A text-book of assaying

by C. Beringer; J. J. Beringer

Flatting.—Small buttons, such as are got in assaying most gold ores, are placed on a polished steel anvil and flattened by one or two blows with a hammer. The flattened discs are heated to dull redness on a clean cupel and are then ready for parting. Somewhat larger buttons may be similarly treated, but they should be annealed (i.e. heated to redness and allowed to cool) during the flattening. The silver-gold alloy left from the cupellation is soft and bends like lead; but after hammering or rolling it becomes harder, gets a spring in it like a piece of mainspring and cracks or splits somewhat easily. There should be no cracks or stripping or even roughness on the flattened metal, since such defects may cause the loss of small particles either during the flattening or in the subsequent treatment with acid. The softness of the metal is restored by heating. In bullion assays the flatting of the buttons requires care and practice for its skilful working. The strips of alloy for parting should be of uniform thickness and condition so that the action of the acid shall be equal in all cases. The button is taken from the cupel, cleaned and placed on the anvil: it is then struck a heavy blow which widens it to about 3/4 inch in diameter; this blow is followed by two others, one a little in front, the other behind, which lengthen the disc and give a very blunt roof-like slope to its upper face. It should then be annealed. This may be done by putting it in a just red-hot scorifier heated in a muffle: it very soon attains the right heat and may then be transferred to a cold scorifier; the hot scorifier should be put back into the muffle. The softened disc is then taken to the rolls (Fig. 45). The rolls are loosened until the disc can be pressed between them. Looking through the interval between them the rolls should appear exactly parallel; if they are not, one adjusting screw should be loosened and the other tightened until parallelism is obtained. The rolls are now turned and the disc should be drawn through without any great effort. Beginners are apt to err by trying to do too much with one turn of the handle. It is easy to stop whilst the rolls are only just gripping the metal and then to bring the disc back by reversing the action. If the disc was originally level and the rolls are parallel, the metal will appear as a strip which has been merely lengthened. If the rolls are tighter on one side the strip will be bowed; the tighter side will correspond with the outer curve of the crescent. A mistake of this kind may be amended by passing the strip through the rolls the other way, so as to reverse the irregularity and so straighten the strip. The screw on the looser side should then be tightened until parallelism is obtained; after which more care should be taken to tighten the two screws equally. The rolling should be stopped when the strip is 3 or 4 inches long and of the thickness of an ordinary visiting card. The strip should be annealed during the rolling and again at the finish.

Parting.—The thin sheet of metal is dropped into hot dilute nitric acid and boiled for five or six minutes after the brisk action of the acid on the metal has ceased. At this stage nearly all the silver has gone into solution as nitrate of silver and the acid is charged with this salt. This acid is poured off and the residual metal is again boiled for from 20 to 30 minutes with a second lot of stronger acid. This leaves the gold almost pure, though it may still retain from .05 to .1 per cent. of silver. Treatment with the first acid only would probably leave three or four times as much.

The nitric acid used should be free from hydrochloric, sulphuric, iodic and telluric acids. In testing it for the first of these add nitrate of silver and dilute with distilled water; there should be no turbidity. In testing for the others evaporate three lots in dishes over a water-bath. Test one for sulphates by adding water and barium chloride. Test another for iodates by taking up with a little water, adding a few drops of starch paste and then dilute sulphurous acid solution a little at a time; there should be no blue colour. Test the third for tellurium by heating with 1 c.c. of strong sulphuric acid until dense fumes come off; allow to cool considerably; a piece of tin foil added to the warm acid develops a fine purple colour if only a trace of tellurium is present.

The presence of lower oxides of nitrogen, which impart a brown colour to the acid, is objectionable; they, however, are removed by boiling the diluted acid before using it for parting. It is usual to keep a stock of the acid suitably diluted to the two strengths required for the parting. These are known as the parting acids. The first parting acid is the weaker and is used in the first attack on the metal. The specific gravity generally recommended for it is about 1.2. It may be prepared either by diluting the strong acid with about its own volume of distilled water, or by suitably diluting the second parting acid which has been already used in an assay; the small proportion of silver this contains is not harmful for this purpose. The second parting acid has a specific gravity of about 1.3, and may be made by diluting the strong acid with half its volume of distilled water.

Parting in Flasks.—Flasks are most convenient for the larger partings, as in bullion assays; and should always be used for this purpose unless some of the special parting apparatus, like that used in Mints, is available. Many assayers use flasks, though of a smaller size, for the ordinary partings in assaying gold ores. The flasks are either bulbs with long necks (Fig. 46) which ought to be heated on rose burners of special construction; or they are small flat-bottomed conical flasks which may be conveniently heated on a hot-plate and are, in this respect, much easier to deal with in general work. The following instructions apply to the parting of an alloy containing a few decigrams of gold together with the proper proportion of silver.

