Home smelting copper from sulfide minerals

[@mikeeureka2171]

Thank You Chris for taking the time to share your wealth of knowledge

[@ChrisRalph]

My pleasure! Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@alijee4616]

Piz WhatsApp number

[@oldminer5387]

Chris, great video and interesting information. Thank you for making the effort and taking the time to explaining the process.

[@ChrisRalph]

Glad it was helpful!

[@okiedirtdiggersadventures481]

Very interesting video. Thank you for sharing.

[@ChrisRalph]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@gregsmith6394]

Thank you for sharing your knolage,. I have run heavy equipment digging the earth for the last 40 years. Love rocks and minerals. But understanding them ... Another life time may help. Needless to say, love listing to people as yourself, knolage I don't possess. Thank you.

[@ChrisRalph]

Its is a great thing to always be seeking knowledge. Thanks for sharing

[@Smithsgold]

looking forward to the next few video's !!!

[@ChrisRalph]

Just decided to cut the next video "Prospecting for Copper" into 2 videos, rather than one super long one. After that, melting brass and burning zinc.

[@Smithsgold]

@@ChrisRalph Nice !!!!!!

[@bamf3244]

Hey Chris been deep diving your material thanks for being such a great teacher :) I found some sedimentary rocks that have native copper and some yellow that i think is chalcopyrite. They were shaped like eggs some green and some red and had small grains like sand. They have cavities that look like other minerals have been leached out. They are pretty easy to break apart with a hammer and I panned one and there are some shiny yellow that i was getting at the bottom of the pan. I have been trying to find what deposition model it could be or if it would be worth chasing. Do you have any suggestion what it might be? I am in Idaho right by the big lava flows. Both mountain ranges on each side have had lots of silver-lead mines, copper and gold mines but no previous mines in my middle mountain range. I found this right next to two expired claims from the 80s that were on the creek next to the mountain. Again thanks for all the resources you are providing hopefully you can turn this biologist into a solid prospector one day :)

[@ChrisRalph]

And that is why I don't offer to do mineral ID. You are not really sure of the rock, maybe its native copper, but maybe just something copper colored. I really have no idea what you have. Watch my mineral ID video - color is the least important thing in doing ID of a mineral - because many minerals are of the same color.

[@GoldPanDan]

Hey Chris, Can you do the same with gold locked in pyrites by just sticking a piece of iron in the mix? I've roasted ores before, I am just looking for a quicker method.

[@ChrisRalph]

Nope. That wont work. I am currently working on oxidizing pyrite using bacteria, but its really slow. I will eventually do a video on it.

[@GoldPanDan]

@@ChrisRalph That sounds interesting! Is the idea of mixing the pyritic copper and the oxidized copper that the oxygen in the malachite will drive the sulphur off the pyrite and release as the sulphur dioxide?

[@ChrisRalph]

Yes, but if you watched the video , then you saw what happened.

[@GoldPanDan]

@@ChrisRalph Haha yes I did. All part of experimenting. I enjoy your videos Chris!

[@IBRAKEFORBEDROCK]

That was a great video Chris ! I would love to do that some day

[@ChrisRalph]

Thanks for watching, hope you are doing well.

[@mattnelson4387]

thank you. Very interesting channel. Are you certain your furnace is hot enough? During the pour, it appears to lack the liquid consistency expected...maybe prove or disprove this with an IR thermometer?

[@ChrisRalph]

The problem was not enough flux.

[@kerrypurcell6022]

thank you for making this video,

[@ChrisRalph]

My pleasure! I'm glad it was helpful.

[@DaleDuffy]

Interesting, and an excellent video as always....!

[@ChrisRalph]

Thanks again! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@searchtv5878]

Dear Dr.Chris, I really appreciate all your lectures. I have one question. Is weatheted product of soil of copper ore can loose its original copper ore grade or concentration? I mean does the copper can be leached from the copper ore due to weathering?

[@ChrisRalph]

Sometimes, but not always.

[@searchtv5878]

Thank you.

[@jakefranklin269]

I experimented with this process and also failed. On my second attempt i crushed the ore untill it was small enough to go through a flour sifter. Then used a gold pan to seperate the sulphides and host rock. roasted the sulphides in a stainless steel bowl untill red hot. slowly pourd the hot sulphides onto a steel tray in a low wind environment so it doesnt blow away (roughly 3 feet above the tray). As it falls through the air it creates a high oxygen environment for the red hot sulphides and it drives off the sulphur (i figured this out by accident). then proceeded to smelt with some scrap iron. It came out surprisingly clean. (If anyone attempts this please use breathing apparatus. Burning sulphur/heavy metals is toxic) Great video. I just found your chanel and subscribed 👍.

