DIY Refining gold
- Thread starter Shep
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G'day Shep
Yes you can use chemical processes but these can be very dangerous if you are not well versed in the methodology and the safety precautions required. Cost wise it would probably be effective. Looks like you currently have about 18K gold so it's possible. There are a couple of methods that can be used but both are dangerous to the uninitiated. On that basis I wouldn't be prepared to discuss how to do it. Cheers
Yes you can use chemical processes but these can be very dangerous if you are not well versed in the methodology and the safety precautions required. Cost wise it would probably be effective. Looks like you currently have about 18K gold so it's possible. There are a couple of methods that can be used but both are dangerous to the uninitiated. On that basis I wouldn't be prepared to discuss how to do it. Cheers
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G'day Shep
The best and safest way to do it is send it all to PW Beck in SA they will refine the gold to 999.9 and either send you back the refined gold as 1 oz ingot or in gold pellets, they also pay you for the silver content of your parcel
They will buy the gold from you also if you don't want the refined ingot back, it costs I think about $150 for the refining etc and the silver helps pay for this cost.
We have found PW Beck to be very reliable
erfect:
cheers dave
The best and safest way to do it is send it all to PW Beck in SA they will refine the gold to 999.9 and either send you back the refined gold as 1 oz ingot or in gold pellets, they also pay you for the silver content of your parcel
They will buy the gold from you also if you don't want the refined ingot back, it costs I think about $150 for the refining etc and the silver helps pay for this cost.
We have found PW Beck to be very reliable
erfect: cheers dave
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Shep said:
Ok, I have never tried, I have had the process explained to me by a guy that does it https://www.facebook.com/frank.wallis.7524 (this is him on facebook) send him a message, he may tell you how.
cheers dave
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I used the aqua regea method once. I did this because I was having a go at melting a small 1 ounce ingot for the first time from some sub gram nuggets I had accumulated and just wanted to have a go at making an ingot. Anyhow I made my small furnace out fire proof bricks and applied my two propane torches to the furnace and as well as melting my nuggets I also melted the tip of one of the blow torches which ended up in my crucible with my melted gold so I had my melted gold and a load of copper and whatever else was in the tip of the propane torch nozzle.
So then I didn't know how to separate the contaminating material from my melted ingot and the colour just didn't look right. So i then started on a new mission to get the contaminating metal out of my ingot which lead me to the aqua regia method after a lot of googling. The difficult component to find is 70% nitric acid which you then mix with 30% hydrochloric acid. Put your gold in this mix at the right ratio and apply some mild heat and it will dissolve your gold and turn to an amber colour liquid the consistancy of water. You then have to nuetralise any remaining acid and then add sodium metabisulfate. Your gold will drop out of solution as a heavy powder. Further acid treatment can be applied once the powder is separated to increase the purity but you will end up with pretty close to 99.9% gold.
I would not recommend anyone do this at home as some very nasty fumes are created that can be very bad for your health. Should only be done in a very well ventilated location or using a fume hood. I will not be doing it again only a once off. Having said that it was a very interesting process to watch my gold go from solid to liquid to powder and then melted again back to 99.9% gold. Definitely a lot safer and easier to use a refiner.
I have read that back in medievil times people who wanted to hide their gold during times of war etc would sometimes turn there gold into liquid like this when they were worried about it being stolen.
So then I didn't know how to separate the contaminating material from my melted ingot and the colour just didn't look right. So i then started on a new mission to get the contaminating metal out of my ingot which lead me to the aqua regia method after a lot of googling. The difficult component to find is 70% nitric acid which you then mix with 30% hydrochloric acid. Put your gold in this mix at the right ratio and apply some mild heat and it will dissolve your gold and turn to an amber colour liquid the consistancy of water. You then have to nuetralise any remaining acid and then add sodium metabisulfate. Your gold will drop out of solution as a heavy powder. Further acid treatment can be applied once the powder is separated to increase the purity but you will end up with pretty close to 99.9% gold.
I would not recommend anyone do this at home as some very nasty fumes are created that can be very bad for your health. Should only be done in a very well ventilated location or using a fume hood. I will not be doing it again only a once off. Having said that it was a very interesting process to watch my gold go from solid to liquid to powder and then melted again back to 99.9% gold. Definitely a lot safer and easier to use a refiner.
I have read that back in medievil times people who wanted to hide their gold during times of war etc would sometimes turn there gold into liquid like this when they were worried about it being stolen.
StoneTheCrows
Neil Mulvaney
Sounds dangerous Good Luck
Yes it is dangerous STC, that's why I will no longer described the method. itsabb seems to have found out that it is not a method to muck around with. Those fumes are deadly, one mouthful and you are no more, or if you survive you will wish you hadn't.
I've used Aqua Regia for a long time. I have no problems in getting the required chemicals. But I'm even looking at better alternatives, one of which is cyanide. That may sound as bad or worse, but in fact is a lot safer to use than AR. Aqua Regia works, but it is a longish process if you want 99.9% gold. Once you drop the gold powder, it needs to be washed in further chemicals, and even put back in AR a couple of times. Using cyanide is basically a one shot process and it is also easier to recover other metals like silver and copper.
I would not recommend AR to anyone. It is bloody dangerous and too long winded. That's why I will not describe it anymore. The cyanide process was recommended to me by a mining engineer with years of hands on experience. The idea of sending your gold to someone like Beck's sounds like a good idea, especially for about $150 refining costs. Cheers
I've used Aqua Regia for a long time. I have no problems in getting the required chemicals. But I'm even looking at better alternatives, one of which is cyanide. That may sound as bad or worse, but in fact is a lot safer to use than AR. Aqua Regia works, but it is a longish process if you want 99.9% gold. Once you drop the gold powder, it needs to be washed in further chemicals, and even put back in AR a couple of times. Using cyanide is basically a one shot process and it is also easier to recover other metals like silver and copper.
I would not recommend AR to anyone. It is bloody dangerous and too long winded. That's why I will not describe it anymore. The cyanide process was recommended to me by a mining engineer with years of hands on experience. The idea of sending your gold to someone like Beck's sounds like a good idea, especially for about $150 refining costs. Cheers
