Thiosulfate leach

[budzag]

What did you do to try and make it cement out to have residue in the pictures?

Hi there, I just put a piece of aluminum and left it over night.. In the morning I got all that sludge stuff floating around and on the bottom. I managed to gather it all together in the corner. Can anyone tell if this looks like gold as it still floats around with the liquid a bit would be thinking it should be more heavy. But maybe it is sponge gold so might just be really light?

 

[budzag]

Hi there, I just put a piece of aluminum and left it over night.. In the morning I got all that sludge stuff floating around and on the bottom. I managed to gather it all together in the corner. Can anyone tell if this looks like gold as it still floats around with the liquid a bit would be thinking it should be more heavy. But maybe it is sponge gold so might just be really light?

Ha, I tried sucking it with that little liquid and squirt onto a small cupel but the liquid just sucked straight into the cupel and the sponge stuff seems to have sucked in as well maybe I shouldn't have been so impatient and just let it completely dry. I would think if it was gold powder it would not suck into the cupel with the water. But maybe the powder was so fine? Not sure i will try again with a bigger batch an let it dry. Then post results

 

[Yggdrasil]

Ha, I tried sucking it with that little liquid and squirt onto a small cupel but the liquid just sucked straight into the cupel and the sponge stuff seems to have sucked in as well maybe I shouldn't have been so impatient and just let it completely dry. I would think if it was gold powder it would not suck into the cupel with the water. But maybe the powder was so fine? Not sure i will try again with a bigger batch an let it dry. Then post results

If it is floaty it is not Gold.
Have you tried to acidify it and test it with Stannous?

 

[budzag]

If it is floaty it is not Gold.
Have you tried to acidify it and test it with Stannous?

Hi there,
No I haven't tried to add any acid or done any Stannous test at any part of this process. So yea I guess there is no evidence until a proper procedure has been done. Do they sell Stannous solution or does it need to be made?
Thanks

 

[Yggdrasil]

Hi there,
No I haven't tried to add any acid or done any Stannous test at any part of this process. So yea I guess there is no evidence until a proper procedure has been done. Do they sell Stannous solution or does it need to be made?
Thanks

Dissolve some Tin in HCl.
Stannous is our eyes in refining.

 

[budzag]

Dissolve some Tin in HCl.
Stannous is our eyes in refining.

Ok thanks, will give it a shot how much acid to tin ratio? Would think the tin would dissolve instantly into the acid solution so would be pretty much done instant. Thanks

 

[budzag]

Ok thanks, will give it a shot how much acid to tin ratio? Would think the tin would dissolve instantly into the acid solution so would be pretty much done instant. Thanks

Thanks i will have a search for the correct ratio

 

[4metals]

Have you considered using the electrolytic recovery systems made for CLS leaches and sold by Action Mining Services in Montana? Check their website and download a catalog for details on their leaches (one of which I believe is a thiosulfate leach) and their recovery systems.

 

[budzag]

Have you considered using the electrolytic recovery systems made for CLS leaches and sold by Action Mining Services in Montana? Check their website and download a catalog for details on their leaches (one of which I believe is a thiosulfate leach) and their recovery systems.

Thanks, will have a look

 

[budzag]

You should be able to cement the gold out of solution using a piece of copper and ion exchange. I have done this with thiosulphate and it worked. Just add some generic cleaning ammonia to raise the ph to around 10 hang a copper sheet in the solution, stir or aerate. Or electrowinn.

Hi mate, instead of using Ammonia. Could I not just desovle more thiosulfate crystals into the concentrate and not dilute the mixture that should make the solution more acidic would it not?
This is just a thought

 

[budzag]

How would I also know the Ph level is there some test I can perform?

Hi, also how much ammonia would I add say I have 200mL of solution would I just add say 20mL an keep checking the Ph level till it reaches 10 on the scale?

 

[Yggdrasil]

Hi, also how much ammonia would I add say I have 200mL of solution would I just add say 20mL an keep checking the Ph level till it reaches 10 on the scale?

Unless you know all the properties of said solution it is hard to say.
Adding in small quantities until you reach the target or around there.
For cementing any sufficiently high pH will do 10-14.
Maybe 9.5 will do as well.