[@ChrisRalph]

Sounds interesting.

[@joshortiz1576]

Great video!! Would love to see more on this

[@ChrisRalph]

Did you see last week's video on smelting Oxidized copper ores? If not take a look at: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6HFYZh_hbCjnrc

[@HALIYALBETAGERIVLOG2024]

Good information sir thank you very much 🙏

[@ChrisRalph]

Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@danielvisionn6095]

Would adding crushed hematite to copper sulfide work? Thanks

[@ChrisRalph]

Not really.

[@eloroestaentodaspartes-goldise]

Hello Friends Chris Ralph. When they make a video in which you show how to separate gold and silver from an amalgam extracted from one of your mining tests. Soon I will mount one in my channel since I have some good samples, at this moment I am looking for the chemicals that allow me to separate the Gold and Silver ore with Nitric Acid and Hydrochloric Acid. Greetings from Caracas Venezuela.

[@ChrisRalph]

Nitric Acid and Hydrochloric Acid is a terrible way to extract gold. It works very poorly. Others have tried and shown it to be a mistake.

[@nuhungemisi51]

I watch your videos with interest and I like them. I think the problem here is to make the flux more fluent. Also, the charging time You should stretch it a little. respects

[@ChrisRalph]

Maybe so.

[@donaldtrumpbaby5493]

Good day sir !!! How about the Pinoy Prospecting channel ,,,was it real Gold Nuggets that they found ?

[@ChrisRalph]

Looks fake to me.

[@donaldtrumpbaby5493]

Did you already watch and review thier channel ?

[@JsStack]

Great video. This is a very interesting topic. As a metal melting channel, the easiest thing I can say that will help you and is so cheep, you might just slap yourself on the forehead and say OH MY GOSH!!! If you put a piece of cardboard on your firebrick, then your crucible on the cardboard, it won’t stick most of the time. Use the thicker cardboard, the double layer with the wavy sheet in it., not the pop can box. It works, but the thicker the better. Very easy and cheep fix. While melting the mix, did you stir it to mix it up? That might help. Sounds like something I would like to try. What was your mix ratio, 50/50?

[@ChrisRalph]

I do put cardboard under the crucible. I did also stir it.

[@JsStack]

@@ChrisRalph Right on. Would it be possible to use stainless steel tubing (or something with a high melting point) running down to the bottom of the crucible and hook an air compressor to it to blow air slowly to add oxygen to the mix? How do they do it in the big industrial complexes?

[@ChrisRalph]

Consider the danger of bubble splattering red hot sulfide lava all over. Yikes!

[@JsStack]

@@ChrisRalph I can imagine. I have had a couple minor eruptions with copper and brass.

[@richmikesell812]

I have prospected in AZ and NV using detectors and panning with very limited results. Nowadays I mine coin shops and have found that the gold I get from them is usually cheaper than the gold I got from prospecting, LOL.

[@ChrisRalph]

Its out there to be found.

[@richmikesell812]

@@ChrisRalph I know, was just joking.

[@ayhamhafez285]

Thanks for informative video, whats happened with you is you got a copper oxide matt, when you smelt copper sulpide with crucible gas furnace, first the copper sulphides converted to copper oxide before it been melted, so just add carbon source with your flux and you will get copper beads, if you want to get copper button you need to concentrate the ore first or add pure copper as a collector to collect the small produced copper beads, by some calculations you can get the copper weight in the ore.

[@ChrisRalph]

Actually looking at the result, it was a matte - a mix of melted sulfides.

[@ayhamhafez285]

@ChrisRalph the copper sulphide will converted to copper by reaction with iron as a result we will get iron sulphate and metallic copper, but oxygen much reactive than iron so copper sulphide will converted to copper oxide unless you used induction furnace that prevents oxygen from entering the crucible, but you used gas crucible furnace, so you got copper oxide and SO2 which reacted with iron to make iron sulphate, at the end you got a black matte that mainly contains copper oxide and iron sulphide plus other oxide/sulphide metals traces.

[@ayhamhafez285]

If you remelt the matte with carbon source as charcoal powder you will get a metallic copper

[@wleight1]

Very much enjoyed the video, sir. Unfortunately Amazon is showing your book as currently unavailable when I clicked the link.