The strip from the rolls, after being softened by annealing, is folded on itself on a glass rod into a roll or cornet. It should be so plastic that it will retain the shape thus given it and not spring open on removing the pressure of the fingers. About 50 c.c. of the first parting acid are placed in a 6-ounce conical flask and heated to boiling; the flask is then withdrawn, and tilted a little to one side, whilst the cornet is cautiously dropped into it; there will be a sudden issue of hot vapours and a prompt withdrawal of the hand is advisable. The flask is replaced on the hot plate and the acid is kept boiling for 10 or 15 minutes. The flask is then withdrawn and the acid diluted with about an equal volume of distilled water. If the flask has a thick glass band around its neck, a little way down,[28] care must be taken to use hot water, for any sudden chill will certainly crack the flask where it is thus thickened. The liquor is carefully decanted into a clean beaker and is then thrown into a jar marked "waste silver." About 40 c.c. of the second parting acid, heated to boiling, is then poured into the flask, which is then replaced on the hot plate. The boiling is continued for 15 or 20 minutes or even longer. At this stage bumping has to be specially guarded against; after a little experience it is easy to see when this is imminent and the flask should be withdrawn to a cooler part of the plate; it is better to prolong the heating at a temperature below boiling than to run the risk of disaster. Some of the older writers, however, are rather insistent on vigorous boiling with large bubbles. The addition of a small ball of well-burnt clay of about the size of a pea has been recommended, as it lessens the tendency to irregular and dangerous boiling. At the end of the treatment with the second acid the flask is withdrawn from the plate and the acid is diluted with an equal volume of distilled water. The liquor is carefully decanted into a beaker, and then poured into a jar or Winchester marked "acid waste"; it serves for making the first parting acid. The flask is then washed twice with hot distilled water; the washings must be carefully decanted from the gold. The flask is then filled with water. A parting cup (size B) is then placed over its mouth, like a thimble on the tip of a finger. This cup is of unglazed porous earthenware of such texture that it absorbs the last few drops of water left on drying; and with a surface to which the gold does not adhere even on ignition. The gold should fall out cleanly and completely on merely inverting the cup over the pan of the balance. The flask and cup are then inverted so that the flask stands mouth down in the cup; a little of the water from the flask flows into the cup, but only a little. The gold falls steadily through the water into the cup. When time has been allowed for even the finest of the gold to have settled into the cup, the flask is removed. This is easiest done under water. The cup, with the flask still resting in it, is dipped under water in a basin; as soon as the neck of the flask is immersed the crucible can safely be drawn away from under it and then lifted out of the water. The flask should not be taken away first, for the rush of water from it may easily sweep the gold out of the cup. The water in the cup is then drained off and the cup is dried at not too high a temperature; for if the last drop or two of water should boil there is danger of spattering the gold out of the crucible. When it is dry, the cup is heated on a pipe-clay triangle over a Bunsen burner, or on a slab of asbestos in a muffle, to a dull-red heat. This brings the gold to "colour"; that is, the loose tender dark coloured gold becomes bright yellow and coherent; and is in a state fit to be transferred to the balance and weighed. All unnecessary transferences must be avoided. As soon as the cup is cool it may be inverted over the pan of the balance, when the gold will fall out cleanly or, at the worst, a gentle tap with the finger will be sufficient to detach it.

Parting in test-tubes, or in the smaller conical flasks, is used in the assay of gold ores of ordinary richness. The work is exactly like that just described in all its main features. Generally speaking much less acid will be used; for example, in test-tubes and for small buttons, 3 or 4 c.c. of each acid is quite enough. Again, the action need not be so prolonged; 10 or 15 minutes in each acid is sufficient. So, too, the heating may be less; it is very convenient to support the test-tubes in a water-bath, or merely to rest them in a beaker of boiling water; and there is no serious objection to doing this. A smaller parting cup should be used; the A size is suitable. The button, on the other hand, should be beaten thinner than is needed for the larger partings. If the silver should be in excess and the gold becomes much broken up, ample time should be given for subsidence from the test-tube or flask into the parting cup.

Parting in glazed crucibles or dishes.—This method of working has the advantage that there is no transference of the gold until it is placed on the pan of the balance. On the other hand, in the boiling more care is required in adjusting the temperature. The following instructions apply to the treatment of very small buttons, to which the method is more particularly applicable; but very little modification is needed for the treatment of larger buttons. The smallest sized Berlin crucibles answer admirably. They should be cleaned by treatment with hot and strong sulphuric acid, followed by washing in distilled water; the comfort and ease of working mainly depends on the thoroughness of this cleaning. The crucible, one-third full with the first parting acid, is heated on the hot plate until the acid is almost boiling. The flattened and annealed button is dropped into it and the heating continued with, at most, gentle boiling for a few minutes. The crucible is then filled with distilled water, which cools it enough for easy handling; and when the gold has settled the liquor is poured off along a glass rod into a clean beaker. Any greasiness of the crucible makes itself felt here and is very objectionable. The crucible is then one-third filled with the second parting acid and the heating resumed, care being taken not to raise the temperature too high; this should be continued much longer than before, say for five or ten minutes or even longer according to the size of the button. Distilled water is again added and, when it is drained off, the washing with distilled water is twice repeated. It will not be possible to drain off the last drop of water; but if the gold is coherent, the crucible can be so inclined that this drop drains away from the gold, in which case the drying can be done rapidly; the boiling of the water will do no harm. But when the gold is much broken up, it will collect in the middle of this drop and the drying must be done gently; best by putting the crucible in a warm place. When dry, the crucible is heated till the gold changes colour, but the heat must be kept well below redness. When cold, the gold is transferred directly to the pan of the balance. With minute specks of gold which will require measuring, it is best to put a small piece of lead foil (say .1 gram) in the crucible over the gold, and then heat the crucible to above redness over a blowpipe. Whilst the lead is oxidising it is easily swept round in a bath of molten litharge by merely tilting the crucible. In this way any separated specks of gold can be taken up with certainty. When the worker is satisfied that the lead has had ample opportunity for taking up the gold, the lead must be kept in one place and the heat slowly lowered. By this means the button becomes supported in comparatively pure litharge and when solid can be picked out quite easily with a pair of pliers and in a very clean condition. The lead button is then cupelled on a very fine cupel, as already described. The method of working last described destroys the crucible. If the gold is not quite so small this may be avoided. A small piece of lead foil should be hammered out until it is perfectly flexible. It is then shaped into a tray and the gold is transferred to it. The lead is then folded over, with the help of two pins; and cupelled.

If the crucible shows a black stain on heating it is because some silver remains through bad washing. It shows poor work and the assay should be repeated.