March 29, 2024, 06:25:02 AM
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Topic: How do I get a max yeild of gold out of high-yeild gold ore w/o using merc/cyan?  (Read 6447 times)

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Offline Trilly

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Hey folks,

So I'm a pre-med student-come-amateur gold digger. I have about 200lbs of highly laden gold ore. However, the internet is full of B.S. methods on the best way to get gold out of ore w/o precipitating other stuff that I know based on my own knowledge are bunk. I by no means to profess to be god of chemistry, but I get by well. That said, I will tell you what I have, and anyone who knows anything about metallurgy/gold refinement, feel free to give me any new info, stoicheometry, and chronological steps. If you actually know what you're talking about, please, enlighten me.
I want to be relatively environmentally safe, so no cyanide solutions, and no mercury please...


What I have: 98% pure sulfuric acid, 38% pure HCL, 98% pure nitric acid, 8 five gallon plastic buckets, 2 ten gallon plastic trash cans, funnels, coffee filters, distilled water, 90% isopropyl alcohol, pyrex dishes, hot plate, zinc, car battery charger (can obtain specific cathodes and anodes of whatever material needed), 200+ lbs of highly laden gold ore, blowtorch, clay furnace "crocks", granulated urea, sodium metabisulfate, respirator w/ level 4 hazmat suit, Czech level 3 chemical protective/gas mask circa 1994, rubber apron, full tool chest of hand and power tools, hydraulic vice, dremmel tool w/ carbide attachments.

In what order to I assemble things in order to get the purest gold out of solution. Is there anything else I need that'd make this easier? Please include step by step detailed directions on how one should do this safely while still accomplishing my goal. Thanks a bunch folks. If you have any other questions that would help you help me, feel free to ask. -Ty

In what order, and most impor


Offline vmelkon

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This is a nice method of extracting gold. It doesn't use any cyanide.
You will need H2SO4, 95% (perhaps found at hardware stores)
HCl, 35% (found at hardware stores)
sodium hypochlorite, NaClO (bleach)
sodium metabisulfite, Na2S2O5 (wine stores have them. look at wikipedia)

You are lucky that you have ore. Some people would have to get it from electronics (motherboard and CPUs).

http://www.tomshardware.com/picturestory/550-gold-motherboard-chemistry.html

Offline Trilly

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So does the gold actually stick to the lead and one must melt the lead off, or does it basically congregate in that area?

Approximately how much H2SO4 do I need per Lb/kg/oz/g of ore? What about the HCl Bleach mixture?

Then at the end, do I just sprinkle in the sodium metabisulfate until I see a pricipitate, then torch it in a crucible?

Thanks- Ty

Offline vmelkon

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The copper anode turns to Cu(2+) and goes to the lead cathode and turns to copper again. The gold drops to the bottom.

The amount of H2SO4 doesn't matter.

I don't know about the amount of HCl and NaClO but according to the equation
2 HCl + NaClO -> Cl2 + NaCl + H2O

you need 2 moles of HCl for 1 mole of NaClO. 35% HCl solution means each liter has 10 moles.
For bleach, it is a bit tough to calculate.

You have to add water to sodium metabisulfate so that it converts to sodium bisulfite. You add that solution to the AuCl3 solution.

Offline nj_bartel

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Whatever you do, try it on a small scale first.  And look for a post from "Fleaker" - big rare metals guy here and on sciencemadness.org

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