[@ChrisRalph]

It will be available on Amazon soon, but for now its a Covid delay. I am totally out of stock, my distributor is out of stock, Amazon is out of stock - everyone is out of stock. The book is being reprinted and the last step of printing is was just completed. In the past it has taken about a month to get reprinted in the past, but with the covid thing it has taken 10 weeks to print the new copies and it will be another week before they are delivered from the printer who is in Minnesota. I didn't plan on running out so badly, but the virus has caused more delay than I expected. The good news is that they will be available again soon at Amazon and elsewhere. Sorry for the delay, Covid virus has made a mess of many things. They have a button on the book's Amazon page to sign up such that Amazon will send you an email when it is back in stock. Chris

[@savvy.dispatch]

what about roasting the copper first and turning it into copper oxide from copper sulfide?

[@ChrisRalph]

Roasting makes loads of nasty toxic sulfur dioxide gas.

[@rjwm0143]

Chris, can you add your book to Amazon again? I just went to buy it and it's showing it as available from other sellers at prices between $50-$110. I'd like to get it from you at your normal price.

[@ChrisRalph]

It will be available on Amazon soon, but for now its a Covid delay. I am totally out of stock, but my distributor just got in the new copies. The book was being reprinted and is just completed. In the past it has taken about a month to get reprinted, but with the covid thing it has taken 11 weeks to print and ship the new copies. I didn't plan on running out so badly, but the virus has caused way more delay than I expected. The good news is that they will be available again soon at Amazon and elsewhere. Sorry for the delay, but Covid virus has made a mess of many things. Amazon should be back in stock within about a week. I likely wont have copies myself until after the first of the year.

[@rjwm0143]

No worries. It is my Christmas present to myself, and then in March/April I'll be heading out to Rye Patch for some nugget shooting. Just need some good reading to keep my brain occupied until it's a little warmer out.

[@timmerjoe9617]

you the man Ralph

[@ChrisRalph]

Thanks for the kind words.

[@bentationfunkiloglio]

I played around with smelting copper sulfides a couple years ago. As I recall, I had to make a very, very basic flux. Don’t recall details, unfortunately.

[@ChrisRalph]

Interesting.

[@mishecktawandamawema8141]

What fluxes do i use when smelting copper oxides and in what quantities

[@ChrisRalph]

Depends on the mix you are smelting. I use borax and sodium carbonate.

[@mishecktawandamawema8141]

@@ChrisRalph i have a small copper claim where im currently extracting a mixture of azurite and malachite. I would like to smelt it then use electrolysis to purify the blister copper. So for every 1kg of ore how much borax and sodium carbonate do i use. What effect do they have in the process. I want to build my own brick furnaces and do 25kg ore batches. How long would i have to keep the mixture in the furnace. Regards Tawanda

[@eloroestaentodaspartes-goldise]

Hola Amigo. La búsqueda de oro puede ser difícil y aunque es duro fracasar, es mucho peor no haberlo intentado. Si buscar oro fuera fácil sin riesgos, todo el mundo lo haría. Subir a la montaña, entrar a una mina, prospectar en los meandros de un rio. Si no lo haces, no aprenderías a valorar lo que implica el esfuerzo, la dedicación, la constancia. Saludos desde Caracas Venezuela.!!

[@ChrisRalph]

Nitric Acid and Hydrochloric Acid is a terrible way to extract gold. It works very poorly. Others have tried and shown it to be a mistake.

[@eloroestaentodaspartes-goldise]

@@ChrisRalph A certain professor, I understand that chemicals such as nitric acid must be handled in a safe and responsible way so that they do not harm health or the environment. But it is that I do not see another way to process the samples that do not have visible gold, they are metamorphic rocks that have a lot of mineralization, take about 10 kilos of material, pulverize them and wash a 100-milligram sample with a little soap to see if I could see some gold, but I didn't see any visible gold. Although I do not consider these first samples a failure, since in order to see gold this type of material would have to be treated with chemicals.

[@ChrisRalph]

I did not say they were dangerous, though they are. I said it was a terrible way to extract gold because it does not work. There are too many other contaminants in the ore for this method to work properly. As I said, Others have tried and shown it to be a mistake. That was because it did not work and just created a giant toxic mess of hazardous waste with no gold recovered. In big mines such gold would be recovered using cyanide, but cyanide is a dangerous poison and may not be practical for a small operator. Eventually in 2021, I will be doing some experiments with extracting gold by using thiosulfate, a much less toxic leaching chemical.

