Gold Recovery Correctly: 12 Step Guide

3/1/2019 Gold Recovery Correctly: 12 Steps
Gold Recovery Correctly

By Railes in TechnologyElectronics 1.056.424 568 304
Published Aug 7th, 2011 Download Favorite
https://www.instructables.com/id/TRASH-TO-TREASURE/ 1/34
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I will detail a SAFE process of turning old electronic parts into little round lumps of pure
gold. There are many tutorials that claim to offer methods of gold recovery such as
"Cupellation"*. These processes are DANGEROUS and put the user at the risk of inhaling
vaporized metals.
No over the counter breather will protect you from these dangers; Only lab grade isolated
breathing systems can protect against metal vapors. ********************************** SEE
HEALTH HAZARD ON STEP 6***************************************
**** a Side cautionary note, This process is not suitable to purify Panned Gold or KARAT
(Gold Alloyed with silver.) This Guide is best suited for gold plated or pure gold object.
THIS SHOULD ALSO NEVER BE ATTEMPTED INDOORS.
*Cupellation is a refining process in metallurgy, where ores or alloyed metals are treated
under high temperatures and controlled operations to separate noble metals, like gold and
silver, from base metals like lead, copper, zinc, arsenic, antimony or bismuth, present in
the ore. The process is based on the principle that precious metals do not oxidise or react
chemically, unlike the base metals; so when they are heated at high temperatures, the
precious metals remain apart and the others react forming slags or other compounds
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Step 1: SAFETY FIRST, Always.
In this instructable you will be working with basic house hold chemicals. By themselves
these chemicals can be fairly harmless. The combination of such chemical which will be
presented in this instructable can be EXTREMELY hazardous; By such there are a couple
of safety items which are not Optional. THE FOLLOW ITEMS ARE REQUIRED.
FAILURE TO OBTAIN THESE ITEMS BEFORE HAND CAN POSSIBLY COMPROMISE
YOUR HEALTH.
Item # 1.
Breathing equipment. You will need a chemical mask rated AT LEAST as a P100. If you
dont know what a P100 rating means It is your responsibility to yourself to find out.
Item # 2
Heavy duty Gloves. pvc or rubber is fine, do not use Latex or Nitrile gloves.
Item # 3
Safety Glasses. Any pair will work as long as It is safety rated and solvent rated.

Step 2: Equipment Needed.
Helpfull items which can make doing these experiments easier.
1. Borosil glass labware.

2. 2 1/2 gallon bucket.
3. a 1 gallon bucket with holes drilled in the bottom. - to be used as a strainer.
4. a 60 ounce pickle Jar
5. Coffee filters
6. Filter holder from a coffee machine.
7. Spray bottle.
8. Mini scale with the ability to measure Grams and Oz.
9. some pipettes and test tube.
Step 3: Chemicals Required.
I have used a number of chemicals these I have found to be the most widely available.
1 gallon of Clorox Bleach. or Sodium hypochlorate at 6%

