Gold From Lost Lead Pt. 2: Recovering Gold & Silver From Smelting Lead Collector Metal

Showing the cupellation/oxidation process for metallic lead holding precious metals. The gold and silver contained in the lead is recovered as the lead oxidizes in the cupels. The cupels act as a sponge for the oxides, but the metal does not permeate into the cupel. Once all the lead has been converted to an oxide and absorbed the precious metal bead (gold and silver) is left as a visible bead. There was a surprising amount of gold and silver left in the lead from the old cupels and previous refining process.
** For part 1: • Gold From Lost Lead Pt... **
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[@Askjeffwilliams]

really good video Jason....never seen the lead poured right into the Cupel before....usually we pour it into a cone mold and then beat it into a square ..... good job

[@mbmmllc]

Hi Jeff. Yes, the pouring into the cupel was more of an act of desperation than anything :) had so much lead and not enough molds so thought I would try the cupels. I guess it worked, but there was some off gassing from the cupel when the hot lead hit it I wasn't a fan of. Overall worked good I guess, but yes I am more familiar with breaking the lead button off the bottom of the slag from the cone mold and then cupelling a cold button or block. Thanks for watching.

[@briandrew2689]

There's my buddy lol good to see you watching others on youtube brother Jeff😎

[@Askjeffwilliams]

@@mbmmllc you betcha and keep them vids a coming...me and Slim love them

[@Askjeffwilliams]

@@briandrew2689 yep we always do love to see others out there chasing that Shiney

[@briandrew2689]

@@Askjeffwilliams right on brother,well we will see you and slim later on. Stay healthy and see ya around😎

[@betadoctor]

Jason. I have been following you for a looong time .. now i am no the kind of person to react to every YT vid. But sir you ROCK ! .. i have learn a lot and your products looks awesome. Greetings from The Netherlands.

[@mbmmllc]

Thanks Beta!

[@scotthack2632]

Hey Jason Scott here. Great set of videos. When I do the cupelling I follow some strict temperature guidelines based on a booklet that I got from Legend Mine. It’s an assaying booklet so it’s procedure is designed to absolutely minimize any precious metals loss. But you didn’t do badly. I really liked your specific gravity test. Thanks for sharing

[@mbmmllc]

Thank you so much for your comment and for watching our videos!

[@Horns-knowledge]

Such work realy helps others to know more skils...........huge thank you

[@roybm3124]

Never knew you could measure water displacement this way. Thank you for this video!

[@kornkobbler1]

Specific gravity

[@aumetalmental8403]

Cool. Those vessels are pretty handy for that process.😎✌️

[@mbmmllc]

Yeah, cupels are cool

[@cheesynuts4291]

Science!! Hell yes. Thanks jason.

[@lancemasterdavidlancesomer8341]

Aqua Regia those 1/2&1/2 weights to refine the . 999 and with the silver as waste to start electrolysis of all the silver in a silver cell to grow pure silver crystals once every 15 days. Pretty much hands free till the harvest. Pure refining is a whole other refining process but worth it really, you keep a good track record and I have to tell ya. You are good at what your doing I've learned a bunch about mining and prospecting from your channel and the tips pay up well in my experience. So thanks for that.well done. Gold gettem

[@rogerclaiborne6815]

So my take on all this is that fire assays under report on how much precious metals are actually in an ore. Useful to know.

[@mbmmllc]

Thank you for watching!

[@srnkp]

Arcamidis theory is verygood idea

[@johnh8615]

Buy a jewellery test kit to get the exact carat of gold. Then out of 24 carats the rest is other precious metals to make up the remainder content of your button.

[@PreciousOpal]

So what is the rule of thumb? How much lead added to remove how much base metals based on how much base there is in the mix? Or how much lead for the hole alloy content??

[@frankbyrd9345]

Very informative ... Thank you ! Gold to Ya !

[@lancemillward2462]

could there be residual silver in the lead fishing weights? would be interesting to see you process the fishing weights alone

[@Avalanche2]

I just looked up how much these cupels cost, Im shocked!!

[@erikpetersen4958]

How long at temp does it take to oxidize off the lead?

[@5roundsrapid263]

I figured it was about 50/50 from the color of the bead. I wasn’t far off!

[@hateonskillz318]

Those crucibles are pretty cool to help in the process. Did you know how much gold you put in or was this all to see the process and use Crucibles

[@matthewvann9326]

Can you reuse these cupels since they have cracked and what caused it

[@Enjoymentboy]

Excellent series. I am always amazed at how much can be recovered from so called "waste". A little bit of time and creativity and our waste streams can become a resource. From my own silver refining I have managed to recover well over 6kg of KNO3 which I then use to synthesise my nitric acid. I would have never guessed so much PMs had been absorbed into the cupels. Nice work at getting them back.

