oro-del-sur
Active member
We are a small mining operation in Costa Rica and are testing the Eco-Goldex product to leach whole ores and concentrates. The use of cyanide is strictly prohibited here so we are grateful to have access to a commercial leach product that has no restrictions. The testing so far in spite of our limited skills and lack of access to first world lab services has been positive. Recovery of small amounts of Au in the samples is by activated carbon, then dry, crush and smelt the carbon with some litharge and cupel in a small electric furnace.
This week we are leaching a 150 liter batch of concentrates with an estimated 50-60 grams of gold but I haven’t figured out the most practical method to process a few kilos of activated carbon. I've ashed 50g of carbon in the small electric furnace but ashing a few kilos in the open is tricky from what I can see. We don't yet have enough knowledge to set up and operate a stripper. So I am thinking maybe the SSN leach might strip the carbon. I’ve worked with it a bit in the past. It's very aggressive and theoretically would allow for precipitation with zinc or SMB which I have on hand. AR might be an option but HCL is restricted for public sale. Nitric however is available without restriction.
Does anyone have experience with stripping activated carbon with SSN?
Thank you!
This week we are leaching a 150 liter batch of concentrates with an estimated 50-60 grams of gold but I haven’t figured out the most practical method to process a few kilos of activated carbon. I've ashed 50g of carbon in the small electric furnace but ashing a few kilos in the open is tricky from what I can see. We don't yet have enough knowledge to set up and operate a stripper. So I am thinking maybe the SSN leach might strip the carbon. I’ve worked with it a bit in the past. It's very aggressive and theoretically would allow for precipitation with zinc or SMB which I have on hand. AR might be an option but HCL is restricted for public sale. Nitric however is available without restriction.
Does anyone have experience with stripping activated carbon with SSN?
Thank you!