A
Anonymous
Guest
Hey everyone. I'm new to gold refining and have some questions.
I came upon this project when my uncle asked if I could try and recover the gold from some DSL equipment racks he pulled from an apartment building.
I started with a google search and found Shor International before having problems and then finding this site. I've read this forum extensively and the next time I do this I'll be much better informed. I'd like to thank the forum for that!
here is what I've done so far.
I removed all the gold plated fingers from the cards (approx 100 cards) and removed all the connector pins from the boards, jumpers, the boards on the back of the racks and all the cables) I don't know how much it all weighed but it was a dense volume of pins and fingers that filled about 3/4 of a 1/2 gallon container.
I then dissolved Shore's SubZero nitric acid substitute (1/2 lb) to 1/2 gallon of muriatic acid and then add the scrap to the bath with a plastic mesh bag. there was some plastic although I was careful to remove most of it.
The reaction was slow at first and the slowly started to dissolve the metals. I did this in my garage at ambient temp between 55 and 60 deg. the solution warmed up and continued to dissolve for two days. when the solution no longer bubbled and lost temp I removed the bag of scrap and decanted then filtered the solution.
I Now have two containers. One with a clear (no murkiness) cola colored solution and one with the scrap (mostly all the pins and fingers were dissolved but there was still some visible gold leaf) and residue from decanting and filtering.
Following the instructions I added some urea to the cola colored solution and nothing happened, in all I added about 1/8 pound of urea pellets. I then added Shor's Storm precipitant and it precipitated a very sticky black grey substance that was clumpy. I was able to filter it with a screen.
Not knowing what this was I took the remainder of the of the solution and set it aside.
I then mixed a second batch of Shore's SubZero nitric acid substitute (1/2 lb) to 1/2 gallon of muiatic acid. I then added the bag of scrap, the residue from decanting and filtering and the clumpy sticky substance from the failed precipitation attempt.
Keep in mind that I knew nothing of dissolving base metals first or incinerating or any other methods I've now come familiar with. Again thanks to this forum! At this point I'm operating on intuition and what little I remember from my one chemistry class in college way back.
Surprisingly the second time worked pretty well. All the visible gold left dissolved along with most of the sludge and that sticky clumpy substance. I then decanted and filtered the solution and this time there was almost no residue. The liquid was a clear emerald green. I added urea and this time it fizzed. I added urea a little at a time unlit it no longer reacted. Then I added the Storm precipitant. The solution turned brown and cloudy. I then let it sit overnight decanted and filled the container with tap water and repeated until I got no color change when adding a drop of ammonia. when all was done I yielded just over 0.5 gm of gold grain. I tested the acid for gold with the precious metal detection liquid before discarding.
I'm now left with the first batch, which is a 1/2 gallon cola colored clear, not murky. when I add a drop of detection liquid on a paper towel the spot turns black. I contacted Sh or and I must say they are very helpful over the phone. He told me to add aluminum foil to the acid until I no longer get a color change with the detection liquid. So I added small pieces of foil one at a time until I no longer detected gold in the solution.
Now I have decanted and filtered this solution and I'm left with a black brown sludge. Mostly brown with black in it. If you look closely enough you can see the different colors. This is where I stopped. I still have the solution , it is clear and dark and after sitting for a few days I can now detect a very light color change when adding the detection liquid. A light brown. I also have the sludge in a separate container where I suspect the remainder of the gold is.
First I'd like to know how to process the sludge. The guy at Shore tells me to reprocess the sludge with SubZero/muriatic acid and then precip with storm. I'm not sure I want to go with this method again. I'm leaning toward
first: rinsing, filtering and incinerating
Second: dissolving base metals with nitric alone
Third: processing with Aqua Regia.
Fourth: precipitating with SMB
Second, how should I process the remaining solution. I'm not sure if I should add more aluminum and keep with the same process or doe anyone have a better idea.
