I can't find the answer and still need help..I have a chemical cocktail about five gallons worth. It contains 1 1/4gallon muratic acid a whole lot of urea and alot of precipitant and about 20 grams of gold jewelry. It started as agua regia and I've never got it to precipitate once. Atmost there was a white cloudy mud at the bottom, but never brown mud. The liquid has been emerald green and then I added more urea and precipitant and filtered it and now its brownish black dark colored liquid. The smells still real toxic and strong, but not like rotten eggs. I've tested for gold content with amonia and it turns the little drip spot on the paper towel purple/black color. What should I do and where did I go wrong? Thanks! John
Still Lost looking for more help/
- Thread starter arakakijd
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John,
Welcome to the forum.
I could not help but notice that you became a member less than an hour and a half before your first post. Please do a bit of reading. A good place to start is Hoke's book http://tinyurl.com/mfnyhs
You have an absolutely huge solution for 20 grams of karat gold. After reading a bit of Hoke, please give us some further details as to how you got to this point. It is hard to advise you until you have a bit of an understanding of the basic refining of karat gold and greater detail as to what you have already done.
Welcome to the forum.
I could not help but notice that you became a member less than an hour and a half before your first post. Please do a bit of reading. A good place to start is Hoke's book http://tinyurl.com/mfnyhs
You have an absolutely huge solution for 20 grams of karat gold. After reading a bit of Hoke, please give us some further details as to how you got to this point. It is hard to advise you until you have a bit of an understanding of the basic refining of karat gold and greater detail as to what you have already done.
pgm
Well-known member
Oz said:
you know this post reminds me how i started out with the same problem.....but i read hoke and a bit of direction and a camera....i got through.....the magic trick looks easy when you know how it is done......
but you have to spend time search and read and it is all here......
A
Anonymous
Guest
That is all too true.I can't help but remember when I started.I wasted about 6 ounces of gold from a batch of AR that I ran.I had about 40 lbs of fingers from Allen Avionics boards from the air force.At $1.25 /lb we received about $3000 just for the boards and they were quite thin and had fingers on 3 sides(I still have pictures of the boards and the fingers.I ran a pound of them in AP and ended up with 5.5gr of 24k.I ran the rest of them in 5 gallon buckets with AR with too much NaNo3 and didn't neutralize it enough,a couple of weeks later,it was sold,with a bunch of other stuff, as number 1 copper for a whopping $3 a pound.pgm said:
I just knew I had done something wrong in the first place and the gold had come from some place else.
A year later we recieved another load of the same boards(have pictures of those also)and well let's just say I was not thrilled when I saw how much gold I recovered from the second batch.
I look at processing now and say "how could anyone screw this up?".......then I look back a few years and remember how......I tried to dive in head first.
A good honest post Mic.
Perhaps if more of the noobies read it they would understand we aren't trying to be smart when we advise them to read and read before they start processing.
Perhaps if more of the noobies read it they would understand we aren't trying to be smart when we advise them to read and read before they start processing.
I wanted to thank you all for the warm welcome and the reference help..I wanted to say that I'm willing to read, listen, and watch as much as I can because through trial and error , I can't afford the error part especially these days when the economy is twisting most of us dry. I wanted to also reply to what Mic wrote and say that it takes a real person to admit it when he's made mistakes and they are the ones that have the rookies attention because they feel as though they can relate in some way..The experts scare the rookie from raising their hand to ask a question for the simple reason that they will be belittled or treated like an idiot..Anyways let's talk gold..I have took the advice of one person who told me to evaporate the orange colored mixture down to 1/4 of what it started as. And then ad HCI till the level has doubled and do this three times and the last time instead of HCI add H2o and evap once again. That's where I'm at right now. Also I have read HOKE"S and found it very helpfull.. And all of you are absolutely right that is the best place to start! It will save you money and time!
I'm going to see what happens and will let you guys know the outcome.
I'm going to see what happens and will let you guys know the outcome.
I'm pleased your reading the necessary information as this will give you a better understanding of what exactly is happening or what has happened.
I don't consider myself an expert but can I think say on behalf of all that you might consider to be one that no offense is been given to rookies but sound advice....read and read and understand the basics before even trying to refine anything and you will have the knowledge to avoid the problems you and many others experience when starting blind. Look on your first trial as a good lesson and benefit from what you learn to get back on the right track. Be patient and follow the processes outlined in Hoke and the forum handbooks and visit lasersteves site and you will be in a position to recover your gold and refine just about every type of scrap available.
I'm sure your first button won't be far away and that will make all your hard work worthwhile.
