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The gold may then be further refined by gold parting, which removes other metals (principally silver) by blowing chlorine gas through the molten metal. Historically, small particles of gold were amalgamated with mercury, and then concentrated by boiling away the mercury. The mercury method is still used in some small operations.
The very earliest attempts at refining gold can be shown by the surface enhancement of gold rings. Gold quality was increased at the surface by 80–95% gold compared to 64–75% gold at the interior found in Nahal Qanah Cave dated to the 4th millennium BC.
In contrast to the use of mercury (which relies on amalgamation of the gold to coalesce it and separate it from impurities) this method relies on borax's ability to lower all the minerals' melting points. Since the gold is usually the heaviest of these minerals, it allows for concentrating the gold on the bottom of the crucible.
The resulting gold is 99.999% pure, and of higher purity than gold produced by the other common refining method, the Miller process, which produces gold of 99.5% purity. [1] [2] [3] For industrial gold production the Wohlwill process is necessary for highest purity gold applications.
The resulting gold is 99.5% pure, but of lower purity than gold produced by the other common refining method, the Wohlwill process, which produces gold of up to 99.999% purity. [1] [2] The Wohlwill process is commonly used for producing high-purity gold, such as in electronics work, where exacting standards of purity are required.
The dominant method for refining gold is a cyanide extraction method, or gold cyanidation, introduced in the late 1800s. This a metallurgical technique used to extract gold from lower grade ores by converting gold into a water-soluble coordination complex.
A pink building guarded by dogs at Entebbe on the shores of Lake Victoria, the refinery, African Gold Refinery (AGR), is part of a trend across Africa. Race to refine: the bid to clean up Africa ...
In metallurgy, refining consists of purifying an impure metal. It is to be distinguished from other processes such as smelting and calcining in that those two involve a chemical change to the raw material, whereas in refining the final material is chemically identical to the raw material. Refining thus increases the purity of the raw material ...