Put gold amalgam in HCL acid . HCL turned yellow.

[Harold_V]

Put it back in a fresh solution of hcl/cl and more silver choloride was being produced. Looks like it is almost all silver. The piece now seems to be almost all a green/yellow. Smooth. Most of the silver is gone. Was hoping to find some platinum.

You are making uninformed decisions. HCl does not dissolve silver, so, at best, it would have created a hard shell of silver chloride around the object, assuming the silver content was high, say, more than 10%. If it is lower, the metal, what ever it may be, will dissolve, leaving behind loose silver chloride.

Now then, assuming that it is gold that contains some silver, your solution should be a yellow/orange color. Have you tested with stannous chloride?

Harold

 

[carcrossguy]

Put it back in a fresh solution of hcl/cl and more silver choloride was being produced. Looks like it is almost all silver. The piece now seems to be almost all a green/yellow. Smooth. Most of the silver is gone. Was hoping to find some platinum.

You are making uninformed decisions. HCl does not dissolve silver, so, at best, it would have created a hard shell of silver chloride around the object, assuming the silver content was high, say, more than 10%. If it is lower, the metal, what ever it may be, will dissolve, leaving behind loose silver chloride.

Now then, assuming that it is gold that contains some silver, your solution should be a yellow/orange color. Have you tested with stannous chloride?

Harold

I'm using hcl/clorox to dissolve the gold/silver. Stannous Chloride test is purple but I can tell there is not much gold because the gold colour disappears very quickly and the the dissolving piece is almost all silver after that. Very large amount of silver chloride is produced when the solution is fresh but becomes saturated very quickly. However, the remaining core that has not dissolved is a yellow silver colour. Its is either another type of metal or a mix of gold silver.
Overall, probably 5% gold at best.

If you are saying hcl/clorox does not dissolve silver, that would make sense because it only dissolves(produces silver chloride) when there is a tiny piece in a fresh solution.

 

[Harold_V]

but I can tell there is not much gold because the gold colour disappears very quickly

Yes, you can tell me that.

However, you're wrong. When you better understand refining (especially testing), you'll know why.

and the the dissolving piece is almost all silver after that.

If that was the case, it wouldn't dissolve at all. I do not agree with your assesment.

Very large amount of silver chloride is produced when the solution is fresh but becomes saturated very quickly.

Saturated? With what? I see that term tossed around frequently. I'm not sure I agree, but I might if I knew what was doing the saturation. Does a hard green/gray skin form on the piece when that happens?

However, the remaining core that has not dissolved is a yellow silver colour. Its is either another type of metal or a mix of gold silver.
Overall, probably 5% gold at best.

I'm amazed that you can know that from what little you've managed to accomplish. I don't agree with your conclusions. I don't even come close to agreeing with your conclusions.

Are you aware that 18K white gold has no yellow cast? That's 75% gold--and it's white, for all practical purposes. You tell me you know there's no more than 5% gold present, yet the color is yellow silver? Is your solution dark green?

You are making uninformed decisions. You really need to do some reading. When you understand testing, almost none of these things will be a mystery to you.

Harold

 

[carcrossguy]

I put a 5 gram piece in only about 60 ml of solution and I did get green sludge around the piece and very little silver chloride with the solution being dark yellow. However, when I put a .2 gram piece in around 80 mls I dont get green sludge and the solution is a light yellow.. The piece quickly loses any gold colour and i just get silver chloride.

 

[Barren Realms 007]

I put a 5 gram piece in only about 60 ml of solution and I did get green sludge around the piece and very little silver chloride with the solution being dark yellow. However, when I put a .2 gram piece in around 80 mls I dont get green sludge and the solution is a light yellow.. The piece quickly loses any gold colour and i just get silver chloride.

How do you know you are getting silver chloride? Why don't you post a picture of what you are working with. You are just making assumptions about what you have IMHO.

 

[carcrossguy]

I put a 5 gram piece in only about 60 ml of solution and I did get green sludge around the piece and very little silver chloride with the solution being dark yellow. However, when I put a .2 gram piece in around 80 mls I dont get green sludge and the solution is a light yellow.. The piece quickly loses any gold colour and i just get silver chloride.

How do you know you are getting silver chloride? Why don't you post a picture of what you are working with. You are just making assumptions about what you have IMHO.

Camera usb cable is not working right now. I know Im dealing with silver and the silver is losing weight so not too ambiguous situation. I'm just curious about the process that was used to produce this stuff. Some evidence that mercury was used. I know the gold dust is at least 90 percent gold in that area with lots of silver. I'm getting it assayed so hopefully that will help.

 

[Harold_V]

I put a 5 gram piece in only about 60 ml of solution and I did get green sludge around the piece and very little silver chloride with the solution being dark yellow. However, when I put a .2 gram piece in around 80 mls I dont get green sludge and the solution is a light yellow.. The piece quickly loses any gold colour and i just get silver chloride.

Why do you conclude it's saturation? Sounds to me it's depletion. In many instances, solutions can hold a staggering amount of material without achieving a level of saturation. I have no doubt that is NOT your problem.

Harold

 

[Lino1406]

Most amalgams used to day contain silver, not gold. Gold amalgam
should look silvery

 

[carcrossguy]

Most amalgams used to day contain silver, not gold. Gold amalgam
should look silvery

Its more of a cement because the specific gravity is only 7. is gold sponge sandy or is it more metal like? I know people pull the base metals and silver out of gold before using aqua regia but this seems to have too much gold and no copper or zinc.

 

[carcrossguy]

22 karat nugget for reference.

 

[Lino1406]

Difficulty in identifying gold? The ultimate
method is plating a zinc rod with cyanide solution

 

[Harold_V]

The color of your solution is quite pale---too pale to have much gold dissolved. You may be on the right track assuming you have very little gold present. Or not.

What is the remaining material I see in the bottom? Does it go in to solution with more HCl and chlorine?

It would help tremendously if you'd stop talking in riddles. Complete disclosure of information has a wonderful way of informing those of us that may be able to help.

While it's nice to see, a nugget doesn't help in the least. You are not dealing with nuggets---you are dealing with something that has been altered considerably. What would be helpful is knowing how.

Harold

 

[carcrossguy]

Strangely, if you break a piece in half you can see that the yellow is spread evenly yet when it sits in hcl/cl you only see silver. I guess any gold goes immediately into solution but the silver takes longer.

 

[carcrossguy]

Seems to be all silver and gold and only 2% other. I guess I was slightly pessimistic when I said 5% gold. Does this mean that there is no platinum? I remember an old assay of the gold from that area and I remember at least a tiny fraction of other precious metals.

Here are the results of the assay.

Sample Weight : 1.64 gm.
Bead Weight : 1.61 gm.

Purity of Raw Material : 98.171%, yielding 1.61 grams of Dore.
1 oz of raw material will yield 0.98171 oz of dore at a purity of 93% Au.


1825.9806 lbs of Au per ton of raw material.
137.4394 lbs of Ag per ton of raw material.

0.9129903 oz of Au per oz of raw material.
0.0687197 oz of Ag per oz of raw material.