HOKE's book is a free download. No excuse for not reading it.
When you post on the forum, let us know the extent that you have studied so we may advise you. :mrgreen:
Dr. Poe

 

[Anonymous]

The "iron out" will drop the gold.

That is true,but it will give you a contaminated precipitant.You need to buy pure Sodium Metabisulite which can be found on ebay,or in Bonide "Stump Out",or sulfur dioxide gas,which can be found at some acetylene refill facilities.If I were you I would just go with the SMB/stump out,and have a good vent source.

 

[Anonymous]

I should have added FeSO4 Ferrous Sulfate(Copperas).Out of all of the precipitants I have used,I highly reccomend it.Use approximately a 2-1 ratio of copperas to gold.Mix it with enough water to dissolve the copperas,then add just a little extra water,and filter through a plug filter.Add it to the pregnant AuCl while stirring,and if the gold does not agglomerate very well at first,you can heat the solution just below a boil,and the gold should gather nicely in the bottom.