2. Muriatic Acid 34% HCL ~ Baume.
3. Hydrogen Peroxide - 3% but no greater then 5%
4. Stumpout by Bonide. or Sodium bisulfate - 99.9% as specified in the Msds or Sodium
Meta Bisulfite.
You cannot substitue with these chemicals trying to do so will no give the required
reactions.
Step 4: Selecting Materials to Be Recovered.
I was taught by the method of Crap in Crap out. You want your materials to be as clean
as possible with the least Amount of Garbage as possible.
Gold fingers are typically found on PCI cards, ISA cards, or on Memory sims/dimms/etc.
They create the corrosion free connection between the computer and the expansion card.
This process can also be used to recover gold from CPU such as Pentium Pro, or Cyrix or
older 486 and lower generation chips.
Step 5: The First Chemical Bath.
Objective of this first chemical bath is to remove a large majority the base metals, Such as
nickle, zinc and copper.
After cleanly removing your plated sections of computer parts. remove any visible
capacitors transistors, or other components. be sure to also remove any steel or iron
parts attached. These metals can foul the reaction causing poor results.
Tools
100 ML beaker, 1 gallon bucket, 2 1/2 gallon bucket.
Chemicals
Muratic acid, and hydrogen peroxide.
Materials you are looking to recover.
First step, place your 1 gallon stainer bucket, into your 2 1/2 gallon wash bucket. But first
place your parts to be recovered inside your 1 gallon strainer bucket. as pictured.
Add enough muratic acid to cover your fingers about 1 cm above your materials. keep
track of how many MLs are added. you want to keep your waste Acids to a minimum.
second. To activate the solution you want to add your Hydrogen peroxide 3 - 5% solution
in a 2 to 1 ratio. two parts muratic acid to one part hydrogen peroxide.
after the Peroxide has been added to your muratic acid the mixture should start to
bubble, and the base metals should begin to dissolve. At this point you should be
wearing your safety gear because a few unfriendly fumes are being released.
This process can take up to 24 - 48 hours. this works best at the temperatures of 80 - 90
F.
When this has been completed you will see a batch of gold foils floating in your now dark
green acid.
Step 6: Filtering the Gold Foils.
Items required
coffee filters
filter holder
60oz pickle jar. or glass container large enough to contain waste acids.
Simply Poor the contents of the two gallon bucket into the pickle jar using the coffee filters
to catch any foils that are floating on the surface of the acid. Once you have pored off all
the acid you will be left with a pile similar to what is in the picture. scoop these from the
bucket into another container for future processing.
Congratulation you are about 50% finished. **********
************************************* HEALTH WARNING***************************************
Melting at this stage may lead to the following health hazards.
ZINC
Inhalation of zinc oxide fumes can occur when welding or cutting on zinc-coated metals.
Exposure to these fumes is known to cause metal fume fever. Symptoms of metal fume
fever are very similar to those of common influenza. They include fever (rarely exceeding
102o F), chills, nausea, dryness of the throat, cough, fatigue, and general weakness and
aching of the head and body. The victim may sweat profusely for a few hours, after which
the body temperature begins to return to normal. The symptoms of metal fume fever have
rarely, if ever, lasted beyond 24 hours. The subject can then appear to be more
susceptible to the onset of this condition on Mondays or on weekdays following a holiday
than they are on other days.
BERYLLIUM
Beryllium is sometimes used as a alloying element with copper and other base metals.
Acute exposure to high concentrations of beryllium can result in chemical pneumonia.
Long-term exposure can result in shortness of breath, chronic cough, and significant
weight loss, accompanied by fatigue and general weakness.
MERCURY
Mercury compounds are used to coat metals to prevent rust or inhibit foliage growth
(marine paints). Under the intense heat of the arc or gas flame, mercury vapors will be
produced. Exposure to these vapors may produce stomach pain, diarrhea, kidney
damage, or respiratory failure. Long-term exposure may produce tremors, emotional
instability, and hearing damage.
LEAD
Inhalation and ingestion of lead oxide fumes and other lead compounds will cause lead
poisoning. Symptoms include metallic taste in the mouth, loss of appetite, nausea,
abdominal cramps, and insomnia. In time, anemia and general weakness, chiefly in the
muscles of the wrists, develop. Lead adversely affects the brain, central nervous system,
circulatory system, reproductive system, kidneys, and muscles.
CADMIUM
Cadmium is used frequently as a rust-preventive coating on steel and also as an alloying

element. Acute exposures to high concentrations or cadmium fumes can produce severe
lung irritation, pulmonary edema, and in some cases, death. Long-term exposure to low
levels of cadmium in air can result in emphysema (a disease affecting the ability of the
lung to absorb oxygen) and can damage the kidneys. Cadmium is classified by OSHA,
NIOSH, and EPA as a potential human carcinogen
Disposing of your waste acids.
Place your acid in a separate container, I choose used 2 liter or 3 liter bottles, Label
these bottles as CLCu2 with a black sharpie marker. under that write may also contain
trace amounts of NICKLE and ZINC, BERYLLIUM, CADMIUM and LEAD. You can take
these items to your local hazard roundup or recycle your acids with a method I plan on
detailing in another instructable.
DO NOT dump your acids down the drain or on the ground. it is IMPORTANT to be
responsible with wastes.
https://www.instructables.com/id/TRASH-TO-TREASURE/
Step 7: Creating Stannous Cloride. 15/34
These foils are about 80% gold, and copper 20%
In order to reach a higher level of purity a second bath is required. For that we will need
to create a test Chemical called Stannous cloride or Sn CL2
This metal is essential for Identify how much gold is left in our 2nd chemical bath.
For this you will need 1 beaker, and about 30 ML or muratic acid. 1 gram of tin metal
powder or shot. Weigh it out using your Scale.
it takes appox 4 hours to completely dissolve the tin metal shot. or instantly for the
powder.
The resulting solution should be bright yellow.

