Gold Processing

This is the saga of my Gold Melting so far
Is there anyone on here that process their own Gold if so how do you do it i have been doing it for a while now i will try to explain what i use and how i got it
Ok here we go
A: Smelting kit from America including some Borax tool etc etc (ouch that hurt paypal)
B: Gold test kit from America (might come in handy but paypal is still hurting oh well here goes)
C: Graphite Crucibles from china and Hong Kong (1/8th the price of them here BUT takes a month to get here if they arrive at all)
D: 2 matt gas sets from bunnings (na make that 4 by the end of it i melted 2 of them oops)
The first 3oz i melted turned out fine tested 22k+(thats if i used this kit the right way i did follow the instructions for those like me it is that piece of paper that comes with a lot of things and tell you the safe way to do stuff lol yea right)
The next lot turned out very very very wrong as somewhere along the way the Borax got contaminated (my stupid fault i know how it happened)
Got some more Borax off another coy here in Australia (wont say which one but they are off my Christmas list) which they said could be used for Gold melting HOWEVER this is the fun part it turned my gold copper tone much like rose gold (completely wrong Borax)
tried burning the impurities out with a gas axe and other chemicals at a mates place which did not work (destroyed three crucibles in the process)
Now the fun started
1. Find Someone who does this sort of stuff all the time
Well after many phone calls and internet crashes i found someone in WA that does it with Borax Anhydrous and Soda Ash 3-1
2. Find this Borax in Australia (good luck with that)
Many Many phone calls later i found a Coy that sell just what i want to the Gold Mines in WA (now to see if i can get some pretty please just a tiny bit)
3. Comes in 25kg bags only (bugger) and has to be bought from Sydney but shipped from Vic (double bugger) but the Coy warehouse is located in Sydney (don't figure)
4. Ok bit the bullet paid an arm and a leg ( i will admit the lady done a lot of research for me to get the cheapest rate possible and to make sure it was the right stuff for what i wanted to do and for that i do really thank her she is a credit to the Coy she works for)
5. Need another method of melting as Gas is very expensive so lets try electricity
Here we go again back to the land of the internet and phone calls
6. Electric Furnace out of America (you have got to be kidding) even my bank card had a heart attack and paypal went into meltdown
ok keep looking
Stumbled across one out of Vic (ebay) it was a JC-K-220-1 Furnace $639.00 sent off an email as even my paypal account is still in meltdown
This man is a man among men got it for $539.00 delivered (direct deposit) arrived today after one week
The first test for this will be on the weekend (if i can wait that long i mean a big kid with a new toy out of the box sitting on the table you have got to be kidding me 2 whole days)
Now my big question is what chemicals do people on here use and why and what do you use to melt with and have you tested the gold content at the end

That is a bloody hilarious read Mate. :lol: :lol: :lol:
I do not know of the chemicals but,
You better call an Ambulance and balance the Credit Card
when you get your next power bill. 8) 8) :8
How many Gigawatts does the furnace use. ??
Oh the trials and tribulations of a modern day prospector eh. ?
Don't you just love it...

In plain langauge,just what are you aiming to do just melt gold,or refine it.
As for borax,you can buy at supermarkets,or get some flux from jewerly supplier,and you reguire very little to melt gold.

ah another good point tathradj Yes the power bill (was trying to forget about that so thanks for reminding me) it is a 1kw furnace so will just have to wait and see they did tell me to run it for an hour for each melt/refine (might take shares in the power coy)

sorry thedigger should have made that a bit clearer yes it is for refining and the stuff you get from supermarkets has a lot of additives/contaminates and was told by an assay office not to use that sort of think the words were Over the counter crap its full of **** so get the right stuff the first time and i did learn that by getting the other borax from a very well known Australian coy that stuffed the refining so the rock and the hard place is a very fine line when it comes to this sort of refining yes but being in a country town its hard to find a lot of suppliers
about one and a half tea spoons per melt/refine does the job as per my first refine unless it becomes contaminated then the ratio/time changes big time

Well marksman,you will not refine gold with borax,it is used for melting,it covers the metal to stop oxdation.
To refine the process is very much longer.
You need several acids and some other chemicals and vacum pump and some glassware.
Believe me it takes time and experience,to refine .

now this is why i am asking this question
what i was told by the assay office is that the borax soda ash mix also draws out all the impurities black sand etc (might give them a ring tomorrow and question them further)
i have done the utube hunt and didn't find much unless you are doing computer gold
so what you are saying is that i need to do it the same way as they do all that sort of stuff (pins motherboards etc etc) Chemicals

hey tathradj no worries about the ambo have one that lives across the road he knows what i am like so i am sure he will be listening for the for detectors to go off (again) it seems its a common occurrence here (burnt toast) found out that you should not use map gas to refine gold inside even with all doors and windows open they tend to set the detectors off (noisy little buggers) but all good now my partner has shown me a Nice place (so she said) right down the back yard to do this sort of stuff (she didn't take into account the rain or was that why she gave me an umbrella anyway besides any further i will be in my neighbors yard something about the smell and noise just cant figure them out no sense of adventure) gave up trying to sort the credit card out gotta use my new toy first get back to the card later let it cool down for a while lol

Using borax or professional flux will draw out impurities such as black sand and float it to the top, but you want as less impurities as you possibly can. The soda you have been told about is 'washing soda' or as we call it here in woolworths 'Lectric Soda' or simple sodium carbonate. If you do not know how to simply refine supermarket salts, then acids are certainly not for you. Anyone can refine and recrystalize for purifications and yes it will work anyway.

