refine with creosote?

[924T]

My uncle just told me he heard of a guy in Arizona that is refining gold with creosote, but the guy won't tell
anybody any details about how he does it.

I told my uncle that there's not much new under the sun in gold refining, and that this sounds like some old,
obscure process has revived.

So, I need to find out if anybody here on the forum has heard of creosote being used to reclaim or refine gold?
I did 2 internet searches, and 2 forum searches, and turned up nothing.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[NobleMetalWorks]

Creosote? You mean that black tar stuff that is gooped onto old telephone polls and that type of thing?

Whatever it is you are able to do with creosote, I can guarantee you that it's far easier, and safer, to use existing methods to recover and refine gold than using some goopy tar stuff. I cannot even imagine, in my wildest fantasies, how creosote might help in the recovery of gold.

Maybe if you explained a little more. The only thing I can even dream up is that it somehow captures gold, and then it might be incinerated to recover the gold? But before you go any further with this, ask yourself this question. If this was an old way of recovering gold, and you are not able to find anything about it on the internet, I mean this is the internet we are talking about, then don't you think that this process was abandoned for a very good reason?

Scott

 

[butcher]

The only thing I could think of maybe some type of sulfide gold ore floatation, pin pitch or oil can and has been used, creosote is just pyrolyzed tar from material like pine pitch, or wood stove chiminey's, he would probably have to add something to somewhat dissolve the creosote.This would not be a refining process but a recovery process.


This is just speculation on my part.

Do you know any more details of his operation?

 

[924T]

That's all I know about it------------------I was/am massively dubious about it, and I do agree that there's no
way creosote could dissolve gold---------------------and even if it could, why bother? It stinks, it's sticky, you'd have to
use powerful solvents to cut through it, etc.

I agree, there might be some creosote as a result of burning (for what reason?) pine oil (from a froth
flotation array?), and that at best, it would be from gold recovery, not refining.

There are so many better ways to go about recovery and refining, I'm thinking it's just some kind of
smoke screen to keep a different process out of sight, out of mind (misdirection, like in the "Swordfish"
movie).

Whomever it is that's supposedly doing it supposedly isn't talking, but if any additional scrap of info
surfaces, I'll post it, just because the whole scenario is so bizarre.

Thanks for weighing in on it,

Mike

 

[kurt]

When I was a kid growing up on the farm we used creosote to treat the bottom of fence post - some where in the early to mid 70's the EPA banned the sale, use & manufacture of creosote as extremely toxic

So where this guy would get creosote to use for anything much let alone for gold recovery/refining (other then making it) makes his claim questionable.

If the EPA got wind of his using &/or making creosote he would be in a lot of hot water

I wouldn't go around talking about it - even as a smoke screen to some other process - its an "invatation" to have the authorities come knocking on your door to see what you are up to

Kurt

 

[galenrog]

It could be that this fella is using wood from the creosote bush (yes it also has other names) as fuel for a small smelter out in the bush.

 

[DONNZ]

Have to disagree with this statement "T"

"you'd have to use powerful solvents to cut through it, etc."

I must, I must. Done the creosote post thing when I was young. Oil cuts oil.

Left the gloves in the truck many a time. Best solvent for remove creosote from your hands is " Mayonnaise"

Mayo is basically make of oil.

I sure everyone wanted to know that. :|

That's all I know about it------------------I was/am massively dubious about it, and I do agree that there's no
way creosote could dissolve gold---------------------and even if it could, why bother? It stinks, it's sticky, you'd have to
use powerful solvents to cut through it, etc.

I agree, there might be some creosote as a result of burning (for what reason?) pine oil (from a froth
flotation array?), and that at best, it would be from gold recovery, not refining.

There are so many better ways to go about recovery and refining, I'm thinking it's just some kind of
smoke screen to keep a different process out of sight, out of mind (misdirection, like in the "Swordfish"
movie).

Whomever it is that's supposedly doing it supposedly isn't talking, but if any additional scrap of info
surfaces, I'll post it, just because the whole scenario is so bizarre.

Thanks for weighing in on it,

Mike

 

[Geraldo]

We really don't have enough info here to know what this person is doing with the creosote (if it isn't disinformation). Some speculations:

1. Creosote used to be used as a flotation agent (along with coal tar) for flotation of a bunch of gold and gold-related ores - particularly antimony, arsenic and arsenopyrite ores (as Butcher suggests above). As far as I know, coal tar is still used in China, so maybe they use creosote too.

2. Creosote is a good, free reductant in a pyrometallurgical process. It would be easier to use coke or coal tar.

3. Creosote, dissolved in an appropriate solvent, may be able to recover certain ions from solution via a solvent extraction process. Again, high sulfur coal tars have been used as cheap SX reagents for antimony extraction. It doesn't make economic sense in the end, since synthetic reagents tend to have much higher selectivity and capacity, and are controllable (you never know what the precise chemistry of your latest batch of creosote may be).

4. Creosote coating a substrate (like activated charcoal) might be a way to make a cheap ion exchange resin for recovery of certain ions from a solution. Again, there must be far better alternatives in the commercial IX resins, or in home-made resins using proper synthetic chemicals.

Those are all the things I could think of off the top of my head. None of them sound particularly efficient.

Oops - forgot one:
5. Creosote bush can absorb gold and other heavy metals from very low concentration liquids and soils. Alfalfa can also absorb gold directly from solution. This stuff is normally in the realm of "bioremediation", not primary recovery. Also, it is RECOVERY, not REFINING.

Best Regards, Geraldo

 

[924T]

Touche, DONNZ!

To have been technically accurate, I should have mentioned that it was based on my personal experience that
you'd have to use powerful solvents to cut through Creosote, which having cut up some railroad ties a
few years ago, is what I did (acetone, gasoline).

I wouldn't have thought of using Mayo in a thousand years!

But, now that I'm thinking of oils, I have a dim recollection of articles about cleaning gum, tar, etc. off
of things with WD-40.

I will definitely give Mayo a try at my earliest opportunity.

Thanks for the heads up!

Cheers,

Mike