Black Sand Samples

[alloy_II]

Samples from two different areas, once the weather improves - smelting will begin the top sample certainly shows promise, both by weight and microscope image.

For those interested in smelting the attached file is about the various flux's used and their purpose.

 

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A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

Maybe it is soda ash to raise the ph…I am still learning…

Ed T

Bleach would dissolve your gold

 

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Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[JohnWhite]

how to neutralize cyanide in water - Google Search

Ed T

 

[alloy_II]

how to neutralize cyanide in water - Google Search

Ed T

I'm using sulfur dioxide,

by SW Branch · 1993 · Cited by 1 — (Cyanide + Sulfur Dioxide + Oxygen + Water yields Cyanate + Sulfuric Acid). The reaction usually takes place in a well-mixed and aerated

John your link brings up this information,

The most common solution to the cyanide problem is alkaline chlorination (bleach). Alkaline chlorination is an inexpensive and highly effective method for treatment. This method is ideal for most organizations as it actually destroys the cyanide.

 

[alloy_II]

The mines crush the gold bearing ore to first recover any visible gold with the remainder sent to the leaching tanks to recover the remaining super fine gold not visible to the naked human eye.

These are the tests that I'll be doing on Ken's quartz samples once they arrive.

Crush and pan the visible gold, crush the remainder of the quartz onto powder for a bottle roll.

 

[alloy_II]

Finally some spare time to do some work with the pregnant cyanide leach.

Primitive assay, one liter of the leach filtered through activated carbon the burnt weight of the ash will give me an idea just how much gold is in the total.

The AC filter used to recover the gold from this batch will be used in another leach used to process chips and pins from about 100 mother boards.

 

[alloy_II]

Two things I learned today, when using a vat for leaching add a layer of course sand or gravel on the bottom. This will allow the leachate to peculate through the ore much faster.

Lesson number two, passing the leachate through a filter packed with AC( activated carbon ) did not work as expected.

A handful of loose AC into the Liquor worked, the carbon needs about half an hour of contact with occasional stirring.

The nice thing of using activated carbon to scavange the gold is that your not adding zinc or any other type of precipitant. This allows me to use the baron leach several times over with slight adjustments to the cyanide.

 

[alloy_II]

From above lesson number two, the AC filter scavenged 16 grams.

Running the 2nd and final batch.

 

[alloy_II]

This gold is from the BC quartz, extracted with cyanide.

Previously the gold precipitated from an acid leach look brown whill this gold leans more to the red spectrum.

 

[southfork]

What happened to your charcoal experiment?

 

[alloy_II]

What happened to your charcoal experiment?

Very difficult and time consuming to burn after this batch of carbon has been processed I'm abandoing the practice in favor of plating the gold directly from the cn leach onto steel wool.

Once the steel wool has done its job the wool is dissolved in dilute sulfuric acid, the residue left behind is further refined.

Over the past several months been busy stripping down computer boards, had aprox five pounds of the gold plated pins - low value junk that i never bothered with before.

This afternoon in less than three minutes had to gold stripped off, it was at this moment I made the decision to plate to gold onto wool.

Have another bucket filled with cable, phone and Ethernet ends which also have gold plated pins on the go.

If you can find a copy of Ammen's Refining Precious Metals Wastes, grab a copy it'll be, money well spent. IMO far better than Hokes.

 

[alloy_II]

Leach sample from 5 lbs low grade gold plated pins.

 

[alloy_II]

Plastic bottle with bottom cut off to keep the wool from shorting out on the pins which remain in the bucket.

 

[alloy_II]

Activated carbon from the ore leach, now reduced but still not completely burned.

When this ash is ready to process I'm going to use dilute sulfuric to remove any base metals that maybe present.

After the sulphuric bath no incineration will not be nessesary as sulfuric is addred to aqua regia to removed lead.

 

[alloy_II]

Used hot conc sulfuric instead, if there's any silver present it will be removed and recovered.

First time with the process, if i were a betting man I would venture a guess that yellow foam is the gold then later when the foam became white in color - most likely silver..

 

[alloy_II]

After diluting the sulfuric, the solution turned green with two distinctive layers on the bottom after adding hydrochloric to the decanted residue i now have a yellow solution.

Adding nitric next, going for the gold.

 

[alloy_II]

The ore in AR.

 

[alloy_II]

Some of the low grade junk, wool from previous experiment. Making some changes to the plastic bottle containing the wool.

 

[southfork]

Interesting, nice photos of a long process I need to see some gold.

 

[alloy_II]

Interesting, nice photos of a long process I need to see some gold.

it's going to be awhile before anyone will see any gold, my mistake was using 93% conc sulfuric acid which I did not realize would take up the gold in solution.

I'm currently in the process of cementing the gold out by adding iron into the now diluted acid. Smells like rotten eggs outside.

Once the iron has been consumed I'll be left with my gold and ferrous sulfate a salt which will dissolve in hot water. This will leave the missing gold behind for reprocessing.

 

[alloy_II]

Interesting, nice photos of a long process I need to see some gold.

And just how many ounces of gold do you expect to see from six pails of ball milled BC quartz. I'll settle in grams.

The best part is what I have learned without relying on gold forum members who refuse to answer questions on cyanide to assure one stays safe in its use.

Once you becpme versed in the language used in refining you'll get your questions answered much quicker using Google..

Cyanide is not the holly grail, but it certainly has it's place in gold recovery provided the feed stock is right for the application.