Letter 21091

Separating a mix of gold and iron powder  

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I have this mixture of gold and iron dust. Very fine particles of 0.3 to 0.5 micron range. They are in a very fine mixture as you can see. I require to separate them using chemicals. I need the gold in the powdered form and somehow vanish the iron. Is there any chemistry that can help me achieve that? Please do help me if you can.

Divies Tuladhar
- London, UK

Many acids will dissolve iron but not gold, including such simple and inexpensive acids as sulfuric and hydrochloric. But I don't think I'd do it that way. I'd separate it magnetically. Or even centrifugally in a water solution. Why do I get that feeling that this is a school homework assignment rather than a genuine real-world research problem? :-)

Ted Mooney, P.E.  finishing.com Brick, New Jersey

Well I have sort of the same question I tried to separate it using a magnet but soon enough the magnet couldnt pull any more iron out, however there was still a lot of iron left, and ive also tried it cetrifugally and for some reason the either I done it wrong or my filter was not fine enough to catch the gold. what choices do I have from there to separate it, I really just cant go out and buy some sulfuric acid...

Jessica Sierra Gibson
- Montecello, KY, US

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