White crystals all around aqua regia

[Yggdrasil]

Oh wow guess I shouldn’t dare tell my story then. Mine is worse like way worse. Albert Einsteins probably rolling in his grave after what I did . It’s pretty pathetic actually

Welcome.
If you learned something it was not a waste.

Here are some study material:

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/

 

[Martijn]

Oh wow guess I shouldn’t dare tell my story then. Mine is worse like way worse. Albert Einsteins probably rolling in his grave after what I did . It’s pretty pathetic actually

We have all been there to some extent. Sharing your mistakes shows character and we can learn from it imo.
I also made a mistake of jumping in without proper knowledge and research, as You-Tube does not really warn you enough for it, except the disclaimer: Do not try this at home!!! Toxic!! LIKE!! SUBSRCIBE!! SHARE!! that's what it's about. Not teaching. Well, most of them at least.
That's when you end up here and can start learning properly. take you time! Gold does not go anywhere. Your health will.

Martijn.

 

[Saddiq NG]

I did my first gold recovery from trimmed clean ram fingers 2 days ago
But i think i failed
I directly put the fingers in aqua regia made od 800 ml hcl and 300 ml nitric acid, i know thats too much nitric but i was confused, any ways the fingers wear clear and every thing seemed fine and the color of the solution was dark greenI then filtered the solution to get rid of any wood and remenants and started adding urea to neutralize the nitric, i noticed a white thick layer on top of the solution after adding last spoon of urea, is it due to excess urea? Giving that urea was added gradually untill reaction with nitric was stopped
Then i added about 8 grams of smb to the solution because i was expecting about 4 grams of gold
and i directly noticed a white thick layer at the bottom of the flask and to be honest i dont know if it was precipitated before or after or during the smb addition
, i left the solution and came back after 24 hours
I noticed like white big crystals all around the solution and white powder at the bottom of the flask
i did the following moved the liquid into another flask and started heating it with adding some hcl to the solution, every thing dissolved and white crystals has disappeared and solution went dark green again, i used smb to precipitate again, same thing has happened, white crystals has formed all around the solution and white powder at the bottom of the flask, i did several study in this forum but mistakes still happens
can u answer these question pls
what the mistakes i have done?
What are these white crystals that spread all around the solution and why they appeared?
What is the precipitated white powder at the bottom and why it appeared?
how to fix such a problem to get my gold ?
Thanks every one

When I was new to gold refining and recovery I once bought SMB from a chemical store only to find out that it was not SMB at all. I also bought SMB once upon a time and thought it was SMB, it always precipitate out my gold with some Lead even if the gold was pure.
1. So my question to you is are you even using the real SMB at all, does it smell like sulfur? There are other chemicals like sodium sulfate and sodium bisulfate which will not precipitate your gold but leave you with white powder or crystals.
2. Another experience I had is to never depend on one precipitant in gold recovery. So do you have alternative like Ferrous sulphate (FeSO4). I highly recommend you get this one.

Anyway if it was me that got into this mess I will filter the solution, separating the residue from the solution.
Then I will test the solution with stannous chloride or copper bar to see if the gold is still dissolved in the solution.
If the test is positive, then I will use a different precipitation method like Ferrous sulphate or cementation.
If the test is negative, I will redissolve the residue I filtered again in aqua regia and this time the nitric acid I will use will not me more than 5ml. Then I will precipitate the gold still not with SMB but with preferably Ferrous Sulphate.

I hope this will help. I hope you will find a way out of this mess

 

[Yggdrasil]

When I was new to gold refining and recovery I once bought SMB from a chemical store only to find out that it was not SMB at all. I also bought SMB once upon a time and thought it was SMB, it always precipitate out my gold with some Lead even if the gold was pure.
1. So my question to you is are you even using the real SMB at all, does it smell like sulfur? There are other chemicals like sodium sulfate and sodium bisulfate which will not precipitate your gold but leave you with white powder or crystals.
2. Another experience I had is to never depend on one precipitant in gold recovery. So do you have alternative like Ferrous sulphate (FeSO4). I highly recommend you get this one.

Anyway if it was me that got into this mess I will filter the solution, separating the residue from the solution.
Then I will test the solution with stannous chloride or copper bar to see if the gold is still dissolved in the solution.
If the test is positive, then I will use a different precipitation method like Ferrous sulphate or cementation.
If the test is negative, I will redissolve the residue I filtered again in aqua regia and this time the nitric acid I will use will not me more than 5ml. Then I will precipitate the gold still not with SMB but with preferably Ferrous Sulphate.

I hope this will help. I hope you will find a way out of this mess

Most if not all Sulfite works and no Sulfates work.
The mechanism is SO₂ so it will give off a sulforous smell if it works.