Jewelers Scrap Inquarted With Copper

[@TheRobq7]

I am a jeweler and prospector of many years. I have a magnet trick too. Put the magnet inside a plastic bag. Run it over your material. Invert the bag over the material. Remove the magnet. Now all the magnetic material is in the bag and the magnet is clean. Makes for easier clean up.

[@MRBOOCH526]

That's awesome!!! Just tried it! Thanks!

[@DarthBil1]

I've been watching Sreetips do this for literal years and I still hear him say "I'm just a know-nothing novice who is experimenting." Even a garage scientist is a scientist. I'm a high school chemistry teacher and I've literally shown my students these videos to try to get them interested in the activity series.

[@gratshor]

You done right. If you want to rise students interest to knowledge, show them how to use it, and better prove that using knowledge they can get profit.

[@sreetips]

That’s very humbling. I wish I had more chemistry knowledge. Be nice to be able to explain what’s going on at the the molecular and atomic level in my beakers.

[@SparksGFX]

And now ... I'm... Going to add A lil nitrate

[@bookman7409]

@@sreetips Learning by doing is a good way to go, sir, but teaching others adds a powerful catalyst to the reaction. Humility in your approach is good, but be proud of your efforts in educating us. It's a big win-win, and that's worthy of praise. Teaching science in a way that entertains and engages people isn't exactly common, you know. Edited to add that I'm the son of a science teacher, and a damn good one. He kept his students engaged, and while he was less entertaining, otherwise, you remind me of being in his classes. You also don't remind me of him outside the classroom, and trust me, that's good. The context of the reaction is situation, which is why you use nitric boils, rather than putting it all in a freezer. But I appreciate your efforts here.

[@IanTheWoodchuck]

@@sreetips You should reach out to @NileRed and see if he'd be interested in doing a collab.

[@BobbyJHeupel]

I so love this channel. I’m having a bit of a time right now. My employer is letting me go. However, I’ve had so many good memories of Sreetips executing his craft even on a night like tonight, I’ve got somebody out there doing good and being kind enough to bring me joy. Even if the day is bad, I know in the back of my mind that Sreetips is excellent.

[@user-lb8do4ew6k]

Chin up, here's to you landing an even better job! 🍻

[@BeezyKing99]

shucks you're getting let go... hoping for better news for ya over the next few days.

[@anthonyrstrawbridge]

✌️♥️🍺

[@docf3605]

Maybe this is a chance to find a new job with better opportunities. Keep your head up, embrace the suck and good things will come.

[@BobbyJHeupel]

I really appreciate all of your comments. I hope I didn't take away from Sreetips' video. That's why we're here, right? That said, you folks have been extremely supportive. I appreciate that more than you know.

[@bfd1565]

I've learned so much watching your videos over the years. So much so. I melted up a bunch of my silver crystals that I've harvested from my silver cell. I had to pull out and use my postal scale because the overall weight in the 4 silver bars was 6lbs 2.9oz. Now it's time to melt up some cement silver and start the whole process over again. Thank you Sreetips for the step by step knowledge in refining precious metals. Have a wonderful holiday season. God bless...

[@sreetips]

Excellent, refining your own metal is gratifying.

[@PBRJOHN684]

As a metal refiner and Copper smith I love the use of copper. If you can get the copper free enough of contaminants, when it comes to the buffing stage, it just looks like a precious metal itself! So no calling copper ugly, It make me money over here in South Wales UK! 👍

[@docf3605]

I appreciate that you show the different methods of refining gold. It is always great to see when you upload a new video.

[@sirlancer23]

I was curious how long I have been watching you do your thing so I scrolled back in your videos and it has been 4 years that I have been a regular viewer of your channel. You do such a great job with your videos that I find them to be informative, relaxing and just plain fun to watch. Thank you for all the hard work you put into them! I for one really appreciate it.

[@daviddavis2597]

Gooood evening from central Florida! Hope everyone has a great night!

[@sreetips]

Goooood evening!

[@larryevans7669]

Thanks for the great content once again Sreetips, I was thinking one could use copper for inquartation, and now thanks to you, I've seen it with my very own eyes!! Beautiful work as always!

