Refining gold from karat scrap step by step beginner

[miroman]

Hi all,

Has anybody tried 'electroparting' ?
There is very little info about it. The material is the same (ingot of 6ct gold), but not granulated. The consumables (electrolite) is nitric acid, unfortunately no info about the concentration. The power supply must be 30V/5A.
I'm not sure if here is allowed to post external links, so I will not. But one of the 'mashines for electroparting' from the internet advertize that can refine up to 200 gr. for 24 hour cycle. Another one - up to 150 gr (thickness must be 3 - 10 mm.).
So I'd like to know what materials are used to build such system, what is the concentration and quantity of the electrolyte, what kind of filter is used (especially is stated that coffee filters fails apart).

Regards, Miro.

 

[autumnwillow]

Hi all,

Has anybody tried 'electroparting' ?
There is very little info about it. The material is the same (ingot of 6ct gold), but not granulated. The consumables (electrolite) is nitric acid, unfortunately no info about the concentration. The power supply must be 30V/5A.
I'm not sure if here is allowed to post external links, so I will not. But one of the 'mashines for electroparting' from the internet advertize that can refine up to 200 gr. for 24 hour cycle. Another one - up to 150 gr (thickness must be 3 - 10 mm.).
So I'd like to know what materials are used to build such system, what is the concentration and quantity of the electrolyte, what kind of filter is used (especially is stated that coffee filters fails apart).

Regards, Miro.

Interesting, I just did a search on the web. One site sells it for 3900$ which is what I think is just a silver cell.

 

[4metals]

Generally the percentage of nitric soluble metals needs to be high. On 14 and 18 karat it won’t work and even 10 karat needs help.
Easier to inquart with silver and part it.

 

[miroman]

I've found that the nitric is 1.5 ml for each gram of the ingot. That means the carat must be lowered to max 6 ct. with adding silver (1.5 ml will not be enough to dissolve copper)
The nitric must be diluted with water 1:3.

Looks like simple inquartering with more diluted nitric to avoid the fumes. So it slows down the process to 24 hours.
But what is the current for? Does it help at all?

 

[autumnwillow]

Using 1:3 ratio will cause it to fume a lot. I'm guessing the concentration is only about 5% nitric. The current acts like an oxidizer to keep the stripping going without having to add too much nitric. Best not to buy or try to follow these systems. They are too slow and not cost effective. The cleanup is worse. It would only take less than 6 hours to digest 2000grams of inquarted gold.

 

[Rachello]

You guys,

I honestly refine NO carat (karat) scrap. I sell it all because as carat it holds its value in a mathematical equation. You can sell it for it’s weight in gold without refining & potentially losing values.

I have done it many times but learned through the years I get no more value out of it as carat or 99.9% pure.

If the gold value in a piece of metal can be defined & calculated, it matters none to the buyer if it’s pure or 14k.

They give you the value of your gold, minus their cut. Yes, it’s worth more money pure but its weight is less= the same buck for your bang. We have to look to the hours of labor that goes into refining & really wonder; is it worth it?

I have done the math & I deem the difference not worth the time to refine carat gold further.

Now, the nuggets I keep & do not sell I refine to the purest form. Maybe I am an purist or a realist or just greedy & want to keep the best for myself. If you are doing this, all the power too you.

Think smart, NOT hard.

In the end it doesnt matter, if you are doing this too make $$ or just to stock pile gold in case of a zombie apocalypse. Think of your reasons, not just the fever that holds you.

The beginning justifies the ends & the ends justify the means.

Rachel

 

[kadriver]

Rachel,

Karat gold does contain silver and some may even have platinum group metals. The refiner that I send my metal to does not give credit for these metals, they just keep them (or I can elect to pay a refining fee and get a partial payout for them).

By refining the karat scrap before I send it in to be sold to the refiner, I get to keep the silver and PGMs. Is there enough silver and PGMs to justify refining the metals myself? Maybe not, maybe so. But either way, refining the metals is not just about making money. For me it is an art form and a profitable hobby. I love doing it!

kadriver

 

[denim]

Hey Rachello,

I refine some karat for a local jeweller, but I do understand your point about the average person refining it to try to increase value. Probably not worth it for the small time operation, unless you just happen to really dig refining.

