Acid Peroxide Leach Percipitate

[BBM610]

Hello all.

Leached my first sample of gold ore from CA. I used HCL, peroxide, and SMB.

The precipitate looks like a brownie made of dog poop.

From the available color chart it looks like pure gold.

I am shocked.

The crushed sample was about 2 cups of ore.

The precipitate weighs about 4-6 ounces a little wet.

It looks like dog doo.

I am going to have it assayed.

 

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[BBM610]

Hello all.

Leached my first sample of gold ore from CA. I used HCL, peroxide, and SMB.

The precipitate looks like a brownie made of dog poop.

From the available color chart it looks like pure gold.

I am shocked.

The crushed sample was about 2 cups of ore.

The precipitate weighs about 4-6 ounces a little wet.

It looks like dog doo.

I am going to have it assayed.

I poured out a little solution from the ore and added a small amount of SMB. It precipitated electric yellow. I poured it back in and it all precipitate red/yellow. As it dried it turned more brown. First try at this.

 

[BBM610]

Is it really possible to find gold ore that yields a couple of ounces of gold per pound of crushed rock? WTF?

 

[galenrog]

HCl and peroxide is a poor choice of leach. Where did you learn such a thing? While the combination will work to a small degree, it is best used as a copper etch solution.

How did you test the solution before adding SMB? How? Please tell me which SMB compound you used, as there are several chemical compounds that use this abbreviation.


Time for more coffee!

 

[BBM610]

I added the acid and peroxide to the ore, poured some out and added Sodium Metabisulfite. I then added the percipitate back into solution and completed the process.

 

[BBM610]

It seems to work well on this ore. It appears it is mostly calcite without large crystals.

 

[BBM610]

The sample was made from the surface of very hard rocks. The material was smaller softer material that crushed easily. I have not crushed the rocks themselves.

 

[BBM610]

It looked like small calcite crystal and gold on the rocks. I chiseled it off the rocks and leached it.

 

[galenrog]

Where did you learn this? It is not an effective leach for ores of any kind.

Did you test your solution before adding SMB? If so, how? If not, why not?

 

[SaltwaterServr]

Where did you learn this? It is not an effective leach for ores of any kind.

Did you test your solution before adding SMB? If so, how? If not, why not?

There's a small mining operation, Tesoro De Alma, that uses HCl/H2O2 as the process before doing zinc precipitation. It's one of the older methods used. Predates cyanide leaching.

 

[galenrog]

Yes, it is used in a few operations, but for the purposes of the OP, I believe the resultant problems that result from treating an unassayed ore would make this a very poor leach choice. HCl and H2O2 is still a much better copper etching solution than it is a gold ore leach. I still want to know if the OP tested the resultant solution, before adding SMB, and if so, how. If tested with Stannous Chloride, the test would be inconclusive due to the myriad of compounds created by the leach, that are now in solution.

Another question that bears asking, is how much SMB was added to solution. I use SMB in refining. If I expect 20 grams of gold from solution, I add 20 grams of SMB. Once gold has precipitated, I retest my solution for gold.

 

[Clay Diggins]

There's a small mining operation, Tesoro De Alma, that uses HCl/H2O2 as the process before doing zinc precipitation. It's one of the older methods used. Predates cyanide leaching.

I am very familiar with that ore Salty. Long before Tesoro De Alma or Nick were involved with it I viewed several authentic fire assays of that material, the material from the nearby Granite Peak Mine and 11 drill results from the strike going up the ridge. All of those are from the same deposit.

The Tesoro De Alma "mine" sits on Droltre Hole and is permitted to extract 25 yards underground of samples per session by hand and bucket - total 220 yards disturbance per year including road, access, tailings and pad work. I'm pretty sure Nick, like several before him, would like his "investors" to believe that the hole was dug by him and that the $50 limited "prospect and explore" permit from New Mexico means he has a "mine permit". There is no permitted or active mine there.

I only have a college level chemistry education so I'm not an expert on chemical extraction of ores but even with that bit of knowledge I can say no way in heck will HCl/H[SUP]2[/SUP]O[SUP]2[/SUP] succeed in processing that complex ore.

Back when the Granite Peak mine was in operation their returns were minimal, I think they were sending the ore to Douglas for smelting. Initially Granite Peak was operating their own leach pads. It was not a good refractory ore but it was rich enough to produce some receipts at the smelter. I've heard that Granite Peak was putting a sweetener on the ore by including Fluorite from the nearby Sunset prospect. In any case Douglas and the other southwest smelters eventually stopped processing small batches from outside mines and Granite Peak closed their operation.

The later Granite Peak mine site reclamation was being financed by sending the tailings to Montana for cyanide leach. That operation eventually became too expensive and was closed down. The receipts were not very good but there was a lot of experimentation going on to improve the returns. Just the expense of maintaining the semis carrying the sacked tailings that were getting tore up using the back lake road was a major expense for that operation. The mine isn't that remote but getting equipment into it has always been a problem. Of course trucking ore from rural central New Mexico to Montana wasn't cheap.