[@DobleWhiteAndStabley]

"pour a little more nitric acid" Is Sreetips version of Bob Ross's "happy little friend". What you do is an artform in and of itself. I should have studied more as a kid so I could afford to do what you do.

[@Sanzus2]

Very interesting! Nice result as usual! Thought it was going to take more boils with the copper but still did it in 5! Nice twist!

[@fredwright3070]

Sreetips is cranking out the videos! Thanks for all the great work. Bars look great!

[@DemsRNutless]

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your page. It reminds me of my work at Ullenberg. We refined hundreds of kilos of karat gold daily. I noticed that you have a few borax glazed crucibles. We used to clean them with diluted sulphuric acid in an ultrasound. They came out clean and useable again. I know this is a minor savings but every dollar counts.

[@sreetips]

Good tip, I’ll give it a try.

[@johannaverplank4858]

I LOVE watching you melt and pour the gold. Beautiful!!!

[@damionpool4645]

Another awesome refining! Definitely enjoyed seeing you use the copper this time around. That bar poured nicely 👌🏼Thanks again Sreetips! You da man👍🏼

[@lillydogpoo65]

Dude I have been watching you for awhile and I've watched some of these numerous times..you are educational and entertaining..thanks buddy

[@Lokandash]

I had this problem with borax the other day. I let the molten metal harden and focused my flame on the borax with the crucible on a 65-70 degree angle and it poured out just fine. The metals stayed still too, and as a precaution, i did this over a bucket of cold water in case the metal fell out. Evenetually, enough borax came out and i vibrated it when the metal was molten and it unstuck, allowing the borax to settle on the bottom again

[@b.c.9358]

This video knocked me out, and now that I'm awake and can't fall asleep, I'm going to watch this again.

[@leadbadger9543]

Always great to watch this process. Great looking bar, too. Thanks for sharing.

[@fourfive55555]

Hey thank you for answering my question about copper and the constants on your other video and super happy you did a video after using copper

[@Phoenix_Enterprises]

Fumes, fire, danger of other fun stuff that makes life interesting...blah blah. Thanks for your content I've read dozens of books played with fire for decades and you have helped bring things together by far on understanding. Thank you!

[@jacktheaviator4938]

They sell a shallow stainless steel pan for bolts at harbor freight. It has a magnet in the bottom, and works great for separating tiny pieces of ferrous and non ferrous metal

[@jackfntwist]

Nice to see the inquartation process with copper. Worked out great! Used more HNO3

[@williamfoote2888]

Those first boils would be removing all your Pd and any plated Rh or Pt, as well as Cu and Ag. I'm thinking all those bright flecks ARE Rh or Pt. Conceivably, those flecks could be plated Cr. If that's the case, you'd have also taken off the plated Ni under the Cr, into your filtered solution. 'Sure looks ugly' - Sreetips That layer that formed might be the gradient difference between very low pH and near neutral pH. That gray filter paper makes me think 'PGM'. Thanks to you returning that filter paper to the initial melt, from that first precipitation after the HNO3 boils, you returned them to the raw Au. Good job!

[@seanelliott7796]

Liked that you used copper instead of silver this time. Probably got a better yield due to it being more then 14k. Thank you for the content!

[@seanelliott7796]

@𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐦𝐞@Sreetips1 Sreetips is this fake?

[@johnsonaung9634]

God bless you Thank you very much

[@silvaorgold]

Copper a nice twist I hadn't thought of using that thank you for doing something new with it always giving me good ideas have a blessed night

[@tonywharton5220]

I really can't believe your patience when doing these jobs. ✌️

[@ThorTubeview]

Very interresting. Because more easy to find copper than silver for this kind of purification process. Thanks a lot for time spent to this. Best regards. Sylvain

[@HonorNecris]

I was watching another sreetips video, and was actually going to ask this exact question - if you could inquart with only copper. Thanks for this one!

[@merc7105]

Looking forward to the silver cell time lapse. Hope that for the effort of setting it up, it turns out well.

[@kieranodea771]

Copper works fine to inquart the thing is that 1. Copper takes twice as much nitric acid to dissolve compared to an equal mass of silver. 2. Silver is very easy to cement out and re-use, copper can be reduced back to metal either by electrolysis or by the addition of ascorbic acid. How ever its more work and is harder to separate from any other base metals that are present.

