Re-refining gold button

[Tndavid]

Button- 1.5 gram
Recovered from 22k gold coin and electronic fingers
Chemical process
100ml HCl+9ml Bleach
Start time-yesterday evening

I added the chemicals and put on low heat for 3 to 4 hours. Barely even seen a tiny bubble indicating reaction so I took off heat. Thought maybe the heat was driving the Cl from the solution thru evaporation. Added another 6ml bleach and 25ml HCl. Let sit overnight and this is what I had this morning. Looks to be possibly a salt has formed on my button and in the flask. I should have melted the button and made shot so the chemicals would have had more surface area,but it was just a little over a 1.5 grams. I tested with stannous and there is gold in solution. I'm not being impatient but thought there should have been more progress than this. I could take it out, wash and dissolve in AR but kinda wanted to just salvage this process. I have searched the forum and can't find anything on this exact result. Just a quick link or message would be appreciated. Sorry for the public post as I know no one to message. Yet.. Thanks guys.

 

[Tndavid]

 

[FrugalRefiner]

HCl and bleach works well on very thin material like the foils from fingers and on powders, like precipitated gold from a first recovery. You will struggle to dissolve a button or shot with it. AR is a better choice. Poor man's AR would be a second choice.

Dave

 

[UncleBenBen]

As Dave said, AR or poor man's AR is the way to go for solid gold. If you don't have or are not ready to use nitric or nitrates yet, it can be done with HCl/Cl. It's just going to take a while and you have some prep work to do first.

Take your button out of solution and rinse it off back into the breaker with water. Then hammer the button out as flat and thin as you can get it. It's probably a good idea to wrap it in something first like cloth or heavy parchment or leather. Then cut it into tiny pieces and then try and dissolve. Add a 2-3ml of bleach at a time allowing plenty of time to react between additions.

 

[Tndavid]

Great. Thanks fellows.

 

[Grelko]

HCl and bleach works well on very thin material like the foils from fingers and on powders, like precipitated gold from a first recovery. You will struggle to dissolve a button or shot with it. AR is a better choice. Poor man's AR would be a second choice.

Dave

It can be done with HCl/Cl, but it's going to take a while (possibly a few days or more). You'll need to flatten the bead out as small as you can "paper thin or better", then cut or grind it up into a bunch of tiny pieces. The bead that I redissolved was around 0.8g and 70% gold.

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=23226

 

[Tndavid]

Notes well taken. Thanks. Poor man's AR in progress on low heat. Bubbling pretty good with 1 teaspoon of KNO3 so far.

 

[jason_recliner]

Though you've given a vague volume of KNO3 rather than a mass, that's probably a bit much nitrate for 1.5g of gold.

I expect around 2g+ of KNO3 would do the job. Then you add a bit more if it stalls.
Before you try to drop the gold with SMB, I suggest you denox.

 

[Shark]

A second refine can make a lot of difference in the purity of your gold. I ran a small check just to see for myself once. I was quite amazed at how much better it was the second time around. While it wasn't super nice, it was the best I had at the time.

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=20981

 

[Tndavid]

Yes sir that's what I'm trying for. Want that coveted pipe and shine. Not expecting it but one can hope. And thank you for the info Jason.

 

[Tndavid]

Just a quick picture of my gold falling out.
Stannous test after initial addition of SMB. So I added another 1/2 gram SMB.