Editor’s Note: We received an inquiry regarding our article, How Gold Plating is Done, Step by Step by Calla Gold, a Santa Barbara jeweler specializing in custom jewelry design and jewelry repair. Here’s her answer:
Reader’s Questions:
- How do I recover microscopic gold from plating solution?
- Is there much gold left in suspension when one is plating gold regularly?
- In other words how worth it is it to try to recover microscopic gold in plating solution I am ready to dispose of?
Author’s Answer:
This is a great question, so thank you to the reader.
I’m guessing that you have a plating setup already ie: rectifier, anode, tanks, etc.
Use a thin piece of copper sheet and plate out the remaining gold onto the piece of copper at a medium current. For example, if you are plating a 2-inch square set the rectifier on 3 volts and let it run.
Pretend you are plating an item but instead of going for a nice, clean yellow finish you are going to get a crusty brown dirty looking piece of metal. That dirty crusty stuff is gold. It may take hours (gallon or two of solution) or days (100s of gallons) but you will end up with a crusty piece of metal that can then be melted and assayed.
This only makes sense if there is a sufficient amount of gold in the bath. When you consider the time and electricity used, it doesn’t make sense for half a gram of gold. You will still need to find an environmentally friendly way to dispose of the left over plating solution/rinse water after you do this.
Note: If you come across a piece of crusty metal and don’t know what it is, you can utilize x-ray fluorescence technology. XRF precious metals analyzers are fast, simple, nondestructive solutions for gold, precious metals, and alloy analysis. You can measure the content of all gold and precious metals, as well as determine the presence and concentration of other trace, alloying elements, and dangerous heavy elements, which could impact health and the valuation of your pieces.
Residual Elements in Piping can Cause Big Problems in Refineries; How Elemental Analysis can Help
Ensuring material integrity in refining operations is critic...
Read More
Hi, How can i recollect the gold plating from the plated part of copper turned component (Harting connectors) as i have a lot of harting connectors of gold plated want to recollect it for the same.
Hi Shiva– We are not in the business of collecting the gold so maybe our readers can help.
After reading your posts, I learned a lot about Fake Gold Plating. I used to have a hard time understanding the various levels. But now I know exactly what you’re talking about! Thank you a lot! This blog was very detailed and well-written, a must read.