[@Antonowskyfly]

You’re welcome! Thank you Sir, for tossing the change up! A very “Cubrik”-style production…A Clockwork Rosegold?… .996 Metal Jacket? As a gringo, I’m going to stay away from the tequila sunrise…for me, that has international incident written all over it. Keep firing them out, I’ll get to them when the datos allows. 👍👍🤙

[@stevEN-es7pd]

Thankyou for renewing my love of chemistry :)

[@ArielleViking]

That was fascinating to see you using copper to inquart the gold. Such a pretty gold bar at the end. 👍

[@sreetips]

Copper is actually better than silver because less silver chloride to deal with.

[@rentedmule569]

Thanks Mr. Tips! I was one who wanted to see the copper inquartation, and it was interesting. Doesn't seem to have any advantage over using silver - just higher nitric use and doesn't leave you with as much feedstock for your silver cell. I'm guessing the higher than expected yield was because the button was somewhat higher than 14k when you tested.

[@sreetips]

14.5k - using copper has one advantage, less silver chloride to have to deal with.

[@drtidrow]

Copper is easier to obtain, just run down to the hardware store and get some copper wire. Any impurities in the copper tends to increase electrical resistance, so copper wire is about as pure as you can get.

[@johnblair8146]

@@drtidrow Electrical copper is electrowon just like Sreetips' pure silver crystals. The slimes from those huge cells are a primary source of commercial silver.

[@drtidrow]

@@johnblair8146 Didn't mention that because I was on my tablet - typing on a tablet is a pain. 🙂

[@lion9419]

Thanks for sharing your experience

[@derekforeal7049]

Wow copper sucks I see why you use silver...still content like this from you is awesome it really shows why what you normally do is the best way! Keep it up!

[@ousley421]

Sreetips, nice job, it begs the question just how many methods are there to successfully skin this feline? This is excellent for the folks that do not live near a Dell web community to pick up some unwanted silver. I sure hope you have been able to monetize your video library...it seems vast.

[@rickycollard9715]

Wow that is unreal I thought that was just pure trash When you started on all that scrap gold great job sir

[@matheuspamplona1850]

im loving the first person shots with the gopro, i love how the channel is always getting better and better... keep it up my man

[@shk2564]

It’s crazy to think that just one ounce of gold could save me from losing my home and 11 acres. I am a disabled veteran on a fixed income and these last couple years have been tough. I have sold my tractor and everything else I can but I have been falling farther behind because of the higher cost of things. Taxes and heating oil for the winter have put me in a tough spot and if I could somehow scrape together an ounce of gold I would be in a good place. 🤔 🙏

[@jeffholmes1362]

Wel done, another stellar video. Thank for sharing

[@roberthughes6981]

That has to do with how many electrons are in the valence shell of copper

[@87bwadman]

I think my favorite part is watching that dark cloud of precipitate rolling around. Almost looks like it's boiling under the gold solution in some of you other videos at high purity and super saturation.

[@mikolajone]

That loaf was hidden in that junk, amazing again Mr. Sreetips!

[@wilburbum]

que gusto verte trabajar , se agradece que compartas tus conocimientos , gracias ¡

[@sreetips]

Gracias!

[@TroubledOnePaydirt]

Another long day of stacking lumber and concrete…rounded out with a new Sreetips video!! Niiicceeeee!!!!

[@JoshuaRosaaen]

The overhead cam view is awesome.

[@Jake-tw8qr]

its remarkable how much quieter your new fume hood is.

[@sreetips]

I love it!

[@michaeltrone616]

Copper uses more nitric than silver when parting. You can use copper, but silver is better.

[@josephcormier5974]

Thank you sir I was wondering how that would work out with copper and know I see why you use silver outstanding video great content thank you for sharing this with us six stars brother

[@donnakawana]

Wow, turned out great for "junk gold".. The jeweler will surely love what you did here! One defining an copper inquartation.... beautiful well done Sir as always ✌🏼💗😊👩🏼‍🔬

[@TheRealGrinch313]

I have no means to set up an operation like this. But, it's a lot of fun to watch. Great videos - cool channel - thanks for sharing 👍

[@disgruntledtoons]

The chemistry: It takes four moles of nitric acid to convert one mole of copper metal into copper nitrate, resulting in one mole of copper nitrate, two moles of H2O, and two moles of NO2. It takes only two moles of nitric acid to convert one mole of silver into silver nitrate, resulting in one mole of silver nitrate, one mole of H2O, and one mole of NO2. Copper has a much lower atomic weight than silver, so a gram of copper has 70% more moles of copper than a gram of silver, by a factor of about. If my figgers are correct, it takes over three times as much nitric to dissolve a given weight of copper than it takes to dissolve the same weight in silver. This explains why inquarting with silver is preferable to inquarting with copper.