[@Baronstone]

Don't throw that lead out because you think it isn't worth the tiny amount you recover. Save it, then when you have enough for a kilo or so worth of gold and silver, buy the chemicals and extract the gold and silver that way or have someone extract it chemically for you. There is more than one way to skin a gold and silver cat.

[@josephburdell2041]

Is there a way to recover the lead after you get your bead

[@SomervilleBob]

That changes the value of the original ore greatly.

[@mbmmllc]

Yes, still some gold left over. Mostly from refining, but a few grams of gold was a nice surprise!

[@craigloewenhagen4417]

I'm new to a lot of this and becoming perplexed on my own endeavors. Do you have a idea how long the cupel process normally takes for a certain amount of lead?

[@pekkarousu3616]

Gold value about $100, silver value close to nothing. Cost of cupels and propane? Looks like 7 cupels cost $180 or? And takes a couple of hours of work.

[@tylerkrug7719]

Very interesting! How long did you end up heating the lead in the furnace for? I think I got my metal too hot. When the metal blinks, does that signify the lead is all gone? Thank you

[@adventuresinmetals7636]

So wait...you can do this with any kind of lead from any source? Interdasting.

[@ProspectorFrank]

I have noticed with some of the smelting work I have done ... that the flatter the bead the lower the carat value of the gold, anybody noticed the same.

[@mbmmllc]

Not sure, but I do have some beads that pull up really high and round. Maybe this is the case

[@jasong8377]

Excellent video very informative keep them coming

[@mbmmllc]

Thanks, will do!

[@zahradehbashi9154]

Evaporation temperature: Lead 1750 C° GOLD 2857 C° Danger of toxic fumes of lead and refractory walls

[@YomommasWildlands]

Would be interesting to see cost of process compared to value of alloy

[@mbmmllc]

Thank you for your comment and suggestion! We could possibly do a video on that in the future!

[@ManMountainMetals]

Is the recovery process the same for bismuth oxides?

[@jjgengland1486]

Hi where can i purchase cupel from ? Ive looked everywhere obviously nit everywhere as you use them, i have a lot of roman lead at least 60kg from metal detecting i know it contains gold and silver

[@kornkobbler1]

Nice vid and specific gravity 👌

[@gamstvvlog3274]

Nice recovery idol

[@allenhammer7923]

What about car battery lead recycling for use in smelting? Where can I get 55lbs Tetraborate 20 bucks a bag?

[@ibocan1122]

sir can i separate gold from lead by using nitric acid ??

[@gingerdude94]

Really interesting, thanks for making the video 👍

[@mbmmllc]

Thanks for watching!

[@kristianprokupek6606]

Nice. And how you recover lead from bone ash?

[@ricklipp4029]

I would also like to know if the lead can be recovered from the cupels, bone ash.???

[@MrPhrankieBones]

Jason, I've been enjoying your content and been subscribed to your channel for a while now and just wanted to say I find your videos to be wonderfully educational as someone doing research to get into precious metal recovery. I have a question. In theory, If you were working with bismuth as opposed to lead because of concerns about lead toxicity, would would bismuth be recovered (so as to reuse as a collector metal again and again) in the same manner from used cupelles as as you recovered the lead here? Is there anything else important or helpful to know about substituting bismoth for lead?

[@rustmonkeygarage7025]

Love you show. I've learned so much..

[@ozgurmardin1499]

If silver is thrown into the crucible, will it collect the gold?

[@KowboyUSA]

3.14 - that bead is Pi

[@J41rock4u]

what happen if you used some ciment powder in your flux do it do something saving more time

[@SaraJean85]

What if theres tin in the gold will the cupell absorb it also?

[@chriscarley9951]

That's awesome.

[@brandonlafollette6411]

So you could take any led you have and do that ?

[@user-kn5dn1kf3d]

هذا يفسر شيئا ان الرصاص يحوي على الذهب ؟

[@mikeknutson415]

What.... did I catch you actually wearing a mask... were you being safe for the Coronavirus or actually being careful with all that toxic Lead fumes..... LOL..... it's really good Jason seeing you wear that mask from the couple of years I've been watching your videos from grinding up television tubes to everything else you've been grinding wearing no mask ...it's like I worry for your health in your future.... keep up the good work wear your mask and keep giving this cool videos take care man

[@mbmmllc]

Thank you so much for your safety concerns! We've gotten a lot off comments over the years about safety masks so we've decided to listen!

[@ikhffolo63]

عملية مبهمة لدي انا.وانت شكرا لك.

[@quillowd.9752]

You need a Devil forge like Bigstacked youtube channel. Yours does not look so safe

[@jdeluisa]

Excellent video. Always enjoy

[@mbmmllc]

Thank you so much!

[@jeffreykelley8334]

It's out profitable after the cost of cupels gas and other expenses?

