Alchemy is an ancient art that humans have been fascinated with for eons. As far back as humans are able to remember, gold was a critical element in society that was crucial to determine status, after all – almost everything was paid for in either gold or silver. Realizing this and driven by curiosity alchemists began to experiment with substances in an attempt to transform these substances into gold in vain. They were looking to go beyond smelting and into a new unknown dimension. Speaking of smelting, when an individual who has gold in a different form (scrap or jewellery) visits gold dealers to get cash for gold, they start of a chain reaction as the scrap is sent for smelting to extract the gold. Two main stages that are utilized in the process of smelting gold is the removal of led or mercury and Ferum otherwise known as Iron. The basic application of removing these to free radicals from the body of gold whether from scrap gold or gold jewellery involves these procedures. Renowned gold traders such that have been in the industry are prone to using these methods in smelting.
Eliminating Mercury
Mercury is a known to be very harmful to the health, particularly when it is in the form of gas. To eliminate the poison prior to smelting, gold precipitates from electro winning or Merrill-Crowe processes which usually incorporates it being heated in a retort to recover any mercury present that would otherwise cause health and environmental problems due to its release (volatilization) during smelting? The mercury present is not usually from the mercury being in the gold but due to the amalgamation process that is no longer used by formal gold mining companies, but for mercury contained in the ore that is present when the gold is mined the leaching and precipitation processes is applied to remove it.
In the event that there are high levels of copper or silver present, leaching of the precipitate using nitric or sulphuric acids may be applied. These processes are normally committed to scarp gold that may contain a variety of impurities. Gold refiners such as Cash for Old Gold are the leading refiners in Australia. Their gold refining method is fantastically objective and cost effective with less wastage compare to most other gold refiners in and around Melbourne or most other places in Australia. When it comes to converting cash for gold. Reputable gold dealers such as Cash for Old Gold would be the best place to go to get your gold’s worth.
Removing Iron
Nitric acid or forced air oven oxidation can ‘also be used’ to dissolve iron from the electro winning cathodes before smelting. Gravity concentrates can often contain high grinding steel contents, and so their removal using shaking tables or magnets is used before smelting. During smelting iron can be oxidized using nitric
Excessive use of nitric will corrode the smelting pot, increasing both maintenance costs and the risk of catastrophic leaks (known as run-a ways, or holes in the pot through which the molten charge is lost).
Extracting Copper
Usually the best method to do this is via electrolysis and therefore smelting is ‘not applied’ in this process. Most gold refiners who deal with valuable metals and are gold buyers and gold refiners use this method in large scales.