[@sreetips]

Another reason, I refine silver. I don’t refine copper.

[@frantiseklaluch6605]

Hello sir, copper needs about 3.4 times more HNO3 than silver. To oxidise (and disolve) 1 atom of silver from Ag to Ag+ you need 2 molecules of HNO3, to oxidise 1 atom of copper from Cu to Cu2+ you need 4 molecules of HNO3. Plus, there is about double amount of copper atoms in the same amount of metal. 100 g of Ag is 0,93 mol, 100 g of Cu is about 1,57 mol (1,7 time more). 2x1,7 = 3,4 So using silver saves nitric acid significantly..., if you have enough silver to use... 🙂

[@sreetips]

That’s it, thank you

[@apveening]

Not all copper goes to 2+, a lot remains at 1+.

[@frantiseklaluch6605]

@@apveening To be honest, I doubt that a lot remains in 1+ in such oxidizing enviroment. Cu+ salts are generaly insoluble in water. No Cu+ salt (precipitate) was to see in the process... also, there is just nitrate in the solution, no chloride, no bromide, no cyanide, no oxide, no sulfide...

[@matthewtracy8744]

So when you do this for the jewler, do you get a percentage from it? Just curious. I love watching the reactions.

[@getprobed838]

ive wondered what his arrangements are too....its probably very difficult to estimate how much gold will come out of the sweepings....unless he buys them for a low price....or charges a fee to refine the sweeps no matter what comes out of it....and he's got video proof he isnt cheating anyone...

[@Maruff]

@@getprobed838 He does keep the silver. So that might be payment. But prob a percentage I would guess.

[@davidmaisel8062]

Just guessing but it would make allot of sense that Sree Tips gets % considering the cost of nitric acid /time but maybe not.

[@sreetips]

He accepted 90%

[@philipromeo8028]

Very nice bar Mr sreetips I do enjoy watching your vids I think at some point I will try this. I do so like the color of silver and gold

[@christophermack8099]

Why are you using copper in stead of the normal silver?

[@WhyamIstillwatchingyoutube]

Maybe watch the video and then ask a question. I mean......

[@christophermack8099]

@@WhyamIstillwatchingyoutube maybe mind your business. Also don't post a response to a question that wasn't asked towards you! Thanks 🙏🏾

[@UnoDos96]

@@christophermack8099 nah watch the video. 🤲 booboo

[@mrimmortal1579]

Unless I missed it, I don’t recall hearing him say why he was doing it, he just said that he was doing it. And yes, I watched the video.

[@UnoDos96]

@@mrimmortal1579 i actually don't think he did directly but I would guess its just like the silver dilution to allow the acid "in". However copper doesn't dissolve in sulphuric so thats why he ended up with 14k+ gold. I guess the jeweler didn't want pure gold, just a copper-gold kt alloy? ( I am probably wrong)

[@MrMcGoo-rm3yu]

Thanks, I enjoyed your video, very interesting.

[@Baronstone]

Dude, if it looks like that you did NOT get all of the silver and copper out of it. Unless you melted a ton of platinum in with it!

[@darkenlight22]

I'd have to say copper boils where looking a bit nasty but that solution cleared up nice. It seemed to have more fine gold particles then usual too. Thanks for posting.

[@JustJeff420]

Another excellent video Sir Sreetips! Was cool to see you inquart with copper, but I think I will continue to use Silver. Silver seems to be quicker, cleaner and is easier on the Nitric. Question for you please. How do you clean your porcelain Buchner Funnel? I worry about contaminates or residue being trapped under the perforated bottom of the funnel. Thank you for all you do!