[@elhalawyhoraim]

مشكور sankes

[@Svensk7119]

A tenth of an ounce! I think this is an apothecary dram. I might be wrong.

[@reddisimmo]

Can one recover the gold from lead ore with traces of gold?

[@jay_tarantula899]

I actually found a huge natural lead chunk metal detecting. Is the coolest thing I've ever seen. Hence why I wont get rid if it.

[@pixelpatter01]

It may have precious metals in it as impurities.

[@JohnHenryA.Estrada]

I have a gold and metel spot , would you want to take alook

[@gregharbican7189]

I want to thank you for discussing what to do about the cement cupels, contaminated with lead. . . 1) This is the second video in a row, that you mention old books, from which you have obtained smelting information, and that is actually what I am intrigued about the most from both part 1 & 2 videos. If you don’t mind, could you please list the names of those books? 2) Yeah, no thanks. I see a few safety issues with using lead as a collection metal. A) Pulverizing those old cement cupels, contaminated with lead oxide, is just scattering lead oxide dust everywhere. Sure it’s mostly contained, but what does get airborne spreads who knows where...not the least of which is on ( and in ) your clothing that then gets tracked out of your work area, and probably into your house. B) Anything that melts into a liquid stage, also generates a vapor pressure, and lead is no exception. While it is low around its melting point, as you raise the temperature to melt lead oxide, the vapor pressure of the molten lead increases. ( and I’m not sure that a respirator can handle lead vapor over time ). With that said, I don’t mind working with lead near it’s melting temperature ( I have many times ), but I think I will focus on using copper as a collector metal, and using low intensity electro-chemical process to separate the precious metal values from the copper, which ends up being nearly 100% recyclable, instead of dead ending in a bone ash cupel.

[@mbmmllc]

Sounds good Greg. Check out Edward Bugbee's book: A Textbook of Fire Assaying. Its a good one

[@gregharbican7189]

mbmmllc Thank you. I’m always on the lookout for old books, to add to my collection of late 1800s and early 1900s, technical manuals.

[@edwardwhynott1139]

Very cool really enjoy your videos.

[@mbmmllc]

Thanks for watching!

[@kennethbeers8693]

Just a theoretical question... if the cupel was primed with lead or... say another metal prior to adding the "precious metals collector lead" from smelting... could that potentially eliminate the initial gold loss? Time is money, and money is time. Not to mention, the cost of the experiment regarding propane; and flux. Someone hit me back with some intel you've if you've experimented with this line of thought. ☝😎👍

[@shanmugamsme21c83]

Really can we recover gold from lead

[@kennethbeers8693]

@@shanmugamsme21c83 if the gold is inquarted with lead and then cupeled. Theoretically it should leave the gold/silver/etc as a bead or button

[@katecoombes1000]

Is there gold and silver in car wheel weights? Great video buddy.

[@tylerkrug7719]

No,there's no precious metals in lead. The lead is used to "refine" a low karat gold,into a high karat gold

[@dimwittflathead639]

Can you show extracting lead from the cupel?

[@jdescendsfortjsuisfortetto738]

I really want to learn how craft gold cause I have some that I want to melt

[@nickyaero]

Try Xrf analyser compare with the calculation, we can arrive at a conclusion , good job

[@mbmmllc]

Sounds good. With all the Corona going on, the place I use the XRF gun is closed :(

[@nickyaero]

mbmmllc health is first priority may be later

[@nickyaero]

Would suggest you try hands on refining precious metal also for gold and silver

[@GPC179]

Please answer, is this process feasible and profitable?

[@mikevandyke7505]

very cool 👍

[@mbmmllc]

Thanks!

[@vizon-aryproductions6191]

But don’t they turn radioactive do to displacement of radial isotopes ?

[@arelgr9407]

which brand, model is yours infrared thermometer and type respiratory mask ? healthy works.

[@qaisalhusseini8910]

Please how long did it take from you to put your bullets in Cupel pods until the end of the process? Thank you

[@KubotaManDan]

cool series, thanks

[@mbmmllc]

Thank you for watching our videos!

[@oldunclejed8650]

All the water you are weighing is still in the cup, which is still on the scale...what exactly is this supposed to be weighing if you didn't take any water out of the cup? I think you are confusing this with the water displacement method of measuring volume of an object.

[@ironleaf88]

Will the cupel obsorb zinc?

[@rickydona919]

isn't displacement done by volume and not density? wouldn't two objects of the exact same volume but different densities displace the exact same amount of water? also, why can we not see the upload date? is this something that KZbin did or does the uploader hide the upload date?

[@billizzard1428]

Nice work! Very informative. Especially the methods you used to calculate the density to get Gold & Silver amounts.

[@mbmmllc]

Awesome, thanks

[@alanmoffat4680]

Archimedes had it correct way back

[@MyLlirik]

Good afternoon. Tell me, what material is the small and large crucible made of?