Step 8: The Second Chemical Bath Refining Your Gold Foils.
THIS STEP SHOULD NEVER BE ATTEMPTED without your CHEMICAL MASK.
For this chemical bath I will be reproducing the process on small scale. this is by far the
most hazardous step and with the most reactive wastes.
For this step I am going to use a 100 ml beaker a portion of recovered foils, about 3
grams.
I will be using Muratic acid, and clorox.
I will be adding only enough Muratic acid to cover my 3 grams of foils, Using a Pipette I
will slowly add Clorox until all of my foils have dissolved. you can use a glass rod to help
felicitate the process.
After your foils have dissolved the resulting solution will be a deep golden yellow maybe a
little orange in color.
it may be desirable to filter your solution with the coffee filters 1 more time, depending on if
little bits of green plastic from the board found their way into this step.
Step 9: Filtering Particles.
After Dissolving ALL the foils you might notice a small amount of inductors, caps and
transistors that wormed their way into the final process. This is normal.
Simply Filter again using a long neck funnel and a tall flask. The resulting solution should
be a Deep and bright golden yellow..
Step 10: Testing Your Solution for Gold.
Ok, this is the exciting part and one where you get to see some real chemistry at work..
you will need:
Stannous cloride created earlier, 1 coffee filter paper, 2 pipettes or glass droppers.
Simply place 1 dot of recovered solution on a piece of filer paper, Next place one drop of
your stannous cloride on the other. The resulting reaction should turn purple.
If your did CONGRADS you have created AURIC Cloride Or Aucl3 a gold bearing
solution. If your test drop didnt turn purple, add a little more tin to your stannous cloride
and heat gently with a alcohol burner and BOROsiicate test tube. Repeat Test.
depending on how much gold is in your solution it may appear black.
Step 11: Recovering Your Gold.
Recovering your gold in solution is one of the Coolest steps.

Whats needed, a plastic spoon, and the sodium Bisulfate or Stumpout.
Simply add very small amounts of stumpout, Your Mixture should start to look like the
pictures I have provided. This is caused by the SO2 Gas which acts to chemically displace
the gold in solution.
When the reaction has finished you will have driven out a majority of the chlorine, and
replaced it with Sulfur. Any gold which was trapped in the solution has now be come a
brown precipitate at the bottom of your beaker.
Retest with Stannous chloride, if your reaction still turns purple you need to add more
stumpout.
It will take appox 10 hours for the gold to competely settle, the solution should be clear at
this point.
Step 12: Melting
OK this is the last stop, At this point you have drained off the last ot the solution with your
pipette the bottom of your beaker should be coated with what looks like dried cinnamon.
THATS PURE GOLD. Put that powder onto a fire brick that has been treated with a flux
material like borax. Melt the borax till it becomes glassy. Apply your powder,
Heat with a MAPP torch or something more aggressive, careful not to blow your powder
off the firebrick.
TADA Pure 24Karat gold.
TO date I have used this process to recover approx 1 pound of gold from computer chips
and the like.
Enjoy....
Railes.
P.S. For more information about this process Visit this website.
http://goldrefiningforum.com/ This is a community of some of the brightest people I have

ever had the pleasure of speaking with.
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304 Discussions
Reply Upvote
klamp54 6 years ago on Will this work with gold on magnetic based parts ?
I have some old glass resistors from 70's, a few pounds
anyway, I'd like to know before I mess it up.
2 replies
We have never done this before . But we Answer Upvote

AliciaW41 Question 8 weeks ago on Step 2
got a lot of computer parts for gold
recovery . We used hydrogen peroxide
and muratic acid . We let it process for
12 hours. When we filtered it this is what
we got. On the filter ? It's all gray and it
don't look like any gold flakes at all and
the stuff we put in look like. The gold
was pulled off. What do we do. ? I've
ordered nitric acid and the sidium

bisulfite to use to try to recover our gold.
Thank God we only. Used ic chips and
small stuff from boards . We have
majority left here to do. I like your
process. Please someone help me fix this
gray mess and get my gold out. Thank
you very much.
100years2late Question 3 months ago on Im working with gold ore that ive crushed Answer Upvote
and paned. Will this method still work?

