QUICK EASY QUESTION

[TOMCAT_7475]

I had around a pound and half of gold plated pins. I placed them in a plastic tub with holes in the bottom and then put that in a larger tub. I used some left over AP solution from deplating fingers. Did not add any more peroxide, but finished covering up the pins with fresh muriatic acid. This was three months ago.
I Still have a lot of undissolved pins, not a problem, just needs more time. I siphoned off the liquid and am left with a good inch of sludge. I took a small sample of it and put it in a strainer and ran water through it to rinse the larger particles. Very pleased with the amount of gold in the screen.
My question is. With left over AP and fresh muriatic acid, is there any way PMs could be in the blue/green rinse? I'm not very sure of my stannos test which is showing negative. I thought blue color was a sign of silver. I have a clear half gallon jug I am filling up with water and shaking, letting settle, then siphoning the blue/green liquid. I would hate to think I am wasting PMs. Thanks!!!

 

[etack]

https://www.google.com/search?q=nickel+chloride+solution&safe=off&espv=2&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEvNbm_ejKAhUDGR4KHSn7AbwQ_AUIBygB&biw=1920&bih=955#imgrc=AKVEqkDpPDE51M%3A
nickel can show Blue green.

Eric

 

[Grelko]

The blue/green sounds like copper.

If you haven't used any more H₂O₂ "peroxide", the muriatic itself shouldn't put any gold into solution.

You can speed things up with a bubbler "from a fish tank etc."

Other members should be able to give you more information.

 

[etack]

more than likely it will be one or the other.

nothing to worry about it all comes out in the wash.

Eric

 

[Grelko]

more than likely it will be one or the other.

nothing to worry about it all comes out in the wash.

Eric

I was thinking it could be Nickel also. I went with copper, since CuCl₂ "A/P" is green, but as the copper gets diluted, it becomes more of a sky blue. They would both be in solution while processing pins.

Edit - Either way, it sounds like you're doing good.

 

[FrugalRefiner]

I'm not very sure of my stannos test which is showing negative.

Work on that. Test early, test often, test everything, test constantly. The more you use stannous on a wide variety of solutions, the more confident you'll become in your results.

Dave

 

[upcyclist]

I just (started) processing some karat gold, and saw the same thing--the nitric soak was bluish, but that's most likely from the copper and other stuff in the alloys. In my case, it was most of the "other" 42% of my 14K gold that wasn't silver, and in the solder, pins, and PCB traces in your material).

1. Like Dave said, stannous chloride is your friend.
2. Failing that, a good copper cementation in your stockpot/waste treatment process is your friend

 

[jason_recliner]

I used some left over AP solution from deplating fingers. Did not add any more peroxide, but finished covering up the pins with fresh muriatic acid.

Perfect!

I have a clear half gallon jug I am filling up with water and shaking, letting settle, then siphoning the blue/green liquid.

Blue is a classic character of very dilute copper chloride.

I do hope you are treating this siphoned/decanted copper waste with iron before disposal. Copper solution likes to kill just all sorts of environmental life. It's not the sort of thing to dump down the drain.
Check in the Library for dealing with waste responsibly.

 

[TOMCAT_7475]

I do hope you are treating this siphoned/decanted copper waste with iron before disposal. Copper solution likes to kill just all sorts of environmental life. It's not the sort of thing to dump down the drain.
Check in the Library for dealing with waste responsibly.[/quote]


Actually haven't done anything with the decanted solution yet. It is in two 1 gallon milk jugs. It will be disposed of properly. I have 7 grand kids and I would like for them to inherit a cleaner earth than I was

 

[TOMCAT_7475]

Thanks to everyone for your replies!!

 

[Barren Realms 007]

I do hope you are treating this siphoned/decanted copper waste with iron before disposal. Copper solution likes to kill just all sorts of environmental life. It's not the sort of thing to dump down the drain.
Check in the Library for dealing with waste responsibly.

Actually haven't done anything with the decanted solution yet. It is in two 1 gallon milk jugs. It will be disposed of properly. I have 7 grand kids and I would like for them to inherit a cleaner earth than I was[/quote]

Milk jugs are not a good container to keep this solution in. The plastic becomes brittle and when you least expect it and pick up the container you have a mess on your hands.

 

[upcyclist]

Actually haven't done anything with the decanted solution yet. It is in two 1 gallon milk jugs. It will be disposed of properly. I have 7 grand kids and I would like for them to inherit a cleaner earth than I was

Milk jugs are not a good container to keep this solution in. The plastic becomes brittle and when you least expect it and pick up the container you have a mess on your hands.

Try HDPE (High Density PolyEthylene), the hard plastic used in your standard 5-gallon bucket. Failing that, try glass (if you can keep it safe from breakage).

 

[FrugalRefiner]

A lot of milk jugs are also HDPE, but they're just thick enough to hold your milk for a couple of weeks. The five gallon buckets are the same material, but many times thicker.

Dave

 

[Barren Realms 007]

A lot of milk jugs are also HDPE, but they're just thick enough to hold your milk for a couple of weeks. The five gallon buckets are the same material, but many times thicker.

Dave

I have yet to have a 5 gal bucket fail on me when I wasn't expecting it too because of getting brittle. I have had a milk jug start leaking with it just setting in place and no movement.

 

[jason_recliner]

Not to mention the practice of putting toxic waste into food containers.
You may think no one will ever confuse a clear blue solution with milk. But the wise man will develop a discipline of safer storage and labelling procedures.

 

[TOMCAT_7475]

Quick update and another question.

Milk jugs are gone. Have 5 gallon buckets with metal shavings from the machine shop I work at.

Still have some copper left, but now the sediment looks like this. Looks like chocolate milk. What is this and how to proceed from here. There's fine gold in this.

 

[nickvc]

That's your copper and other base metals cementing out of solution by the looks of it, make sure that you agitate the solution so it all comes into contact with the steel, it will eventually settle and look like slightly discoloured water, this can then be treated with lye or lime and the solution from that is safe to dispose of.

 

[TOMCAT_7475]

Now I am confused. I thought the blue/green was the copper. The pic is of a small sample of what my sediment is now looking like. It went from the blue/green to this. There's only a slight tint to the water after everything settles, but I have a good bit of this colored material. Ran a small amount through a coffee filter and it does contain fine gold, but this brown solution is so thick it would take alot of filters to go through.

 

[Barren Realms 007]

Now I am confused. I thought the blue/green was the copper. The pic is of a small sample of what my sediment is now looking like. It went from the blue/green to this. There's only a slight tint to the water after everything settles, but I have a good bit of this colored material. Ran a small amount through a coffee filter and it does contain fine gold, but this brown solution is so thick it would take alot of filters to go through.

How do you know it contains gold?

 

[TOMCAT_7475]

This is unfiltered, just ran through a screen to remove the larger flakes. The finer gold is still easily visible when filtered through a coffee filter, but the particles are too large to go through the coffee filters. There's also a black powder that I assume has gold in it. I am not sure how to separate from this brown sludge.