Non-Chemical Precipitating gold from dirty AR

[jmarsden]

Hi there, I am in a bit of a pinch and need some guidance from the veterans on the team.  I have a very rich deposit of ORE that I have been working on for several years and finally developed a process for getting the Gold and other PMG's out.  The assay's on the final dore are astounding.   At this point I am only interested in the gold.  The process requires inquarting of tin into the flux and in every case we have a pretty good gold yield.  

I have been working on several refining options and have determined to run some tests with an AR solution.  To pull the gold out using electrowinning and also try a precipitant.  

I have two questions:

1) Chemistry solution -Should I deal with the tin before putting into AR if so how?  If not, what processing technique would work best to deal with the tin?

2) Electrowinning solution - I am looking for a provider of good "Selective" diode components for this process 

OR AM I COMPLETELY OFF MY ROCKER?
James

 

[nickvc]

I'm no expert on treating ores but is it essential to use tin ? The one real pain in gold recovery is tin, well one of many I suppose but it is a royal pain as it will cause problems in virtually every process to recover and refine your gold. If it is a necessity to use tin then yes remove it from your material before you try to refine your values or your going to end up with volumes of colloidal gold caused by the tin which is not an ideal situation I can assure you!

 

[butcher]

I agree With Nickvc, if tin is not a part of the ore matrix already, and you are using tin as a collector because of its low melting point and its affinity to dissolve gold at a low temperature in a melt, then I would look at another metal like lead or even a mix of lead and bismuth, these will also act as a collector, and can be oxidized and absorbed in a cupel.

Tin is just trouble in acids, tin in a solution with gold is just a good way to lose your gold.

It is kind of hard to say much when we really do not know much about the ore or the process, what you have and what you are doing with it or plan to do.

 

[jmarsden]

Wow this is the first time I have used this forum and you guys are prompt and informative. Thank you for being so awesome and kind.

As it turns out, because of the unique components of the ORE the only collector that has worked so far is TIN. In cases where you have had to deal with it, do you just write it off or is there a sophisticated method of processing it?

James

 

[Pantherlikher]

This is a great forum to seak help for what seems to be anything and everything. Lots of information and pictures help most to find the correct answers. Having tin in acid is bad. Sticks to everything and makes it tuff to get rid of. As I understand right, heated baths of HCL disolves most of the tin to get it out. but you have to give a better description of your material as well as pictures to help find a "better" process. Also reading everthing and anything here on the forum will help.
BS.

 

[Geo]

jmarsden, you may try moving your question to http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=44 . there are members that deal more with ores and mining there that can help you better. it may help to describe what you have done so far and be as thorough as possible. any photos would help. there are only a certain amount of the different types of ores and im sure yours has been dealt with here before.