Should i go with the Aaqua regia?
SarpÖ1 Question 4 months ago on Step 3 i found sodium hypochlorate %4.2 . will it Answer Upvote
work
Answer Upvote
harshad kevadiya Question 5 months ago on Step 5
how can we decided the chemical composition inside the gold
recovery
Sir my solution color like dark green i Answer Upvote

SunnyB40 Question 8 months ago on Step 7
use aqua regia and urea after then smb
but gold not setteld down pls tell me
what can i do sir
1 answer
Ifeyeh8edme 8 months ago I have about a hundred 1/16th scale nascar cars that are Reply Upvote
gold plated will this method work to remove the gold

from them?
Powersb 6 years ago on Step 11 Really interesting procedure (never seen anything like Reply Upvote
this). Can you use the same procedure for pins

https://www.instructables.com/id/TRASH-TO-TREASURE/
containing gold? Can I use potassium metabisulfite 29/34
instead of sodium Bisulfite (i cant find any)?
15 replies
Reply Upvote
CharlesS246 a year ago I messed up and need help. I lost internet after first bath and
couldnt remember. So i placed what was in filter like gold
foils and other stuff in a ceramic bowl with some borax
mixed in and hit it with mapp gas torch resulting in a clump
of what looks like black glass! Is it all lost or can i still
recover my gold?
1 reply
Reply Upvote
MarkoK25 3 years ago Okey, I add SMB to the ''Yellow solution that contains gold''
and it went collorless, I left it over the night and nothing.
What I should do now?! Did I add too much SMB, or it is
because I need to heat it ? Please help. Thanks.
1 reply
Reply Upvote
Capicayo a year ago Hello. I like your version. I have two questions. Can I use the
typical
tin metal that I use for soldering to create the Stannous cloride?
The second you have permission to laugh!
A few years ago I had bought a kit in which the steps I
followed led me to create something called poor's man soup.
On these days cleaning I found the bottle and it is light brown-
white, not translucent color. like latte. Is still there any way to
recover the gold? There are about 60 Pentium I - III CPUs, 5lbs
of RAM and 10lbs of 8-16bit cards, all dissolved in. Any help
https://www.instructables.com/id/TRASH-TO-TREASURE/ will be appreciated. 30/34
Reply Upvote
NO51RA a year ago do you buy your scrap online or do you collect it from local
sources, I’m super curious if you have a consistent supplier of
chips!
Reply Upvote
CliffordK2 2 years ago I got some smelted bars that where supposed to contain 40%
gold and 60% brass. He said they came from computer
chips. Is there a way to separate them now that they are
mixed together?
1 reply
Reply Upvote
ΓιωργοςΚ17 2 years ago can i use Aqua Regia to disolve gold ?
1 reply
Reply Upvote
JohnathanW15 a year ago what do you have against nitrile gloves? can you provide
evidence to support your opinion? most gov, industry and
edu produced charts ive read rate them as ok for at least
"incident contact" with everything involved here.
1 reply
Reply Upvote
tjh20 a year ago I am about to run a test using the above methodology on a fake
1898 silver dollar. It is a silver-plated "brass" slug from China. The
composition of the apparent brass is such that the coin is the exact
size and weight of a genuine coin. The Ag thickness is rumored to