Thank you everyone patient enough to read through this post!
Drayden
I came upon this project when my uncle asked if I could try and recover the gold from some DSL equipment racks he pulled from an apartment building.
I started with a google search and found Shor International before having problems and then finding this site. I've read this forum extensively and the next time I do this I'll be much better informed. I'd like to thank the forum for that!
here is what I've done so far.
I removed all the gold plated fingers from the cards (approx 100 cards) and removed all the connector pins from the boards, jumpers, the boards on the back of the racks and all the cables) I don't know how much it all weighed but it was a dense volume of pins and fingers that filled about 3/4 of a 1/2 gallon container.
I then dissolved Shore's SubZero nitric acid substitute (1/2 lb) to 1/2 gallon of muriatic acid and then add the scrap to the bath with a plastic mesh bag. there was some plastic although I was careful to remove most of it.
The reaction was slow at first and the slowly started to dissolve the metals. I did this in my garage at ambient temp between 55 and 60 deg. the solution warmed up and continued to dissolve for two days. when the solution no longer bubbled and lost temp I removed the bag of scrap and decanted then filtered the solution.
I Now have two containers. One with a clear (no murkiness) cola colored solution and one with the scrap (mostly all the pins and fingers were dissolved but there was still some visible gold leaf) and residue from decanting and filtering.
Following the instructions I added some urea to the cola colored solution and nothing happened, in all I added about 1/8 pound of urea pellets. I then added Shor's Storm precipitant and it precipitated a very sticky black grey substance that was clumpy. I was able to filter it with a screen.
Not knowing what this was I took the remainder of the of the solution and set it aside.
I then mixed a second batch of Shore's SubZero nitric acid substitute (1/2 lb) to 1/2 gallon of muiatic acid. I then added the bag of scrap, the residue from decanting and filtering and the clumpy sticky substance from the failed precipitation attempt.
Keep in mind that I knew nothing of dissolving base metals first or incinerating or any other methods I've now come familiar with. Again thanks to this forum! At this point I'm operating on intuition and what little I remember from my one chemistry class in college way back.
Surprisingly the second time worked pretty well. All the visible gold left dissolved along with most of the sludge and that sticky clumpy substance. I then decanted and filtered the solution and this time there was almost no residue. The liquid was a clear emerald green. I added urea and this time it fizzed. I added urea a little at a time unlit it no longer reacted. Then I added the Storm precipitant. The solution turned brown and cloudy. I then let it sit overnight decanted and filled the container with tap water and repeated until I got no color change when adding a drop of ammonia. when all was done I yielded just over 0.5 gm of gold grain. I tested the acid for gold with the precious metal detection liquid before discarding.
I'm now left with the first batch, which is a 1/2 gallon cola colored clear, not murky. when I add a drop of detection liquid on a paper towel the spot turns black. I contacted Sh or and I must say they are very helpful over the phone. He told me to add aluminum foil to the acid until I no longer get a color change with the detection liquid. So I added small pieces of foil one at a time until I no longer detected gold in the solution.
Now I have decanted and filtered this solution and I'm left with a black brown sludge. Mostly brown with black in it. If you look closely enough you can see the different colors. This is where I stopped. I still have the solution , it is clear and dark and after sitting for a few days I can now detect a very light color change when adding the detection liquid. A light brown. I also have the sludge in a separate container where I suspect the remainder of the gold is.
First I'd like to know how to process the sludge. The guy at Shore tells me to reprocess the sludge with SubZero/muriatic acid and then precip with storm. I'm not sure I want to go with this method again. I'm leaning toward
first: rinsing, filtering and incinerating
Second: dissolving base metals with nitric alone
Third: processing with Aqua Regia.
Fourth: precipitating with SMB
Second, how should I process the remaining solution. I'm not sure if I should add more aluminum and keep with the same process or doe anyone have a better idea.
Thank you everyone patient enough to read through this post!
Drayden
