tracing historic gold refinement processes

[midnightvisions]

Hello,

First post, new to this forum. I have been researching gold refinement processes from the middle ages up until the 1700's and I have found a few processes or procedures that I can't understand what they were meant to do. I have the ingredients translated from alchemy tables, which I believe are accurate, but punching these ingredients into google does not return what the process was, or ingredients suppose to do. Is there anybody on this forum that has experience in past refinement processes or procedures?

Thanks

 

[Lou]

Post 'em up and we'll try and figure 'em out!

 

[midnightvisions]

I do not know who wrote these processes down, but the clues lead to a Spanish alchemist roughly between the years 1670 and 1700. There may be errors, but so far most of the formulas have been easy to identify and have turned out to represent a known process with something to do with gold refinement.

I'll give an example first of what I'm working with.

a) This is a process for making red lead pigment for adding to gold.
Heat - Urine - Gold Litharge.
Urine was a source of Nitrogen and Potassium. The Urine was heated until it became white Phosphorus, then heated higher until it became red Phosphorus which does not react with air. That is mixed with the lead in the Gold Litharge (which is lead and gold mixed.) The user then heats this mixture until all the red is gone from the batch and the final result is sufficiently pure gold. This technique for heating urine was invented in 1669.

b) I believe this is a process for Cupronickle, a corrosion resistance treatment for coins.
The alchemy symbols translate into Sand/Silica - Arsenic - Nickel - Heat.

c) This process I think is adding silver to gold, but I'm not sure why.
Cerrussite/Lead Oxide - Arsenic - Silver - Gold Litharge - Urine.

d) This may be a fluxing process, but not sure. I can't find any other uses for tallow to be added.
Salt - Gold Litharge - Heat - Tallow - Urine - Gold

e) This I have no idea.
Cerussite/White lead - Heat - Saltpeter - Sulfuric Acid - Arsenic - Urine

f) This one I don't know, and also can't find a translation for the first symbol, but its just a single dot.
Unknown - Saltpeter - Arsenic or nickel


If anybody recognizes what these processes do or may accomplish, please let me know.

Thanks

 

[Justincase]

The main use of urine in Europe was for saltpeter production.
The entire Arm's industry was dependent for some time on the large scale collection of the liquid(preferably from places like Inn's and Abby's where Alcohol consumption was higher than average.)
It was so valuable that the term "Taking the Urine"(forgive the replacement of the correct colloquialism with a tamer version to save the more pious reader offense.) entered into the national vocabulary.
So It look's to me as if the Urine was used as an oxidizing Flux.The other constituent's would all be soluble salt's as well which would likely do similar job's
Not sure I would use it my self unless I was realty stuck.

 

[Geo]

Urine contains ammonia. Saltpeter is potassium nitrate. If they had saltpeter, there's no need to use urine to make a nitrate. Ammonia will dissolve many metal oxides and we use it today as a final wash/rinse in refining. As far as I know, there is no such thing as gold litharge. Litharge is lead oxide (PbO) and is used in cupellation. Cupellation was a refining process as well as fire assay. It is used today in fire assays. Tallow could have been used as a source of carbon. As carbon decomposes and is oxidized, is works as a reductant for other oxides. Cerussite is lead carbonate and could have been added with the litharge for the same purpose. Arsenic in alchemy may have come about because of it's yellow color. It's name is from a Persian word meaning yellow or "gold colored". It has been used since the bronze age as a hardener in bronze tools and weapons.

 

[midnightvisions]

another symbol for hartshorn is I believe a source for ammonia, and bone ash is used for some lead absorption. golf litharge is gold mixed with a red lead pigment.

 

[macfixer01]

Urine contains ammonia. Saltpeter is potassium nitrate. If they had saltpeter, there's no need to use urine to make a nitrate. Ammonia will dissolve many metal oxides and we use it today as a final wash/rinse in refining. As far as I know, there is no such thing as gold litharge. Litharge is lead oxide (PbO) and is used in cupellation. Cupellation was a refining process as well as fire assay. It is used today in fire assays. Tallow could have been used as a source of carbon. As carbon decomposes and is oxidized, is works as a reductant for other oxides. Cerussite is lead carbonate and could have been added with the litharge for the same purpose. Arsenic in alchemy may have come about because of it's yellow color. It's name is from a Persian word meaning yellow or "gold colored". It has been used since the bronze age as a hardener in bronze tools and weapons.

In the middle ages they added urine to soil for the nitrogen fixing bacteria to eventually turn into nitrates over time. That way they weren't totally reliant on finding natural sources of saltpeter which may not always be available locally. The job of the saltpeter maker and also the charcoal maker were both actually quite important throughout history.

 

[Justincase]

Urine contains ammonia. Saltpeter is potassium nitrate. If they had saltpeter, there's no need to use urine to make a nitrate. Ammonia will dissolve many metal oxides and we use it today as a final wash/rinse in refining. As far as I know, there is no such thing as gold litharge. Litharge is lead oxide (PbO) and is used in cupellation. Cupellation was a refining process as well as fire assay. It is used today in fire assays. Tallow could have been used as a source of carbon. As carbon decomposes and is oxidized, is works as a reductant for other oxides. Cerussite is lead carbonate and could have been added with the litharge for the same purpose. Arsenic in alchemy may have come about because of it's yellow color. It's name is from a Persian word meaning yellow or "gold colored". It has been used since the bronze age as a hardener in bronze tools and weapons.

In the middle ages they added urine to soil for the nitrogen fixing bacteria to eventually turn into nitrates over time. That way they weren't totally reliant on finding natural sources of saltpeter which may not always be available locally. The job of the saltpeter maker and also the charcoal maker were both actually quite important throughout history.

LeConte, Joseph, came up with one of the most effective recipes in the 1800's lot's of wee until the last two week's of processing.

http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/lecontesalt/leconte.html