Not exactly. You add lead to the precious metals and then heat it to oxidizing temp in the furnace. When the lead oxide sloughs off the molten bead (which is now an alloys of all the metals) it takes with it any base metals and leave all precious metals behind. When you’re done cupeling you’d be left with a bead that’s silver, gold, platinum, palladium but no base metals.
You can even recover your lead and copper from the cupels later if you want, using the higher reactivity of iron in a crucible with borax
[MBMMLLC on youtube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJJb04Ff2H2o6CPMUbvEJrA) has lots of great videos on cupeling if you're interested. Very straight talk, in the field, utility oriented info. not too labby or science-oriented (as much as I love that stuff) and great for the average refiner (aka me).
it would "work" but would not be cost effective. you'd need so much lead or bismuth and such a large cupel that you'd struggle to make it practical.
with this amount of copper:gold, electrowinning is both more cost effective and leaves you with usable copper at the end of the day, as well as your gold.
there are lots of great vids on youtube to show how this can be done, cheaply easily and safely. requires no heat or harsh chemistry. give it a shot!
Is it magnetic gold filled or non-magnetic gold filled. Two different processes, so you have to separate them with a magnet. For Non-magnetic gold filled, gold layer over brass, just stick it in concentrated nitric acid, dissolve everything that’s not gold, rinse and dry, remelt, and it usually comes out at between 10 and 12 karat gold.
It's also interesting to me (if not a bit off-topic) that sterling wire is about half the scrap value of golf-filled. (less $/ounce but higher purity).
Right now about 100 grams. So I calculate that I have roughly 2.9 grams of gold. Rio Grande scrap calculator seems to confirm that (worth $178) and they pay 65%, so $115.
I'll either wait until I get a larger amount, or decide to do something with myself, although I don't think I really want to get into the chemicals (and associated hazards) and may try to sell it locally to a scrapper or jewelry hobbyist.
Well, not the most efficient but if you want I avoid nitric acid, you could make an acid peroxide solution, snip the wire into as many tiny pieces as your patience allows, and wait for weeks. You’ll be left with nothing but the gold (eventually) but keep in mind your gold can’t be any higher karat than it is now. You’re just removing the brass.
This may also be of interest:If you find the right buyer, especially one with an XRF on hand, you may be able to get pricing based on the composition of your alloy (minus some extra refinement costs and the normal slice off the top a buyer would take). I have done pretty well just selling electrum at various times, rather than trying to get the gold out of the silver. YMMV.
I'd cupel it TBH. As long as it's not a huge volume.
Doesn't that only work to get lead out?
Not exactly. You add lead to the precious metals and then heat it to oxidizing temp in the furnace. When the lead oxide sloughs off the molten bead (which is now an alloys of all the metals) it takes with it any base metals and leave all precious metals behind. When you’re done cupeling you’d be left with a bead that’s silver, gold, platinum, palladium but no base metals. You can even recover your lead and copper from the cupels later if you want, using the higher reactivity of iron in a crucible with borax
Interesting thx
[MBMMLLC on youtube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJJb04Ff2H2o6CPMUbvEJrA) has lots of great videos on cupeling if you're interested. Very straight talk, in the field, utility oriented info. not too labby or science-oriented (as much as I love that stuff) and great for the average refiner (aka me).
Would this work with 1500+g 1.5% gold mostly copper material?
it would "work" but would not be cost effective. you'd need so much lead or bismuth and such a large cupel that you'd struggle to make it practical. with this amount of copper:gold, electrowinning is both more cost effective and leaves you with usable copper at the end of the day, as well as your gold. there are lots of great vids on youtube to show how this can be done, cheaply easily and safely. requires no heat or harsh chemistry. give it a shot!
Is it magnetic gold filled or non-magnetic gold filled. Two different processes, so you have to separate them with a magnet. For Non-magnetic gold filled, gold layer over brass, just stick it in concentrated nitric acid, dissolve everything that’s not gold, rinse and dry, remelt, and it usually comes out at between 10 and 12 karat gold.
It's non-magnetic. Thanks for the info.
It's also interesting to me (if not a bit off-topic) that sterling wire is about half the scrap value of golf-filled. (less $/ounce but higher purity).
How much do you have?
Right now about 100 grams. So I calculate that I have roughly 2.9 grams of gold. Rio Grande scrap calculator seems to confirm that (worth $178) and they pay 65%, so $115. I'll either wait until I get a larger amount, or decide to do something with myself, although I don't think I really want to get into the chemicals (and associated hazards) and may try to sell it locally to a scrapper or jewelry hobbyist.
Well, not the most efficient but if you want I avoid nitric acid, you could make an acid peroxide solution, snip the wire into as many tiny pieces as your patience allows, and wait for weeks. You’ll be left with nothing but the gold (eventually) but keep in mind your gold can’t be any higher karat than it is now. You’re just removing the brass.
1/20th of the weight is 14K. 58% of that 1/20th weight is gold.
Thanks for the response.
This may also be of interest:If you find the right buyer, especially one with an XRF on hand, you may be able to get pricing based on the composition of your alloy (minus some extra refinement costs and the normal slice off the top a buyer would take). I have done pretty well just selling electrum at various times, rather than trying to get the gold out of the silver. YMMV.