Dennis

 

[Rachello]

Dennis,

Most of what I refine is telecom boards, only because I have an almost unlimited free (or almost) supply. I also know several pawnshops that will buy plated jewelry or pretty much anything plated for me to refine. It is a business and in the end they buy it for me & sell it to me, so I in turn will sell them my gold at a "slightly" discounted rate. They buy it for pennies by the pound & I buy it from them for nickels. Sometimes its barrels & some times it's buckets. What it always is, is a constant, cheap source of incoming material for me to refine.

I search through it for prizes in the form of karat gold & more often than not I find quite a bit. Anything not broken & in general a nice piece of jewelry that I like, goes right into my safety deposit box for safe keeping. The rest is the karat scrap I just sell & do not refine further.

I usually sell karat scrap to buy any materials I might need & cover any costs on anything from purchasing the actual material to refilling my oxygen & propane tanks. Anything I refine after that is my profit. It keeps me in balance & level headed as far as $ out & $ in. Constantly keeping my Voracious Gold Fever in check!

I love refining because in the end you have something heavy & shiny & gold. It's amazing to get a final product that is not only beautiful but one that you can actually feel it's value in its weight in your hand. In the end I always feel like it is a little bit of the miraculous. Heavy metals such as Pb never give me the butterflies when I touch it & actually makes me feel quite opposite to when I hold a gold drop I refined myself.

Not only do I love it for the end product it gives me, but also for all the puzzles I have to solve to get that end product in the first place! I might love that the best actually. Learning has never been a chore for me, but something I thrive on.

I know...long reply! I thought I should define the reasons why I do not refine my karat jewelry scrap. Not because I am not able, but because, I make a conscientious decision not to.

Rachel

.

 

[anachronism]

Dennis,

Most of what I refine is telecom boards, only because I have an almost unlimited free (or almost) supply.

Rachel

.

I refine tonnes of these every month sadly I don't have a free supply 8) 8)

 

[kadriver]

I love refining because in the end you have something heavy & shiny & gold. It's amazing to get a final product that is not only beautiful but one that you can actually feel it's value in its weight in your hand.

Rachel

.

Heavy gold in my hand at the end of the process is such an exhilarating experience.

 

[welinahoni]

I followed the method to recover karat gold except that I used a copper-silver alloy for inquartation. However, during digesting the base metal by dil. nitric acid, I crushed the gold frequently. Then I filtered the gold and dry them in oven. When digesting the gold with aqua regia, I found something insoluble. I filtered out the insoluble solids. They are reddish brown in colour. Is there any chances that the solids are copper(I) oxides and how to remove them. I believe there are still gold inside. Thank you!

 

[Ray Gun]

Anyone who makes the commitment to studying and practising proper refining techniques can make bars like these.


Steve
[/quote]

Steve, would you say that the new method you are using for creating the silver shot would work better for Inquarting the gold/silver alloy?
You drilled a 2 mm hole in the bottom of a melting dish and ran the molten metal onto a large ice cube (made in a yoghurt container) while using a pump to circulate the water in the steel bucket.
The old ally was flat and sometimes clumps into pretty large pieces. The new method creates small and uniform shot.
I have not seen you Inquarting the gold/silver alloy since you started to use the new silver shot technique.
Just a thought.

Also, the respirator filters for the 3M mask that I have are rated for gas/biological ... the filters are 3M 6003 Twin Organic Vapour/Acid Gas Cartridge
https://www.amazon.in/3M-6003-Organic-Vapour-Cartridge/dp/B07X1WJ1QT/ref=asc_df_B07X1WJ1QT/?tag=googleshopdes-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=419573273414&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8802041239144305815&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007761&hvtargid=pla-882722877563&psc=1&ext_vrnc=hi

I have ripped HOURS of your content from YouTube to MP4 files that I have saved onto a hard drive in case the internet ever goes down the drain! The videos are all in separate categories ... karat gold scrap/gold fingers/gold plate jewellery/silver cell etc ...
Your tutorials on YouTube are the only way to get the methodology right. It is like comparing theory and practical at university! You can learn a LOT from the theory (this forum) but watching step by step video of the practical application is invaluable.
I still say that you should offer tuition services to people who are new to refining as I think you are missing out on an almost passive income (cash per hour) and your only overhead is your internet bill!

Matt ...

 

[Hartbar]

I’m curious if there is any reason to incinerate the almost pure gold bits, after the 2nd nitric leach, before dissolving in AR?
I see that is suggested when recovering and refining Gold filled.
Reason to, or reason not to?