be 100 mil. We will soon see.
Reply Upvote
jza121 a year ago Hello. I mixed AP to leach gold ore. I was told it was a poor
choice. After adding SMB to the resulting solution; the percipitate
was an electric yellow paste. How do I know if it is gold chloride
powder? Could it be iron chloride? I though it would disintegrate
if I tried to melt it?
Reply Upvote
Guitar_Player 3 years ago You may want to clarify in step 5 that it is the circuit
board fingers not yours. ...there are those people out there
who will put their fingers into acid...
2 replies
Reply Upvote
SHOE0007 2 years ago I even filtered the gold and diluted it. About 50 ml of 50%
of 1 g of EDTA was added to double the gold solution
(filtered and decanted).
Reply Upvote
SHOE0007 2 years ago I have done test with EDTA ph 8 with ammonia and
ammonia chloride and sea salt and test dissolved partly
neutral gold at a ph (solution of 4). It turned yellow gold
indicating that there was no nickel or other metals just gold.
Another link said that 95-99.99% of cell phone cpu are gold
with little lead, nickel, etc. If it was lead it would have
https://www.instructables.com/id/TRASH-TO-TREASURE/ turned I think white, Nickel (Purple), Chromium (Purple 32/34
Cr3+), etc. I may buy on e-bay a very percise nickel test for
liquids.
DavidS531 2 years ago I am sorry about this question but I need to know. Just how Reply Upvote
1
many, let's say, SDRAM chips, would it take to pay for all of
the equipment & materials (including chemicals), just to get
started? Allowing you enough pre-purchased equipment &
materials to use in the recovery of more gold at a profit. A
close guesstimate will do fine.
2 replies
ElmakatyA 2 years ago good work Reply Upvote
ni1der 2 years ago I have an antique gold plated cane handle. Will the process work Reply Upvote
for this item?

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3/1/2019 Gold Recovery Correctly: 12 Steps

Gold Recovery Correctly

Published Aug 7th, 2011 Download Favorite

About: I eat food, sometimes I'm funny. More About Railes »

THIS SHOULD ALSO NEVER BE ATTEMPTED INDOORS.

Add Tip Ask Question Comment Download

Step 1: SAFETY FIRST, Always.

Add Tip Ask Question Comment Download

Step 2: Equipment Needed.

Helpfull items which can make doing these experiments easier.

1. Borosil glass labware.

Add Tip Ask Question Comment Download

Step 3: Chemicals Required.

1 gallon of Clorox Bleach. or Sodium hypochlorate at 6%

Add Tip Ask Question Comment Download

Step 4: Selecting Materials to Be Recovered.

Add Tip Ask Question Comment Download

Step 5: The First Chemical Bath.

100 ML beaker, 1 gallon bucket, 2 1/2 gallon bucket.

Muratic acid, and hydrogen peroxide.

Materials you are looking to recover.

Add Tip Ask Question Comment Download

Step 6: Filtering the Gold Foils.

Congratulation you are about 50% finished. **********

************************************* HEALTH WARNING***************************************

Melting at this stage may lead to the following health hazards.

Cadmium is used frequently as a rust-preventive coating on steel and also as an alloying

Disposing of your waste acids.

Add Tip Ask Question Comment Download

These foils are about 80% gold, and copper 20%

The resulting solution should be bright yellow.

Add Tip Ask Question Comment Download

Step 8: The Second Chemical Bath Refining Your Gold Foils.

THIS STEP SHOULD NEVER BE ATTEMPTED without your CHEMICAL MASK.

I will be using Muratic acid, and clorox.

Add Tip Ask Question Comment Download

Step 9: Filtering Particles.

Add Tip Ask Question Comment Download

Step 10: Testing Your Solution for Gold.

you will need:

depending on how much gold is in your solution it may appear black.

Add Tip Ask Question Comment Download

Step 11: Recovering Your Gold.

Recovering your gold in solution is one of the Coolest steps.

Whats needed, a plastic spoon, and the sodium Bisulfate or Stumpout.

Add Tip Ask Question Comment Download

Step 12: Melting

TADA Pure 24Karat gold.

http://goldrefiningforum.com/ This is a community of some of the brightest people I have

Add Tip Ask Question Comment Download

ElmakatyA made it!

Did you make this project? Share it with us!

We have a be nice policy.

Add Images Post

We have never done this before . But we Answer Upvote

ordered nitric acid and the sidium

and paned. Will this method still work?

Sir my solution color like dark green i Answer Upvote

gold plated will this method work to remove the gold

this). Can you use the same procedure for pins

size and weight of a genuine coin. The Ag thickness is rumored to

ElmakatyA 2 years ago good work Reply Upvote

* HEALTH WARNING***