[@bonbonpony]

What's that "flux" you keep talking about?

[@ChrisRalph]

A mixture of borax and sodium carbonate that forms a glass that helps the melted mixture flow.

[@mainwarings3]

we made iron from ore , using a homemade clay kiln , crush the ore and layer it with charcoal, ore - charcoal - ore charcoal etc , we was left with small ingots of iron which was collected afterwards for further possessing

[@ChrisRalph]

Right, but you were processing oxide iron ores like Hematite or magnetite. This was a sulfide mineral ore, a lot different from the oxides of iron. I did do an oxidized copper smelt recently with charcoal, and it came off with no problem. Take a look at: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6HFYZh_hbCjnrc

[@mainwarings3]

It was local rock in south wales , I have no idea about the exact composition but could find out , if I took a further sample , our valley is called gilfach goch ( little red valley ) , once a coal mining area rich with minerals that was dug out and tipped with no regard

[@mainwarings3]

actually makes more scense, all of the iron ore we collected have already been exposed to the air, so the process had already started

[@GiftedBrendaTV]

nice teaching.

[@ChrisRalph]

Thanks and welcome.

[@ufordcontrerassanchez5351]

para obtener cobre apartir de sulfuros y oxido tienes que mesclar el polvo de roca con acido borico y nitrato de potasio y fundir asi se obtiene cobre de sulfuros y oxidos saludos desde Dominican Republic

[@ChrisRalph]

Greetings!

[@narendramakwana8429]

Your honesty 💕 like

[@ChrisRalph]

I appreciate that

[@oddball8758]

I can't view the rest of the video because my computer keeps stopping it. I will try something else because this is very interesting stuff.

[@ChrisRalph]

OK. Sorry for you problems.

[@donaldtrumpbaby5493]

Did you already watch and review the Pinoy Prospecting channel Sir ?

[@ChrisRalph]

I looked at it and gave you my opinion, you can think whatever you like.

[@corydavey3026]

What is the ounce per ton on the ore?

[@ChrisRalph]

Copper is done in percent, not OZ per ton.

[@stevencollins4555]

built one of those crucible type primitive forges found some copper ore gonna give go "charcoal"

[@ChrisRalph]

OK.

[@davidhansen4471]

ok ...... another 10 stars for that one also thank you

[@ChrisRalph]

Glad that you enjoyed it.

[@danielclayton7524]

Thanks

[@ChrisRalph]

No problem. Glad to hear you found it helpful

[@jasoncarr1764]

I think I saw you on a History Channel video I watched. Is that true?

[@ChrisRalph]

Yep. I've done several things with the History Channel.

[@allenhammer7923]

Chris you gave up? That is unacceptable. I have been learning about smelting and I see copper captures PM metals and makes it hard to smelt. You need to solve this not give up if you want my respect, Your a teacher and this is a main issue of what you claim to be an expert of and you dropped the ball and disappointed me. If you delete this because I am holding you accountable that is wrong too. It is exactly what our government has been doing and doing during this election. I believe you are a better man than that, please find the answer for us. We need your help to be successful. The film you did on ores shows large mines with PM's that can not be seen all had to figure this out.

[@ChrisRalph]

I did not say I was giving up - I said I could make it work if I had more time - and I am saving the matte and slag from this attempt and will likely get back to it one of these days when I have more time available. I've had lots of folks ask about the next video in this series, on recognizing copper minerals and prospecting for copper ores. I am moving on with that for now. I also have other things planned after that. So I am not giving up, just setting it aside for now.

[@allenhammer7923]

@@ChrisRalph Thank you, Chris, I look forward to that video. Maybe you can have a guest expert with you to help us on this subject. A commercial operator of a large mine who can break it down for the backyard refiner. I thought I saw your metal stuck in the crucible when you poured and did not notice it.

[@narendramakwana8429]

It should do with oxygen in first time because sulfate free in present of oxygen,and in second attempt u can get metal,and very high capacity bhatthi must be

[@ChrisRalph]

Ok.

[@1topskyrocket]

I suspect that you never got the copper out of the flask the first time because it started cooling too fast. This time if you're using the same crucible you're going to end up with extra copper. I haven't watched the whole video yet but I can guesstimate...

[@ChrisRalph]

Watch the whole video and see what happens.

[@ufordcontrerassanchez5351]

no es necesario usar auto clave para recuperar cobre de sulfuros

[@ChrisRalph]

Sorry, but I do not speak Spanish, and you do not speak English well.