[@sreetips]

I use a small brush bent to get in there with some alconox. With acidic solutions there’s not much residue if you clean then immediately after use. I have put them in a large beaker then boil some aqua regia and let it sit in those fumes. This usually takes care of any junk in there. But it’s hard to tell because can’t see inside. Another option it two-piece plastic Büchner funnels.

[@JustJeff420]

@@sreetips Thank you for the direction. Very appreciated! I need to get a new one and practice better Buchner hygiene. I only have one and if Sir Sreetips seen it, he would probably smack me and say shame on you! I really lean towards the porcelain funnels as opposed to the plastic, but I think I will get a couple plastic too. Thanks again!

[@niagarajoe4402]

Didn’t realize your melt table was on the ground (well almost)…..need to keep an eye out for a stainless steel commercial kitchen prep table…You won’t kill your back bending down anymore and it’s got storage above would be perfect for your use!

[@Bigman.Struggles]

Thanks for another great video. 👍

[@miniatureshipyard]

FYI electronics refiners I've done this process using low yield electronic pins instead of silver and removal of nickel and copper is accomplished fairly easy as the gold content is increased

[@azafreak]

I wonder which method works out cheaper? More nitric used but no silver needed, don't have to recover that More energy + time invested though Also, would doing fewer but larger volume boils change much? What would a BIG BOIL do?

[@sreetips]

Small volume boils are best.

[@LongWangHung6969]

the button yield of 67.1 g @ 10K as of Dec.19 2022 was $2,255.61 USD the end result bar of 42.4 g @24K (".995") as of Dec. 19 2022 was $2,431.30 USD for anyone who was curious...

[@sreetips]

Math looks right, thank you.

[@whatthefunction9140]

Aloha from hawaii. Wish there was gold in this volcano

[@apveening]

There is, volcanoes are the way gold is transported from deep down below to where we can reach it. Unfortunately, the concentration is a bit low.

[@ANCIENTASTRONAUT411]

Thanks screetips i knew an ore i had was copper gold cause no matter what i did i could get palladuim out and the gold would still melt black gold nugget i was using nitric but didnt use enough to get the copper totally out now i know exactly how much nitric to get the copper totaly out so the gold is gold not gold black i thought it was palladuim cause palladuim will blacken gold too but i get the palladuim out the ore and sponge it but it still black gold so now i know them ores are loaded with gold but the Cooper im going to have to nitric boil more to get that pesky copper out thanks screetips i usely use pure gold ores to extract out of but i recently found tons of copper gold ones now i know more nitric washes and boils will get the pesky out

[@jamisontaylor878]

Excellent video thank you 😊

[@Greengate777]

You should replace the "I've got a specially prepared folded filter paper, that rides up the side of the funnel" with " I've got a funnel with with a Sreetips fold safety filter paper in it". I's shorter.

[@WandomGuitarDude]

Very nice video. Great job 👍🏻 I was wondering if you’ve found any advantages to making AR with sulphuric rather than hcl? - also you should really look at making nitric acid yourself, its hell of a lot cheaper and you’ve already got everything for it 🙂

[@ghosttwo2]

You mad lad! Would still love to see you process 'placer gold' from a panning operation. Just to see what doesn't dissolve, really.

[@johnblair8146]

search his old videos. He made s couple videos about processing Alaska placer flakes several years ago. Here's one of them. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fabIl3yMo7-qsM0

[@johannesdesloper8434]

Yeah nice video. You can say you where making it up while you went but it looked like a plan to me. Good way to solve an unknown. Good choice also to inquart with electric wiring. That's usually electrochemically refined copper and the purest source of Copper on the market. I think you should really dig into molar mass calculations. It's not hard once you see it, but hey I'm watching you for the hands on expierience :).

[@themyceliumnetwork]

these jumbled up piles of metal are my favorite videos!

[@diego-zj3kp]

Omg. What a peace . Beautiful 😍🥰

[@chadlowery442]

Love watching ur videos thanks for makin them

[@jamescball55]

It takes 2 times as much nitric acid to dissolve copper compared to silver. This is shown in the following chemical reactions: Ag + 2HNO3 → AgNO3 + NO2 + H2O Cu + 4HNO3 = Cu(NO3)2 + 2NO2 + 2H2O

[@sreetips]

Can’t argue with numbers.