As for the chemical breakdown, its best if you have ultimate knowledge on chemistry, acids, poisinous gas extraction etc..

Can I just suggest you look up everytjing that can go wrong, such as spilling molten metals..protection etc.. how acid will burn you etc. MANY things are not shown in these utube vids you see to save time and make the vid seem more 'fun'. If its %99.999 pure metal you want..then id suggest taking some chemistry courses or something, you certainly cannot jump straight into it

Quite honestly I personally think the carbon Cy method is safer than using other the other acids and toxic fumes.

I highly suggest you smelt some aluminium and borax powder first. Borax in laundry section of not woolworths, but smaller groceries like Foodies, IGA, and the reject shop. You really need a professional to explain this stuff to you though mate... i cant emphasise the amount of damages, acidents and burns that can happen... and thats the expected slip ups. A blob of molten metal in the eye will certainly blind

Thanks AtomRat i will look into that and i know how hot it gets as a few burnt fingers have happened. My idea was not to use acid and that sort of stuff don't like it and way to dangerous as far as i am concerned
My idea was to try and stick to the way i was doing it just getting everyone to chip in if they had done it and how it turned out
I have a mate here in town that will only use acid mix i just dont't trust myself around open bottles of liquid and yes i didn't do well in chemistry at school what i did learn has lone gone from my files lol

As the Digger says it won't refine your gold. Not in the true sense anyway. It will draw out some impurities such as black sand etc. but your gold will still not be 100% pure. 22 carat is pretty good.
It's probably the cheapest, safest method for fossickers/prospectors & even small scale miners to turn their fine/dirty gold into a saleable bar/button that is reasonably clean & pure enough for buyers. They will assay it & pay accordingly.
To refine properly then I'd use a proper refiner. By the time you set up to do it safely + correctly & buy chemicals etc. then it probably isn't worth it unless you have large amounts of gold to refine like many ounces or even kilos. Same if sending to a refiner you would want a large package of gold to be worthwhile.
You need 100% borax (anhydrous borax). Supermarkets, Bunnings etc. is about 98% & will work but has it's own impurities. Heat is important too = mapp gas for torch melts.
For others you can buy small amounts here:
http://www.gemcuts.com.au/borax-powder-250g

This bloke does melts at Gold type fests/meetings etc.:
[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/IsdsaSntkzU[/video]

yes thats the borax i got and i found out the hard way about getting the other with so much impurities and as i said i will not play with acid
The firsi started getting problemst bar i done i got 5k was very happy about that but then the problems started so everything said on here i will take on board don't worry about that
that is one of the video's i watched (along with many many more) and got some good idea's

I got Borax in a 1kg container at my local Bunnings.

the problem i have is it needed to be as pure as possable and as i found out most of what you get over the counter dosen't cut it thats why i had to look at what the assay people use si i figured if it works for then i has to work for me (lol yea right we will see) i will post photos once i have done it and test the purity so all i can do is wait and see (big kid new toy its driving me mad lol only one day to go)

Sounds like youre on a roll then mate! The only other thing I'd really suggest that can be overlooked, is how to care for and prevent thermal shock to your new equipment. I personally have not used the graphite crucibles yet and unsure if you need to pre temper them before use, or if you have to 'cake' them with flux before adding gold. Mabey someone whos actually done the process can help with that. I had crucibles crack on me for aluminium and copper though and its not fun, nor any time to react, just glad to be at safe distance from it! For the gold, yes id be using highest purity reccomended fluxes, but if you were to test a cheap metal like alloy or copper before gold, everyday borax and sodium carbonate ( lectric soda ) will be fine and cheap.

If you ever get up to large masses of metals, it is much easier to hold the fluxes under the molt with a sieved plunger, that retains the salts under / in the fluid, rather than sprinkling and floating on top. It will also help force out more impurities and gasses / bubbles drawn from the bottom to the top. you probably wont even be needing that info for small amounts of gold, but could be useful so I threw it in

Alluvial gold refines the easiest,but gold from ore can give problems.
A lot of silver in the gold,tends to shield the acid.
So refining your own gold is tricky,and not that easy.

Sit the crucible on top of the furnace to heat it to almost the same temp as the melt. Wear eye protection and gloves etc and pour quite deliberately and 'quickly'.
(Quickly is not the right word...don't rush but be prompt...)

Well its Friday late arvo and that furnace is still sitting on the table laughing at me but not for long the big kid will win just wait and see
Thanks atomrat i will look into that and see how it goes i have to heat them up and as simmo pointed out they need to be very hot which i was not getting them hot enough before so thanks simmo i will do that
i know what you mean by quickly just don't stop for a beer half way through lol (sorry couldn't help myself)

Shame you didn't sing out before you started buying all your goodies, i have a crucible mapp gas torch and borax you could have used. Though if you have got yourself a furnace you will be laughing now hopefully.

Mate thanks for the offer i would have taken you up on that but now its my new toys turn (god one more day)
If you need borax or soda ash i seem to have a little bit to spare (like 15kg) just give me a yell

i rang the bloke at the assay office again today as i said i would and his comment was use Borax Anhydrous as it is purer then any of the others on offer and i have to send him photos when its been done (before and after) i will put them up here as well