I don't consider myself an expert but can I think say on behalf of all that you might consider to be one that no offense is been given to rookies but sound advice....read and read and understand the basics before even trying to refine anything and you will have the knowledge to avoid the problems you and many others experience when starting blind. Look on your first trial as a good lesson and benefit from what you learn to get back on the right track. Be patient and follow the processes outlined in Hoke and the forum handbooks and visit lasersteves site and you will be in a position to recover your gold and refine just about every type of scrap available.
I'm sure your first button won't be far away and that will make all your hard work worthwhile.
arakakijd, I am no expert and have made most all the mistakes (and still plenty more will I make) so now I can speak of what not to do, and with a little bit of experience.
The Experts here have had their fair share of mistakes they learned from, but they also worked very hard to learn reading almost anything they could researched, asked dumb questions (without fear), (how else could they learn they were on the wrong track), not one of them will make you feel like a fool for asking a dumb question, they will only give advice to try to lead you in the correct direction, admittedly we may feel like a fool because of their answer but that was not their intent, only our response to the answer, the members who have done this know how confusing it is at the beginning, they know also to answer a question and get you out of a bind without you learning does not help you it only gets you out of that problem so you will just go on to the next problem and make more mistakes, you should count these times when these well informed forum members give you advice (even if you feel like a fool ) as helpful and look seriously into taking their advice, their intent is to help you, and teach you how to refine gold and maybe make a profit, they spend their time and are dedicated to helping you, you should humble your pride, ask questions after studying and say thanks.
If all else fails cement with copper and study, do not fear to ask questions.
study some then ask questions, (the forum is here to help, but this does not mean you do not have to do your part)most of your questions will be answered by you saving you many mistakes.
study and soon you also will be Quote an Expert and tell someone to read Hokes book to help them learn, and get their gold from the brew they made of acids and metals they did not understand.
Posted by another forum fool Richard
The Experts here have had their fair share of mistakes they learned from, but they also worked very hard to learn reading almost anything they could researched, asked dumb questions (without fear), (how else could they learn they were on the wrong track), not one of them will make you feel like a fool for asking a dumb question, they will only give advice to try to lead you in the correct direction, admittedly we may feel like a fool because of their answer but that was not their intent, only our response to the answer, the members who have done this know how confusing it is at the beginning, they know also to answer a question and get you out of a bind without you learning does not help you it only gets you out of that problem so you will just go on to the next problem and make more mistakes, you should count these times when these well informed forum members give you advice (even if you feel like a fool ) as helpful and look seriously into taking their advice, their intent is to help you, and teach you how to refine gold and maybe make a profit, they spend their time and are dedicated to helping you, you should humble your pride, ask questions after studying and say thanks.
If all else fails cement with copper and study, do not fear to ask questions.
study some then ask questions, (the forum is here to help, but this does not mean you do not have to do your part)most of your questions will be answered by you saving you many mistakes.
study and soon you also will be Quote an Expert and tell someone to read Hokes book to help them learn, and get their gold from the brew they made of acids and metals they did not understand.
Posted by another forum fool Richard
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2007
- Messages
- 8,360
Yes, that's true---but only because they behave like idiots. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, pretty fair chance it's a duck. Please do not judge those of us that spend hours on this forum ---all with no hope of making a dime. You are being handed a gift---the least you can do is show gratitude and cooperate appropriately.arakakijd said:
Ok, that being said, lets go back to your accusation of experts belittling those that ask questions. I'm going to make this real easy. If you owned a piano, would you expect that you could play without learning first? How about a guitar? Just pick it up and sound like Charlie Bird?
I don't think so-----yet readers often have all the time in the world to ask stupid questions, questions that would not even exist if they'd use due process and try to learn something about refining instead of jumping in with both feet, not having the slightest clue about what they're doing, or why. That, to me, sounds like something an idiot would do. YMMV.
Before readers touch refining, they should have read Hoke's book, and understand the concept. They also should have become familiar with testing procedures. They should have stannous chloride at their disposal, and understand what the color reactions mean. People that don't do these things end up in a state of confusion, then they want someone to bail them out. We don't work that way around here. We expect that those with an interest will do their part in trying to learn. If that's too much to ask, they deserve any and all abuse they may sustain by wasting the time of people that have answered fundamental questions time and again, when the slightest bit of effort on behalf of the reader would have prevented the question from being asked.
I'm at a loss to understand why you'd evaporate three times, then add water and evaporate yet again. In a mess such as you created, the wise decision would be to cement the values with copper and start over. Any effort you expend otherwise is just going to lead to more frustration. Be chary of those from which you seek advice. Some people just can't help providing guidance when they have no sense of direction themselves.
Harold