[@jamescball55]

@@sreetips I understand your not a chemist but the ratio of nitric acid needed to dissolve 100 g of copper vs silver is also higher because the molecular weight of copper is much lower than silver. This ratio becomes 3.4 X more nitric acid for copper than silver for the same weight of metal.

[@odinmorningstar3716]

The stump out stuff you add, is it a pre determined amount depending on the weight of scrap or it’s just by eye and knowledge you get to know about how much each individual batch?

[@sreetips]

I’ve refined at least a thousand ounces over the years. I’m just going by my experience.

[@walkthroughguru]

I do this when i feel like i am not in a rush. I process it through my stockpot but i still have to hit it after with some nitric to remove any silver that is in it as the Hcl in the stockpot wont remove the silver. Saves on chemicals but time wise it takes a while.

[@YourFavouriteNormie]

Very cool, your videos keep me going. Keep 'em coming as much as you can Sreetips!

[@toyfreaks]

The time lapse of the sorting made a tedious process really interesting to watch!

[@GiveAcademy]

Did you remember to subtract the weight of the non valuables you removed from your initial weight also? Maybe I should watch again (usually do, or you will catch this by the end of the video haha). It seemed like you weighed it all, picked through it, then incinerated the valuables, cleaned and melted it down, weighed the puck, and used that to calculate your loss (also sounded like a bit of surprise or confusion at that moment). I'm guessing you either clear this up by the end of the video... But if not... Wouldn't your yield be ((weight of all - material removed) - puck weight)? Always enjoy the videos and your humility! Been a viewer for years and recommend you to friend and family to interest them in chemistry and gold refining.

[@sreetips]

Your numbers sound right. In the state it was in it’s hard to determine the value of the scrap. When it gets refined to pure gold, it’s value is easy to calculate.

[@whisperweed]

Hot glue a dowel vertically to the magnet, then simply lift it and the metal will fall away from the bottom of the plastic cup.

[@WrzesinskiMarcin]

Wow, POV camera was awesome, sir, you should do this more often, even whole process, at least once. Greetings from Poland.

[@jlemieu1]

Bravo, that bar flowed great with extra heat. Less layers. You did get a green flame at start of melt was copper burning off

[@shaneyork300]

Always nice to get a higher yield than expected

[@jacobsmitley406]

That is a massive dam in that culvert! Amazing that they can do that.

[@xmchonkyx]

The head cam was a nice addition

[@silverbrass6711]

Two big 👍👍 Sreetips. As always Sir love the video and content 👍👍

[@servethelordnow]

39:25 I loved the light from your fume hood shining threw the gold solution, beautiful.

[@shk2564]

Beautiful bar! 😊

[@l.mcmanus3983]

I thought the gold with the copper looked beautiful. I like the colour more than when you only use silver. Now I wonder what a silver copper mix would look like.

[@whatthefunction9140]

Would welding Glass over the camera lens during the meting steps make the process more visible?

[@sreetips]

I’ve done it in previous videos. But the lenses on the camera I’m using (iPhone 11) has some of the best picture quality at any light that I’ve seen. Especially close ups.

[@wlan246]

21:33 To underestimate the karet rating is to overestimate how "diluted" the gold alloy already is, resulting in an underestimate of how much silver to add when inquarting.

[@sreetips]

Correct, I’d rather be low and add less silver (or copper) than needed.

[@wlan246]

​@@sreetips I thought, if the gold wasn't diluted enough, there's a risk that some of the silver/copper won't get pulled out by the nitric acid.

[@VendettaProspecting]

Happy holidays to you and your wife buddy

[@sreetips]

Same!

[@adamtheninjasmith2985]

So is this deal between you and the jeweler more or less so you can make videos? Not that I care. I love this stuff. Just a thought that came to me.

[@sreetips]

He gets his stuff refined for almost nothing. I get the experience of working with actual jewelers scrap. Win-win, the best kind of deals.

[@DirtyPlumbus]

I was wondering why you wouldn't just use copper all the time until you explained that it requires more acid. You can recover the silver, you can't recover the acid. Using copper would end up being more expensive.

[@rickycollard9715]

Just curious which way do you like to do the silver with the copper or with the electric Silver cell I myself think I like the copper

[@sreetips]

I cement the silver on copper. Then melt it, pour into shot, then run it through my silver cell