Word out of T or C is that Nick (Tesoro De Alma) finally got prosecuted and is now in prison. That's just a rumor but it seems to be one that a lot of people are enjoying and the local papers are having fun with.

Real fire assays don't lie and chemical reactions, no matter how complex, follow the same path given the same circumstances. The ore on that ridge behind Caballo is some of the richest I've ever seen but it's so complex it's never been very profitable to process. Nick claiming he used HCl/H[SUP]2[/SUP]O[SUP]2[/SUP] to process that ore is just one of the many reasons the ore is still in the ground. There may be ores being mined that are susceptible to HCl/H[SUP]2[/SUP]O[SUP]2[/SUP] but the Tesoro De Alma "investment opportunity" isn't one.

Heavy Pans

 

[BBM610]

This is what the ore looks like... I am not an expert.

Thanks!

 

[BBM610]

Update.

The pic I posted is ore from Senegal. Mine looks identical from Placer County, California.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

I am very familiar with that ore Salty. Long before Tesoro De Alma or Nick were involved with it I viewed several authentic fire assays of that material, the material from the nearby Granite Peak Mine and 11 drill results from the strike going up the ridge. All of those are from the same deposit.

The Tesoro De Alma "mine" sits on Droltre Hole and is permitted to extract 25 yards underground of samples per session by hand and bucket - total 220 yards disturbance per year including road, access, tailings and pad work. I'm pretty sure Nick, like several before him, would like his "investors" to believe that the hole was dug by him and that the $50 limited "prospect and explore" permit from New Mexico means he has a "mine permit". There is no permitted or active mine there.

I only have a college level chemistry education so I'm not an expert on chemical extraction of ores but even with that bit of knowledge I can say no way in heck will HCl/H[SUP]2[/SUP]O[SUP]2[/SUP] succeed in processing that complex ore.

Back when the Granite Peak mine was in operation their returns were minimal, I think they were sending the ore to Douglas for smelting. Initially Granite Peak was operating their own leach pads. It was not a good refractory ore but it was rich enough to produce some receipts at the smelter. I've heard that Granite Peak was putting a sweetener on the ore by including Fluorite from the nearby Sunset prospect. In any case Douglas and the other southwest smelters eventually stopped processing small batches from outside mines and Granite Peak closed their operation.

The later Granite Peak mine site reclamation was being financed by sending the tailings to Montana for cyanide leach. That operation eventually became too expensive and was closed down. The receipts were not very good but there was a lot of experimentation going on to improve the returns. Just the expense of maintaining the semis carrying the sacked tailings that were getting tore up using the back lake road was a major expense for that operation. The mine isn't that remote but getting equipment into it has always been a problem. Of course trucking ore from rural central New Mexico to Montana wasn't cheap.

Word out of T or C is that Nick (Tesoro De Alma) finally got prosecuted and is now in prison. That's just a rumor but it seems to be one that a lot of people are enjoying and the local papers are having fun with.

Real fire assays don't lie and chemical reactions, no matter how complex, follow the same path given the same circumstances. The ore on that ridge behind Caballo is some of the richest I've ever seen but it's so complex it's never been very profitable to process. Nick claiming he used HCl/H[SUP]2[/SUP]O[SUP]2[/SUP] to process that ore is just one of the many reasons the ore is still in the ground. There may be ores being mined that are susceptible to HCl/H[SUP]2[/SUP]O[SUP]2[/SUP] but the Tesoro De Alma "investment opportunity" isn't one.

Heavy Pans

Well I'll be damned. I had no idea about him being that type of scoundrel. I guess the gold business attracts that type of person like flies to ****.

Probably too hot to work in his mine anyway.

 

[galenrog]

I'd like to help you out a bit, BBM610, but for me to do that you will have to address ALL the question I have posed in my above posts. The image of some rocks from Senegal is of no help at all, since a lot of rocks that look similar are just that. Rocks that look similar.

I would also urge you to look over the many mining and refining forums available. Surely there must be one or two that are beneficial to your situation.

Time for more coffee.
And perhaps an additive or two.

 

[BBM610]

Sure. You can PM if you like. I got a pure gold brown mud precipitate and also an electric yellow paste. Just trying to figure out some things. Such as does AP produce gold chloride like AR? That is what the yellow paste looks like. I am having it all assayed. Thanks.

 

[galenrog]

You seem to not really want any help. I'm done with this thread.


Time for more coffee.

 

[BBM610]

Great, thanks.

So, I am getting a lot of positive comments on photos of the precipitates.

IMO the AP leach works very well on this particular gold ore. Though, it seems many do not suggest it as a first choice; the precipitate is pure gold.

I am not complaining.

 

[BBM610]