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Post by arghvark on Apr 9, 2019 11:27:16 GMT -5
Got a bucket of waste glass leftovers from gold assay. Purty stuff, ranging from a light greenish-yellow to deep and bright green to brown and almost black. Most of it very clear.
Threw some into 2 3lb barrels with 80 grit, some clay, and some water. Went out 2 days later, and NO sound coming from those barrels. None. Yikes.
Well, the good news (?) is that I've accidently discovered a recipe for a kinda cool, putty-like concrete. (Putty-like in that it has some elasticity.) Was barely able to get it all out of the barrels. Hoping that it doesn't set up any more while sitting in water because I didn't have time to deal with it this morning, so just dumped all the chunks into a bucket of water.
An interesting side-effect, a very-difficult-to-remove dark rust-colored stain gradually developed on and under my fingernails while doing all this.
Looking for some info on the substances used in gold assay and the reaction that allowed this to happen. It occurred to me to wonder if I poisoned myself handling this stuff? Did the clay contribute to this? Anyone done this before? Would love to hear about your experiences.
Argh!
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Post by fernwood on Apr 9, 2019 12:04:06 GMT -5
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Apr 9, 2019 12:18:07 GMT -5
Are yu talking about the clay crucibles that get a metallic glaze on then if so then ya the cvlay would cause that and I doubt anything in enough quantity would be present to be harmful unless you have an allergy.
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Post by arghvark on Apr 9, 2019 12:55:30 GMT -5
Are yu talking about the clay crucibles that get a metallic glaze on then if so then ya the cvlay would cause that and I doubt anything in enough quantity would be present to be harmful unless you have an allergy. Not actually crucibles or pieces of crucibles. My habit is to add a small amount of clay (potter's clay in my case) as slurry thickener.
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Post by 1dave on Apr 9, 2019 13:09:23 GMT -5
Lead is a main ingredient added to the crucibles in assay work Gold ore is often made up of many other metals - silver, antimony, arsenic . . . Here's the Blowpipe Assay Process: 1. Extract a small pulverized most carefully prepared true sample of the layer/vein/ore being assayed as possible and weigh it with the provided balance scale. 2. Combine the ore with some tiny lead pellets in a scorification dish and heat the whole thing with the alcohol lamp using the blowpipe. There's a trick to blowing through puffed out cheeks while simultaneously inhaling more air through your nose to keep the flow going. By exhaling steadily through the blowpipe you add oxygen to the flame that can increase the temperature above 2,000 degrees Celsius (3,632 degrees Fahrenheit). The lead will oxidize and react with any silicates in the ore to produce a glass-like substance called slag, and the rest of the lead would form an alloy with any gold or silver in the sample. 3. You end up with a small chunk of glass and a small bead of metal alloy in the scorification dish. 4. you pick out the metal alloy and put it in a bone ash dish and heat it up enough to oxidize all of the lead. The lead melts and the surface oxidizes. The oxide is absorbed into the cupel, exposing more lead which oxidizes.As gold and silver do not oxidize until well above 1000°C, they continue to concentrate until the last of the lead is absorbed; leaving only a "dore bead" (containing only gold and silver) in the bottom of the cupel. After cleaning, the beads' weight is recorded to get the total precious metal content of the sample. The bead is then "parted" by dissolving the silver from it with nitric acid which dissolves silver but does not affect gold. After parting, the weight of gold is recorded. Subtracting the gold weight from the dore weight provides the silver weight. 5. By weighing the final bead and dividing by the weight of the original ore sample, you can calculate the percentage of precious metal in the ore. 6. Multiply the percentage of precious metal by its part of a ton and the going price and you have the value of the mine per ton of ore. Read more: forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/86227/blowpipe-assaying?page=1#ixzz5kchKwJBd
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Post by fernwood on Apr 9, 2019 14:10:27 GMT -5
Thanks 1dave. There may be some toxic things in that concrete. I was concerned about the rust stains on the fingernails.
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gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
Active in Delaware Mineralogical Society, Cabchon Grinding and Polishing, 2 Thumlers B's and a UV-18
Member since October 2018
Posts: 375
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Post by gatorflash1 on Apr 10, 2019 6:56:42 GMT -5
Got any pictures of this goo?
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Post by arghvark on Apr 10, 2019 12:37:30 GMT -5
Got any pictures of this goo? I was in a hurry when I cleaned out the barrels, so didn't take any then. All of it has been sitting in buckets of water, will see what it looks like tonight.
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Post by vegasjames on Apr 10, 2019 19:15:46 GMT -5
With the elasticity sounds like the clay itself being more hydrated. There could be something from the assay such as borax that can also be contributing to the elasticity.
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Post by arghvark on Apr 14, 2019 17:15:38 GMT -5
Update: Well, left all that crud in a bucket with water for several days. Didn't get harder or softer, but possiby more brittle. Just looks like concrete. The barrels I used have been soaking in water as well, but it's difficult to get all the remaining stuff off the walls. Thinking I'll just make sure the edge is clean and roll with some rocks I don't care about for a few days to remove it. Interesting side note, as mentioned in 1dave 's description of the assay process: this slag stuff looks like purty glass, but it ain't. After about a week of sitting in a bucket, most of it is heavily oxidized, with a white powdery substance on the surface. I don't think I'm gonna mess with it any more. Argh
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