Shurinking mud!

[Luster]

Hi all, quick question on cleaning mud, and that is if values are being lost when boiling? It seems my mud is shrinking and its not getting any lighter.
thx

 

[4metals]

Your question will not be answered without more specifics, mud is a pretty generic term. Are you talking about gold having been precipitated from acid? Or just a mixture of crap that looks like mud?

Are you testing your solutions before discarding, that will tell you if you are losing values. Be careful when boiling, its usefulness in refining is very limited.

More specifics will result in better responses.

 

[Lino1406]

Missing - What you boiled the mud in, did you
washed it in water before.. etc.

 

[Luster]

Hi 4metals..sorry about that.
To clarify i have dropped the gold and refining the brown mud as per Lasersteve's mehod he discribes, alternate H2o and HCL washes using heat

 

[Luster]

4metals.. i missed to add i have been testing all coming up negative

 

[butcher]

Sounds to me you are washing out base metals from your precipitated gold powders, the colors of your solution's barren of gold (by stannous chloride testing) can be clues of contamination present.

These metals are salts of metals, so that may explain why you don't see a major weight change, base metals are also much lighter than gold. also the wet material will weigh different than dry materials.

Gold powders will get lighter color as you remove base metals.

 

[Luster]

Thanks Butcher for reply your words reaffirms what I have been thinking ...thanks again