The usual "Hello!"

[TheDoode]

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum, but not inexperienced in the general topic.

I'm doing some hobby scrapping and have been collecting gold rich stuff for years. My company is okay with me browsing through the trash, picking up whatever I like. So I basicly pick the cherries.

I follow some YT channels on the topic and I am professionally experienced in engineering and got a mid level understanding of chemistry. I am a big fan of "wasteless" processes, usually having an electrowinning step involved. I try to recover as much of the reactants as possible. For environmental AND economic reasons.

So much for now! Happy gold hunting!

 

[4metals]

I follow some YT channels on the topic and I am professionally experienced in engineering and got a mid level understanding of chemistry.

Welcome to the forum, I am sure you will shortly receive a suggested reading list to help you.

As for You Tube, there are some decent video's on refining but a lot are questionable at best. If you have doubts please post a link to the video that has your attention and we can view it and comment.

Good luck gold hunting.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum, but not inexperienced in the general topic.

I'm doing some hobby scrapping and have been collecting gold rich stuff for years. My company is okay with me browsing through the trash, picking up whatever I like. So I basicly pick the cherries.

I follow some YT channels on the topic and I am professionally experienced in engineering and got a mid level understanding of chemistry. I am a big fan of "wasteless" processes, usually having an electrowinning step involved. I try to recover as much of the reactants as possible. For environmental AND economic reasons.

So much for now! Happy gold hunting!

Welcome to us.
So here is the list as requested

We ask our new members to do 3 things.
1. Read C.M. Hokes book on refining jewelers scrap, it gives an easy introduction to the most important chemistry regarding refining.
It is free here on the forum: https://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=19798
2. Then read the safety section of the forum: https://goldrefiningforum.com/forums/safety.47/
3. And then read about "Dealing with waste" in the forum: https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/dealing-with-waste.10539/

Suggested reading:
https://goldrefiningforum.com/forums/the-library.101/
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/when-in-doubt-cement-it-out.30236/
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threa...le-read-this-before-you-post-about-ore.33333/


Forum rules is here.
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/gold-refining-forum-rules.31182/

 

[4metals]

I basicly pick the cherries.

I forgot to ask, generally what type of scrap are you cherry picking?

 

[TheDoode]

... but a lot are questionable at best.

I agree. I mixed my procedures in a combination of "nurd rage", "successful engineer", "sreetips" and a couple of others. I also have a paper copy of Hokes book. I haven't read it completely, but I find it a little wasteful sometimes. Okay for a commercial setup I guess.

I have my processes well dialed in, when there is not much metal contamination below copper on the reactivity scale. I could use some improvement when there are large amounts of iron and zinc. I get to the valuables, but I lose reactants.

What type of scrap:
From the typical e-waste like Rams, HDD boards, gold fingers of expansion cards, gold corner BGAs. But also specialized electronics (some aerospace stuff), gold plated pieces, high quality connectors with solid gold or silver plating, But also some valuable production scraps that have found their way into the wrong bin.

 

[4metals]

I haven't read it completely,

Hoke wrote her book back in the day when e-waste wasn't even heard of. She was directing her teachings to a jewelry manufacturing crowd. But her familiarity tests are worth the effort because at some point, you will generate either foils or acids saturated with base metals that the general chemistry methods in her book will build a good foundation.

Sreetips video's are good, he is a member here and learned a lot of what he knows on this very forum. Nurd rage makes good video's but listening to his voice makes me feel like I'm involved in a CIA interrogation. Never heard of successful engineer.

 

[TheDoode]

Never heard of successful engineer.

I got the mechanical part (how to liberate the gold from stuff to make them chemically accessible) of the processes and the copper electrowinning from his videos. Not the least insightful of the ones that I named in my opinion.

I don't like the sulfuric acid stripping cell, working with my hands and face close to hot acid. So I needed something else to process plated pins. Melting it all into anodes and "electrowin" the copper. But the "by"product is the silver and gold I'm actually after. This uses just very little acids, when the base metal is mostly copper. But again, when it is brass with a lot of zinc or other highly reactive base metals... the elegance of the "waste free" process breaks down.

 

[4metals]

Unfortunately my experience is not in small scale dismantling of cherry picked circuits and parts. My experience is from large commercial processing. We have, in the library, sections on smelting and electrolytic copper which have been employed here by members successfully but things like acid peroxide and off the shelf supply methods of refining like peroxide and such are out of my wheelhouse.

Click on the library thread in my signature line below where a lot of these methods are discussed. Some of those threads may be useful to you.

 

[TheDoode]

I'm already in the library picking stuff.

I'm very sure commercial and large scale industrial methods are vastly different than my hobbyist approach. My priorities are different.
1. Fun
2. Not killing myself
3. Not poisoning anybody
4. and then... nice if it throws a profit. Which is smaller than most people think.

Nitric acid is highly regulated in the EU. There are ways to get it. So there is no security in these regulations. But it is a bit of hassle. So recovering >90% of it just makes economic sense to me.

 

[4metals]

In an effort to make things easier to find on the forum we have begun to experiment with making searches to select topics bring up only threads that the moderators feel are worthy. If you go to the following link and select poor mans nitric 3 threads about making nitric may help you get started.

https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/moderator-curated-thread-searches.34576/

 

[4metals]

and then... nice if it throws a profit. Which is smaller than most people think.

Start slow, follow some building plans found on the forum to make a hood and possibly a fume scrubber, and even a small melt furnace for those first gold buttons.

Most members will agree when you convert what was scrapped into a valuable gold button that you can touch and feel, you will be hooked. And a $2300 per ounce gold price will help set the hook!