Zinc... I give up..

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AuMINIMayhem

AuMINIMayhem

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
491
Location
New Hampshire and Maine
Okay.. I cannot find anything short of "Zinc plated" hardware anywhere locally.. and I realllllly don't feel like ordering Zinc powder online..

I've checked with EVERY lawn and garden place in the area looking for "Moss Off" as I heard this was Zinc powder, but to no avail..

honestly, I'd like to find a good chunk of solid Zinc. I'll take it to my machine shop and shave of a couple 10-thousandths qand use the chips, rather than powder... I think a slower Zinc reaction for precip would give it a chance to drop more values out.. am I wrong?..

any ideas on where I might find any?..

Thanks,
Derek

p.s. will Zinc drop Au out of AuCl? Also, do I need to boil down AR or neutralize with Urea prior to using Zinc? (I know.. the answers are on here, but I have limited access online time-wise.. :roll: )
 
Yeah I know. Steve's the man! (I'm just friggin lazy..LOL!)


yeah, I'm just looking for a "quick fix" I have a solution I wanted to precip today or tomorrow at the latest, simply because I'm finishing up moving and don't have the time... once this batch is done, I'm outta the "biz" or well, "hobby" I should say for a while, til I get into a place better suited for this.. so I'll be headin out to the hills on the weekends to go panning..
 
For the record, zinc is not listed on my website, but I do have it in stock and will gladly sell some.

Steve
 
GSP.. is that in the form of an alloy tho?.. hmmm.. now ya got me thinkin.. perhaps I'll break open the piggy bank and throw "my two cents worth" into a small batch.

Thanks.. :)
 
trying to precip Au out of AuCl... should I strip them first?.. deplate? or would a good scrape job with a wire brush attachment on a Dremel do the trick?..

FYI.. at this point I'm only trying to reclaim it out of solution, I'm just trying to clean up right now and don't care about refining it at this point. I'll do that at a later point once I'm in a better location and can take my time to do it properly..(I'm in the process of moving and trying to break down my setup..)

Derek
 
check it out.. a quick google search for "US penny composition" brings me to a "fun facts" section of the US Mint


The composition was pure copper from 1793 to 1837.

From 1837 to 1857, the cent was made of bronze (95 percent copper, and five percent tin and zinc).

From 1857, the cent was 88 percent copper and 12 percent nickel, giving the coin a whitish appearance.

The cent was again bronze (95 percent copper, and five percent tin and zinc) from 1864 to 1962.
(Note: In 1943, the coin's composition was changed to zinc-coated steel. This change was only for the year 1943 and was due to the critical use of copper for the war effort. However, a limited number of copper pennies were minted that year. You can read more about the rare, collectible 1943 copper penny in "What's So Special about the 1943 Copper Penny.")
In 1962, the cent's tin content, which was quite small, was removed. That made the metal composition of the cent 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc.

The alloy remained 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc until 1982, when the composition was changed to 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper (copper-plated zinc). Cents of both compositions appeared in that year.
 
I think I would use just copper. The zinc will also drop out the base metals, but copper will only drop out the PMs. Whatever you use, the cementation will stop, or greatly slow down, once the Cu or Zn is covered. You may have to scrape or brush off the cemented gold one or more times.

Why don't you simplify things and just use SMB?
 
The Home Brew shop I get my SMB from is closed for the week.. :(

Copper is a great idea, I have access to very pure copper, so I think I'll take that route.. ;) (helps working in the defense industry I have access to very "pure" materials.. :D )
 
Here's a little trick to use when cementing. Cementing is, as you know, an exchange mechanism and the metals trade positions. The gold becomes a solid and the copper dissolves. To get this started, you need a little free acid. If you're ever having problems with it cementing, try adding a little fresh acid of the type that the solution is made up from. Doesn't take much. Maybe just a few milliliters.
 
1983-present pennies are 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper. That may be good enough for your purposes. If not, the zinc melts at a lower temp than the copper. Heating up a penny will turn the zinc insides molten which can be dripped into water. The copper plated shell will not melt at close to the zinc melting temp. Seems like a lot of effort, but available almost anywhere.

-junkelly
 
If you need to precipitate gold, go to the laundry aisle in walmart or grocery store and get some White out or Yellow out... both contain sodium sulfite and sodium bisulfite. It does work to precipitate gold out of solution.
 
Hi all. 300 mesh zinc is available at plans-kits.com/ . 5 bucks for 10 Lbs. I've dealt them before. Fast shipping. It came 40 lbs. in a Priority box. Two boxes of almost hurt my mailbox.
 

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