So how is your studies going?

 

[budzag]

Unless you know all the properties of said solution it is hard to say.
Adding in small quantities until you reach the target or around there.
For cementing any sufficiently high pH will do 10-14.
Maybe 9.5 will do as well.

So how is your studies going?

Awesome, thanks for clearing that up. Will let you know in a few days the results

 

[Fettigconstruction1@gmail]

Hi mate, instead of using Ammonia. Could I not just desovle more thiosulfate crystals into the concentrate and not dilute the mixture that should make the solution more acidic would it not?
This is just a thought

Thio is a basic solution. Not acidic. Ammonia is used to get to a ph of around 10 which is the optimal ph for the best gold recovery. You can use lye but then it puts off h2s gas. There are a lot of articles on thio if you Google it. I have read several hours on different experiments. Some that work and some that don't. I believe heat is important.

 

[budzag]

Thio is a basic solution. Not acidic. Ammonia is used to get to a ph of around 10 which is the optimal ph for the best gold recovery. You can use lye but then it puts off h2s gas. There are a lot of articles on thio if you Google it. I have read several hours on different experiments. Some that work and some that don't. I believe heat is important.

Hi mate, thanks for clearing that up. Do u know if the ammonia needs to be mixed in with the thiosulfate from the start. Or could I leave the thosulfate leaching for a couple weeks then just add a little ammonia at the end to bring up the ph when I'm ready to try recover the gold from solution. Then I can just leave a copper plate in the mix overnight to cement the gold out.
Cheer

 

[Fettigconstruction1@gmail]

Hi mate, thanks for clearing that up. Do u know if the ammonia needs to be mixed in with the thiosulfate from the start. Or could I leave the thosulfate leaching for a couple weeks then just add a little ammonia at the end to bring up the ph when I'm ready to try recover the gold from solution. Then I can just leave a copper plate in the mix overnight to cement the gold out.
Cheer

Supposedly gold will dissolve with thio alone. Have not tried that. Leave it for a week and do a stannous chloride test of the solution. If there is gold, filter it to a clean solution and then put copper in to cement the gold out.

 

[Fettigconstruction1@gmail]

Hi mate, thanks for clearing that up. Do u know if the ammonia needs to be mixed in with the thiosulfate from the start. Or could I leave the thosulfate leaching for a couple weeks then just add a little ammonia at the end to bring up the ph when I'm ready to try recover the gold from solution. Then I can just leave a copper plate in the mix overnight to cement the gold out.
Cheer

Supposedly gold will dissolve with thio alone. Have not tried that. Leave it for a week and do a stannous chloride test of the solution. If there is gold, filter it to a clean solution and then put copper in to cement the fold out.

 

[Fettigconstruction1@gmail]

Also there is another chemical usually used. Copper sulfate as an electrolyte.

 

[budzag]

Supposedly gold will dissolve with thio alone. Have not tried that. Leave it for a week and do a stannous chloride test of the solution. If there is gold, filter it to a clean solution and then put copper in to cement the gold out.

Cheers, I have the second batch in now its been about 2 weeks. The colour of solution does change last time I filtered after 2 weeks you can see a distinctive yellow hue colour but I havnt done any test as I havnt got stannous chloride. I did try electrowinning of the solution with 2 aluminum plates and a small 9v battery and that's when all that yellow brown sludge sunk to the bottom but It was also semi floating. The colour of the solution changed to clear after that. So not sure what that stuff was maybe it was gold salts or something that hadn't been fully converted to metal? That's just my theory haha

 

[budzag]

Cheers, I have the second batch in now its been about 2 weeks. The colour of solution does change last time I filtered after 2 weeks you can see a distinctive yellow hue colour but I havnt done any test as I havnt got stannous chloride. I did try electrowinning of the solution with 2 aluminum plates and a small 9v battery and that's when all that yellow brown sludge sunk to the bottom but It was also semi floating. The colour of the solution changed to clear after that. So not sure what that stuff was maybe it was gold salts or something that hadn't been fully converted to metal? That's just my theory haha

I do have copper sulfate but I didn't want to complicate the mix as was trying to keep as clean as possible.