Non-Chemical Precipitation Question

[jimdoc]

Today I used aqua regia to refine some gold from fingers,
and when I added urea to kill the nitric it overflowed and
I got it over a bucket of water in time so I didn't lose anything.
My question is when it overflowed into the water it instantly
turned purple. When I finished up with my processing the
batch, the brown powder didn't seem to be as much as I thought
it should be. The water that turned purple has purple precipitant
in it that I am filtering now. Is this gold? And if so why did it
precipitate in water? There seems to be more purple precipitant
from the overflow than the brown precipitant from the smb.
Thanks. Jim
The only thing about the water is I rinsed a few hp test equipment
boards off in the water before the spill. They were in muriatic acid and peroxide, and they weren't done yet so I stopped rinsing after a few boards and left them to soak longer. Did I make stannous chloride by
dipping a little HCl and maybe tin from solder on the boards?

 

[Ky.Sam]

jimdoc

I was thinking the same thing about the Stannous Chloride. Did the pins have solder on them? My guess would be that if it was a small batch of aqua regia there could have been enough tin to test positive for gold.

Another thing that comes to mind is it could have been silver nitrate reacting to the chroline in the water. Dont quote me on this though.

 

[scavenger]

Dont throw out the purple. If it u did have a minute amount of stannous in the bucket it would have precipitated the gold. It will take ages to settle but u will have gold in the end.

 

[jimdoc]

I am still filtering the purple precip with 2 funnels.
It is going very slow. I was really surprised to see
the water turn purple, and then see the purple
precipitation. I guess the HCl and peroxide bucket
with the boards soaking will have the same in that
as well. I just threw some HP test equipment boards
in it after the first batch of fingers to see if it would
take that thick gold off, its getting it off but it isn't in
gold flakes or mash like the first batch of fingers.

Should I mix the purple precip's with the brown for
melting?

 

[hilld2000]

Hi JimDoc,

Hope you don't mind but I have a couple of questions :?

1. Did you use 'poor mans' AR or did you use full strength Nitric to make your AR?

2. Why did you use AR for fingers which would dissolve the gold as well?

I am not criticising in any way, I am simply learning as much as I can before I start my own processing for the first time.

 

[jimdoc]

I used HCl and peroxide on the fingers, then went to
full aqua regia with nitric acid to purify the "gold mash".
That is what fumed over and into the water that instantly
turned purple. At first I was thinking it was pure water, but
then remembered that I rinsed a few boards that were
soaking in the HCl/Peroxide bath. I am talking about
four or five boards tops,and just rinsing them in the
water. That may have put some gold, copper and lead
or tin from solder in the water, but couldn't have been much.
I still can't understand why it precipitated the purple in the "water".
I thought I was going to have to use SMB to precipitate the gold
out of the water, and here it already did it "by itself".
Jim

 

[scavenger]

Stannous chloride will precipitate gold as a fine purple/black powder. Thats why it is used for gold test. Filtering will get some but it is best to let the solution settle for a few days and carefully drain off the clear liquid. Because the precipitated gold is very fine it is easily disturbed and will even float. It may take a week or more to recover it.

 

[jimdoc]

I got it all and melted 10.5 grams from it.
I am still trying to figure out how it precipitated
like it did, it was mainly a five gallon bucket with
about four gallons of water in it. I rinsed off about
four boards that were in HCl and peroxide, other
than that it was just water. And it was aqua regia
that foamed over when I added urea that also got
in the mix, maybe that had something to do with it.
It was interesting, but I would have rather had
everything go as planned and dealt with the brown
precipitant from the smb. I learned how fast the
solution can react from a little bit of urea. Everything
is a learning experience at this point, and I guess
for a long time to come.

I added the 10.5 grams to the 10.35 grams I already
had and made one button out of it, and plan on
re-refining all of it after I do all my cpu's as that
should easily put me over an ounce. I will pour it
into shot first and may try some jewelry soon also.
I have a one ounce graghite ingot mold to try out
once I get enough to fill it. If I do the jewelry and
dental gold I have I should be able to fill it 2 or 3
times. Jim

 

[mike.fortin]

Jim--good job!! Post some picturs? Mike.

 

[jimdoc]

Mike,
I have to get the picture sizing right before I post any pics.
I downloaded the IRFANVIEW, but need to try it.
Jim

 

[aflacglobal]

Jim, Image shack will resize it for you without a program. :arrow: http://www.imageshack.us/

 

[Cobraj]

Hi all,

www.photobucket.com is the best for any pictures that I have found. Free and you can make a link from the site and post it anywhere. Also one of the best file storage site I have found is www.mydatabus.com it is also free and you can store 10 or 20 gigs of ANY TYPE file and it stays private or you can also make a file public so you can post it anywhere as a link. Great for sharing videos or whatever! The best part is it is also FREE!! No spam stuff either!

Enjoy! :wink:

 

[jimdoc]

I have a Sony FD-83 that I should be able to set to a
lower resolution. What setting would take the pictures
in the right size to begin with so I won't have to resize?
Thanks. Jim

 

[lazersteve]

Jim,

Take the highest resolution photo you can, just resize it with irfanview. Resizing is as simple as a few key strokes after opening the image with irfanview:

Here are the keys you need to press:

• Hold Ctrl and press the r key
• Hold Alt and press the 6 key
• Hold Alt and hit the o key or click Ok
• Press the s key
• Name and save the file.

Steve

 

[jimdoc]

Here is a picture of the 21 gram button.
The first 10.35 grams seemed very pure,
I added the next batch to that, and I don't
think it was as pure as the first batch, but I
just wanted it all in one button. I had too much
flux in the dish, and I am still in the learning
stage with smelting.
I plan on redoing it all when I get enough to
fill my one ounce mold.
This is a test to see if the lowest settings on
my camera make it the right size. If not I will
work on getting it right before posting anymore.
Thanks. Jim

 

[jimdoc]

Steve,
What size is it I am looking to make the picture?
I am not really not really up on digital pics, I still
have my Sony FD-83, it works for Ebay pretty good
and easy. Jim

 

[lazersteve]

The instructions I gave in the above post set the size at 640 x 480.

 

[jimdoc]

Steve,
Thanks. I think that is what the camera was set at
(640 x 480)
for the pictures I posted, so I don't have to resize.
I tried to make them bigger and better, but then
they wouldn't post, so I guess you can't post a pic
that is too large now?

There is a standard or fine setting, if I set that to
fine instead of standard should that make the pictures
better without affecting the size?
Thanks. Jim

 

[lazersteve]

Jim,

Most cameras display the output file resolution in the window as you change the quality from standard to fine. Mine shows the size in the corner of the screen always. Changing the quality will alter the size at certain levels but not all. Each camera is slightly different. RTFB (that's tech talk for Read The Freakin Book :lol: ) and you will know for sure.

Steve

 

[jimdoc]

Steve,
The problem is finding the book, you know
how that is. Thanks. Jim