thoughts on gold & other precious metal recovery

[nickvc]

Thanks GSP . I did think the Zn would be the pain if i could find an alternative to cyanide i think it would be of much more interest to the rest of the members of the forum,i have used it for years and as yet it hasnt been banned here :shock: controlled but not banned.As this is just an experiment time isnt critical and the Au is just an accumulation over time so another month or two makes no odds so im happy to wait till your research is done and then try again. Im wondering if a porous membrane might be the way forward if the copper can be separated from the rest the jobs nearly there :roll:

 

[goldsilverpro]

Sure, a membrane will work. In a 10-15% sulfuric, it will dissolve the Cu and Zn, but not the Au and Ag. The cathode will be isolated from the solution, so nothing will plate out and you wouldn't have to worry about that.

 

[nickvc]

Right starting again same bar as an annode but this time trying the porous membrane in the hope it controls the zinc better,the membrane is the outer part of an induction furnace pot ie graphite liner removed,its about 5 inches by 9 and its in a plastic bucket with sulphuric and copper,i managed to scrounge some titanium wire which i,ve coiled roughly to hold the bar and placed a piece of copper in the bucket as the cathode,going to run this for several days and see what happens :roll: Sorry for not putting my furnace pictures up but i cant seem to manage it as i said not good with technology,need to borrow a kid of someone they would do it in minites :lol:

 

[g_axelsson]

Any progress?

I think this is an interesting idea with a lot of potential if we can get the bugs out of the system.
One thing I think could form a problem is to use an electrical conductive membrane as graphite. It would short out the passage of hydrogen ions through the barrier and start plate out copper on the surface. I also would expect that the graphite would break down on the surface and wear off.

I would try this with a nonconductive porous barrier. As soon as I get some free time... any decade now.

:mrgreen:

/Göran