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US 4,378,285 AGranted
Gold recovery apparatus
AssigneeMar Industries, Inc.
InventorsJuan D. Castellanos, Enrique C. Cardenas, Max B. Kelly, Lorenzo J. Kelly, Irving Glicken
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AssigneeMar Industries, Inc.
InventorsJuan D. Castellanos, Enrique C. Cardenas, Max B. Kelly, Lorenzo J. Kelly, Irving Glicken
Estimating the term…
A simplified, safe, fast and economical method of refining gold and a versatile apparatus for practicing the method are disclosed. The process and the apparatus are ideally suited for reclaiming substantially pure gold from gold jewelry and gold alloy scrap. Gold alloy to be refined is inquarted with a non-ferrous metal or metal alloy and the resulting gold alloy is cast into slab anodes which are suspended in an electrolytic cell containing a mild nitric acid solution as the electrolyte. The cell includes a stainless steel container cathode to retain gold mud or slime precipitated from the slab anode during the electrolytic process. If platinum and/or palladium are present in the gold alloy to be refined inquartation with silver is carried out, and these platinum metals are dissolved in the electrolyte solution. If iridium or any other platinum metals are present in the gold alloy to be refined, they will remain in the resulting gold mud and subsequent treatment with aqua regia is necessary.
A gold recovery apparatus comprising an electrolytic cell in which a gold containing metal alloy body forms the anode of the, the cell including a container cathode, a DC power supply electrically coupled to anode and cathode terminals of the cell, a pollution control system communicating with the cell and operable during cell operation to remove toxic fumes from the cell and neutralize them, a fluid cooling system for the cell, an electrolyte filtration means for the cell including a filter within the container cathode, and control means for the apparatus electrically coupled to the DC power supply and the pollution control system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.