[@Rogelio-yi8kz]

Where do I find bone ash

[@hossamslime9354]

Hi Nice video How can make this small crucible

[@hectorvazquezlopez1850]

Por favor podría decirme el nombre de los fundente s qwe utilizan?

[@TheTorkerman]

Fascinating, thanks

[@mbmmllc]

Thank you so much!

[@SalemcupelsworksIndia]

Salem cupels works in india

[@beebob1279]

I enjoyed the video very much. However, what is the cost of the cupel and fuel used to produce that amount of precious metal?

[@Schnuh330]

I found bone ash cupels online, premium ones were ~$75 for a case of 100 cupels so about $.75/ea, and standard ones were ~$185 for a case of 300 about $.62/ea.

[@beebob1279]

@@Schnuh330 thanks. Never doing such a thing I wondered the cost of the cupels. They are affordable and likely worth the money with today's prices of precious metals.

[@slackwaterplacer]

Hi Jason. So after all is said and done, the cost plus your time in wages, is it worth recovering that 2% or is it an acceptable loss. Awesome video !

[@mbmmllc]

I think in this case yes as there was about $100 there, but probably not for just assaying in general.

[@ursamines7643]

rustynugget.r money and time is relative when you have nothing else to do.

[@slackwaterplacer]

Truth.

[@bushraasim4596]

Nitric acid not releasing gold....... Please help me how to do this

[@abdulalihanif1]

dear sir, i am trying to make cupels from bone ashes ,so which of them is better for best cupels making cement or some stick, my second question , can we get gold and silver from natural lead ore?

[@bloomingtonian7529]

It totally doesn't matter, but I think it's pronounced KYOU-pel not kyou-PEL. We know what you're talking about. Love the videos.

[@mbmmllc]

Thank you for clearing that up for us! Also, thank you for watching and commenting on our videos!

[@zachamy4444]

great video

[@mbmmllc]

Thank you so much!

[@ursamines7643]

Awesome video

[@mbmmllc]

Thanks Bear Chef

[@ursamines7643]

mbmmllc might want to coat your kiln with Satanite...raw Kaowool is very carcinogenic.

[@leshk256]

could you explain in more detail your weighing method. Why did the difference in the readings of the scales at 9:32? All the water still presses on the cup, and the weight of the sample is applied to the beam

[@mbmmllc]

There are lots of articles on google about it. Basically when you put the bead in water, but not touching the bottom, the bead displaces water and you weight the amount of water displaced. This is equal to the amount of volume of your piece.

[@leshk256]

@@mbmmllc if i understand correctly, water weight should not be applied to scale pad

[@tangermghogha6218]

انتا بروفيسور في هذيهي الميهنة

[@betadoctor]

''You are a professor in this profession''

[@mbmmllc]

Thank you!

[@mohameb6004]

ممكن شرح مبسط عن هذه الطريقه احترامي

[@cuadrosite4823]

I have gold melt and accidentaly drop led and mix it how can i recover my gold pls responce 😭😭😭

[@macguru9999]

So....I did the math like a high school algebra problem and got just over 50.6% gold by mass or just over 12K. Checked it twice (based on gold being 19.3 and silver 10.5).. where is this online calculator ?

[@cuadrosite4823]

Where can i buy that bowl pls

[@iqbalmughal3822]

Happy happy very nice you Thanks

[@aliahmade1451]

افهم من كلامك انة تبخر الرصاص بدرجة عالية من الحرارة وباقي الذهب في الإناء

[@paulfurrell6185]

Where do I find one of the grinders you used? And a small hammer mill?

[@mbmmllc]

If you would like more information on our products, you can email us at [e-mail] or call us at 360-595-4445. Thank you for watching!

[@kimiagarichannal8648]

how to make mercury stand on fire

[@idiousman4637]

Can we get gold from raw lead

[@mbmmllc]

probably not, but a little bit of silver maybe. Test to make sure

[@breakingbud2530]

Ok I don’t know if I’m just dumb was that just random lead that has trace gold and silver left in it

[@ManMountainMetals]

no. this was lead from previous cupolations he did using inferior portand cement cupolas instead of bone ash cupolas. He saved them thinking he had lost some gold/silver to the portland cement and he was right.

[@briandrew2689]

So say after all said and done, do you profit at all after burning gases and the bone crucibles and coming up with the led did you make much of a profit? Can the crucibles be used again? Also can you buy the led flashing from the stores and do the same thing with results or has that led already had the gold extracted from it from like homedepo or Lowe's?

[@mbmmllc]

There was about $100 worth of gold there. This was lead from previous smelting experiments so it still had residual gold. Lead metal from the store wont have the PM's in it.

[@briandrew2689]

@@mbmmllc thanks for info brother i appreciate it!