Electrochemistry Reverse Electrolysis and Gold Fill

[BobGold]

Dear Members,

Is there a reason that a cell cannot be used to strip gold from gold fill wire? I know the process works with gold plate, but all indications are it will not work on gold fill. Have any of you tried it with any success and if so, could you share what electrolyte solution you used, techniques and whether it was successful.

The reason that I ask this is that I have refined gold fill using nitric and boy does it take a lot of nitric acid and a long time to dissolve basically 97.5% of the metal by weight to get rid of the gold, and then you have a lot of copper laden solution to clean up with zinc.

Any thoughts from members would be appreciated.

Bob

 

[BobGold]

Made a 'typo' below and meant to say 'getting rid of the base metal' rather than getting rid of the gold. Heavens, we never want to get rid of gold. LOL

Again, thanks everyone for any responses. A cell to strip gold from gold fill would be fantastic.

Bob

 

[FrugalRefiner]

We all appreciate the problem. It's been discussed in the past.

I seem to remember some posts by a member whose username I think was dallasgoldbug, or something similar. He described an innovative system, but I'm not sure if it ever worked, or if it would work with gold filled.

There was also a patent that's been mentioned a few times based on a low nitric electrolytic system that claimed to remove the gold filled from the base metal. It's something I'd like to experiment with some day, but I've never tried it.

Dave

 

[nickvc]

To do this you need a membrane which allows the gold ions to pass but not the base metals, I believe someone used a ceramic flower pot but can’t remember the results if any were posted. I messed with the idea for a while but it didn’t seem worth the time involved unless you can source regular material at the right price.