Safety learned the hard way

Gold Refining Forum

Help Support Gold Refining Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Ok - for the last couple days I was trying to decide if I should post this in the safety section or here --- I decided here because I don't think the safety section gets read all that much - especially by new members & "lurkers" who are here "only" to learn "how to get the gold" --- & this post shows what I am taking about

This last Friday I stopped in at the local coin dealer that I sell my gold to who I also process stuff for which is why I deal with him - he pays me a good price for my metal & he always has stuff for me to process - I process all his gold filled & low grade silver (so its a two way business relationship)

Anyway - when I stopped in on Friday he says - "hey I was just going to call you - had a guy come in yesterday & he has 14.5 lbs. of gold plated stainless steel that is supposed to yield around 3g/lb - if your interested we can call & see if he can bring it over --- I said call

So the guy brings it over & my first question is - how do you know it yields 3g/lb & how do you know its on SS & he says because I have the spec sheet on it which says 316 SS & I originally had 48 lbs & was processing it my self & this is the last of it & I was getting between 2.5 & 3.5g/lb & I am sure I lost gold (on the low yields)

So I asked - if you have been processing it why don't you just finish it & how were you processing it?

And he tells me - I was using HCl to dissolve away the SS (no H2O2) then AR on the foils & SMB to drop the gold

It was taking huge amounts of HCl to get rid of the SS & in the process I have "ruined everything" in my garage & even stuff in the house & it sent me to the hospital twice - once because of breathing problems from the fumes & once because I got acid in my eyes from the mist when looking in on a reaction - at first things started to get a little hazy & then went to a total blur & I had to crawl over to my neighbors (wife was gone) to get a ride to the hospital to have my eyes flushed out with 30 gallons of water over 3 hours

Here is the part that bothers me - I asked him where he learned to do what he was doing & he said - "on the internet & the different gold refining forums"

So I asked him if he was a member of GRF & he said - "no - I have only been to that forum (as a visitor) to get information about doing it - clearly he never read a single thing about safety

I can't help but wonder that with close 34,000 members - but only a (small) hand full that are active - & who knows how many that just visit to do nothing but pick "just enough" info to give it a try --- how many more stories like this one are actually out there?

I know of one more here in my local area - its not quite as bad as this one only because he did not end up going to the hospital - but other then that he had a total disregard for safety (until he met me & I started teaching him the importance of it)

I know we have talked about it before - but is there a way to set it up where people first have to read some information about dangers & safety & then answer a few questions before they can visit the forum let alone join it

It bothers me that we are providing information that allows people to hurt them selves & other because they can come here & learn "how to get the gold" but skip right over the dangers & safety part

I can't help but feel a responsibility "to make" people aware of the dangers & safety - before they are allowed access to info that can/will hurt them & others

To many people just wont look at the danger/safety part unless they are made to - because its gold they are after !

Here is a pic of the gold plated SS I got & a 1lbs sample run did yield right at 3.5g

Kurt
I do agree with you at some extent. Let me tell you my point of view on the safety matter with an example. Driving license is give after you pass the exams correct? Cars are made today more than ever with tons of safety features, correct? Yet there are numerous car accidents simply because of the disregarding of the rules. Unfortunately you cannot make anything idiot proof, therefore if someone doesn`t want to apply the safety rules, or invest in his own safety, you cannot do anything about it. The allmighty gave brains to averyone to use it, if they don`t that is their choice in life. "And yes , the rules of natural selection apply everywhere (do not intend to offend anyone)."
 
Back
Top