Silver

xelexo
Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Gold Refining Forum

Help Support Gold Refining Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Johnduda1 said:
Can someone tell me if this works and how?
Click to expand...
In theory, i guess yes, but to plug a hole to hold back hot pressurized lye, strong enought to shatter an ore body is not the safest method i can think of. Blasting with dynamite may be way safer.

We don't taste our chemical anymore these days. Times have changed. Not always for the better, but in this case I think NO!! Don't try it.

I works with expansion and pressure. Like freezing water in a crack in a rock to split it.

How it works: Adding water to lye heats it up. Hot things expand. Pressure breaks rock. Lye may also dissilve some ores or rock types.

Water does so just under freezing point.
There is expanding stuff out there to break rocks open, without a need to seal the hole.
 
Large stone blocks used to be cut by pouring water in notch’s and waiting for winter to freeze the water. As the water froze it expanded and cracked or broke the rock. Mostly limestone and marble for statues and very large building blocks. Sooo… the limestone thing might work, but it may not be anywhere near efficient or effective enough to be worthwhile.

Limestone dust can be added to concrete to speed up the drying process. It is used in winter to allow the concrete to set and dry before it freezes. Getting the ratios right is extremely important as to much will weaken the concrete and to little will allow to freeze and not setup correctly. The whole concept is based on the extra lime in the mix generates heat speeding up the dry time. If confined it could potentially cause steam and an explosion if confined tightly.
 
Last edited:
Martijn said:
In theory, i guess yes, but to plug a hole to hold back hot pressurized lye, strong enought to shatter an ore body is not the safest method i can think of. Blasting with dynamite may be way safer.

We don't taste our chemical anymore these days. Times have changed. Not always for the better, but in this case I think NO!! Don't try it.

I works with expansion and pressure. Like freezing water in a crack in a rock to split it.

How it works: Adding water to lye heats it up. Hot things expand. Pressure breaks rock. Lye may also dissilve some ores or rock types.

Water does so just under freezing point.
There is expanding stuff out there to break rocks open, without a need to seal the hole.
Click to expand...
Does lime stone contain lye?
 
But lime is very basic and creates heat and high steam pressure, so im not sure if this option is any different in dangers. pH might be 11 in stead of 14, but still hot pressurized basic goo.
 
Johnduda1 said:
Can someone tell me if this works and how?
Click to expand...
Your thread started with how to test for Silver, Then jumped to does this work and how? Hopefully you have the field test down for Ag.
Yes, Lime does work to crack rocks, but it has to be in the correct form. What works best is a high carbonate limestone to start with. Sea shells will work really well also. What you are starting with is the chemical composition of CaO3 (calcium carbonate ). What you will need to do is "calcine" the material. This is done in a multitude of ways, but essentially you will need to heat the material to 1800 F. for around 24 hours. This will drive off CO2, leaving you with CaO. This stuff is very reactive, giving off an exothermic reaction, which will boil the water added to it in no time at all. The first time I calcined some Limestone, I mixed it in a beaker, being the mad scientist that I am. Big mistake. The beaker blew apart in my hand, not too violently, but enough that I was like WTF, thought this stuff took a while to react. To slow down the reaction, sodium carbonate is added in small amounts, like 2 grams per kilogram. This will give enough time to pour into the borehole immediately, with no dicking around. A free face will benefit you immensely, as the expansive force inside the borehole must over come the tensile strength of whatever you put it into. This is why you may need to drill several holes if in really confining conditions. There are a bunch of manufactures of " Expansive Grout " on the market. Cheaper to buy theirs, than to make your own, trust me, even though their product is fairly expensive. I just wanted to see if I could make my own expansive grout. It is hard to find CaO, unhydrated, due to its exothermic and caustic properties.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top