[@oddball8758]

OK I saw the rest,...maybe that little bit of Copper visible was that little bit of Chrysocolla.

[@ChrisRalph]

Chrysocolla is a blue copper containing mineral, I saw reddish metallic copper.

[@oddball8758]

@@ChrisRalph Chrysocolla also has variable amounts of Silica. The other two don't. Is that Right ?

[@jeffersonstategold8349]

Great video Ralph! I have watched you for the last couple years and find your videos to be very informative. Have you reached out to mbmmllc? I watch his videos also and he is a master at extraction from smelting, he might be able to help you recover more copper. Anyways, I love your videos!

[@ChrisRalph]

I talk to Jason from time to time. I've been to his shop in Washington.

[@alaspooryorick9946]

Great video mate! Love your work. I had about the same level of success that you did playing around with some ore samples I picked up in the bush the other day. What I did have success with though was cutting the ore up into slabs with a diamond wheel and polishing them up. Alas, no nice copper, but pretty colours are a nice compensation :)

[@ChrisRalph]

Thanks for sharing! glad you had an interesting experience.

[@secrettreasure1388]

'''''''' THANKS ,,,,,,,,

[@ChrisRalph]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@oddball8758]

Cu + OH + CO2 by heating, the H and CO2 took off and left you with CuO.....I think !

[@ChrisRalph]

What about all the sulfur in the sulfides? There was actually very little Malachite or Azurite in that melt.

[@oddball8758]

@@ChrisRalph Isn't the Sulfur gone when we see the blues and greens ? I thought it was only in the black ore .

[@isaiahdoerr7106]

Why did they dislike?

[@ChrisRalph]

How I did the video.

[@patdenney7046]

I'm fine copper nugget every once in awhile I hear there's some place back East to get all kinds of them nuggets copper ones Did you see those nuggets for sale actually there big chunks of Ironstone from Sierra City I think it's called the Blackbeard claim but they say they're Platinum and Ridiom they want ridiculous amounts of money for them and they say they got like so many ounces of gold so much silver in them if they are let me know I have a few of those in the several pound range EBay check it out Have you seen the Bentonite crystals that have came out of Northern Cal

[@ChrisRalph]

People all over Ebay and the res of the internet will try to rip you off every day. There are more of these thieves than one can count. Bentonite is a clay mineral. I think you mean Benitoite, a blue gemstone from central CA.

[@patdenney7046]

@@ChrisRalph yeah that's what I meant I was just talking to my phone it has a mind of its own It's sometimes called Miracle clay very good for straightening out your digestive system and removing heavy metals from your body inside and out it is negatively charged so when you mix it into a paste and you don't want to use any metal or do it in a metal Bowl that's no What's really cool to do with the Bentonite member not in metal Bowl or don't mix it with metal spoon soak your feet in it make sure your feet are as clean as they can be do a foot soak and then pan it out you will be amazed Back to that blue crystal yeah that's what I'm talking about I know where they found it in central Cal I used to race dirt bikes down there I'm talking about the stuff they found in Northern Cal I had a nice chunk AP.5 carat of it but I let this beautiful blond talk me out of it darn it I got it from this lady rockhound she's now passed away she was a true rockhound I got a petrified wood collection from her make a long story short I donated it to a museum he promised me it would never go in the closet yeah I let somebody show it at a science fair oh no oh well for the good of the people

[@patdenney7046]

@@ChrisRalph we'll have to get together sometime and do some hunting I'm not big on lots of people I live in Paradise if you want to call it that we had a mini out of control campfire 84 people 17,000 homes 3000 businesses completely gone in 12 hours every fence every dog house every woodpile ouch! Oh hun anywhere Nevada in the right time of the year anywhere around Northern Cal anytime been detecting for gold since 1984 when all the pits were virgin trying to think of the old man that used to guard Rye patch darn it he's a legend anyways I think it was Norm back when you could get at least a quarter ounce a day with the gold-bug and if you were scraping better that whole area has different types of outrageously beautiful gold

[@paulbegley1464]

The Roman's were smart. Too bad there leaders were such deviant, murderous immoral thugs. Nice to know something just don't change. Roman lite at the moment, unless we are talking about North Korea, China and a few others from the not so distant past. And some that still are. And hay thanks for trying anyway but you did show us how it's done. Probably needed better materials. Looking forward to the next video. There is no failure when you learn something, right.

[@ChrisRalph]

Definitely worth something.