My real passion - Prospecting

[bc.gold 3,399]

Heating the palladium oxide driving off the oxygen, the black powder has already reached the end point. I'm estimating there's about three grand in that old frying pan.

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

Those of you that have been following this thread know that I have been working at means to remove / recover the three platinum sisters from spent catalytic converters. All that work is about to pay dividends.

 

The platinum market has gone crazy and rhodium is rumored to hit $10,000.00 a troy ounce. possibly even higher. China's love of the automobile is driving the demand.

 

I'm guessing this is going to add thousands of dollars to a new vehicle purchase.

 

Yesterday I picked up a few cats. those below are foils.

 

Today's spot.

Platinum	962.00	-3.00
Palladium	2096.00	-3.00
Rhodium	7100.00	0.00

 

 

 

 

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

Rhodium prices have skyrocketed, which analysts and traders are attributing to strong industrial demand – particularly from the Chinese car market – at a time when supplies are unable to keep pace. Further, rhodium is one of the smallest metals markets, meaning huge spreads right now between “bid” and “ask” prices in limited trading conditions.

Rhodium has already risen by around one-third in the first five trading days of the new year, with prices last trading around $7,300 an ounce. Some commodity analysts and traders say that the 2008 record high near $10,000 is the new target to watch, and prices could remain at historically higher levels even when they do finally correct.

Everyone needs this metal, and we are seeing speculators now entering the market,” said Jonathan Butler, precious-metals analyst and head of business development at Mitsubishi. “This has all the makings of a squeeze, and who knows where it will end.”

Suki Cooper, precious-metals analyst with Standard Chartered, described the market as undersupplied.
“It has very much been a demand-driven story,” Cooper said. “The prospect for future supply is a concern. But in the near term, it’s being driven by higher [auto] emissions standards. And given that it’s a small market, we see that tightness materializing in much sharper moves higher.”

Chinese car sales have been down from past years. However, the loadings of platinum group metals per vehicle have increased due to stricter emissions rules in the country, keeping demand robust, analysts said.

The demand for rhodium and palladium [which has also hit record-high prices lately] has continued to grow,” Cooper explained. “So it’s really been driven by the industrial sector, with continued [demand] growth from the auto sector.”

There is a supply element as well, observers said. Rhodium is mined as a by-product of other metals rather than rhodium-only mines. An electrical shortage in South Africa, a key producer of the platinum group metals, has curtailed some mining operations in recent weeks, one trader said. Further, Cooper said, supply is limited due to events going back to 2012, when producers cut capital expenditures – which would be aimed at generating new supplies – when prices tumbled.

It normally takes about 10 years for new supplies to come on line,” Cooper said. “It’s possible that we may be facing a supply crunch over the next couple of years. When we look at the profile for future production, it’s the minor PGMs [such as rhodium] where the grades are falling much more rapidly than the main PGMs and base metals.”

A trader in the physical market also commented that tighter Chinese emissions standards are driving the demand, resulting in tight supplies. Further, the supply backdrop has reportedly left some producers looking for supplies themselves in order to fill orders, he said.

When a supplier comes sniffing around for metal to fill orders, it obviously sends out a key signal to the market,” the trader said. “Everyone starts buying.”

Peter Hug, global trading director of Kitco Metals, said he has been “extremely constructive” on rhodium for nearly a year now, basically since prices broke up through $2,200 an ounce.

There is a significant supply shortage of rhodium on the market. It is anticipated that will continue through this year and possibly next,” he said. “This is strictly a supply squeeze.”
In fact,

Hug said, prices are rising so sharply that the market could go “parabolic.” Prices are volatile in an extremely thin” market, he continued, with some dealers having bid-ask spreads of $500 to $700. As of when he spoke early Wednesday, Hug said bids were as low as $7,500 and offers as high as $8,500, depending on which dealer somebody spoke with.

Cooper explained that substitution away from rhodium is possible but would not appear to be economically viable. Palladium can be used, but auto catalysts would need five parts of palladium (last trading at $2,089 an ounce) for each part of rhodium.

Unlike 2008, when rhodium prices subsequently fell back sharply, Butler said that he expects strong demand and dwindling supplies to sustain prices at higher levels this time around.
“The story is very much different from 2008. I don’t think we will [see the] same depth of a selloff previously. I would expect to see a series of pullbacks, but they will be at higher lows,” Butler said. “Overall, the uptrend will remain, but there will be dips in the market to give automakers buying opportunities.”

Afshin Nabavi, head of trading with MKS (Switzerland) SA, said that he is also watching the $10,000 level as demand is not going to weaken anytime soon.
“Everyone is chasing the same metal,” he said.
By Allen Sykora For Kitco News

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

Fifty grams of wash coat, much better looking than my last attempt.

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

Was aware of silver, my other half woke me to these articles.

 

Begs the question why have our governments removed silver and copper from our coinage.

 

Copper and its Antimicrobial property's

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimicrobial_copper-alloy_touch_surfaces

 

Copper Destroys Viruses and Bacteria. Why Isn’t It Everywhere?

https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/xgqkyw/copper-destroys-viruses-and-bacteria-why-isnt-it-everywhere

Edited March 21, 2020 by bcgold

[bc.gold 3,399]

The precious metals powders previously recovered from catalytic converters was today smelted into lead as the molten lead cooled these awesome colors began to show up.

 

I believe the colors are from the iridium which is often used in catalytic converters.

 

In the smelting process any metals that have oxidized are not absorbed by the lead, the next step is to cupal the lead to recover the precious metals.

 

 

 

Edited April 25, 2020 by bcgold

[bc.gold 3,399]

looking at the bottom side, the silver areas would be the heavier platinum that settled out while the collector metal was still in  the molten stage.

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

Local guy took a bunch of converters to the yard in the big city, they told him this one had no value. Probably hoping he would tell them to dispose of it rather than pack it back home.

 

I've added about 1/2 of a cc of 35% hydrogen peroxide which you can clearly see is reacting with the catalyst, that is not smoke coming off the hydrogen peroxide is being broken down into water and oxygen.

 

My next step is to test the cat to see which precious metal was used for a catalyst, hopefully it's not zeolite.

 

 

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

23 hours ago, bcgold said:

Local guy took a bunch of converters to the yard in the big city, they told him this one had no value. Probably hoping he would tell them to dispose of it rather than pack it back home.

 

I've added about 1/2 of a cc of 35% hydrogen peroxide which you can clearly see is reacting with the catalyst, that is not smoke coming off the hydrogen peroxide is being broken down into water and oxygen.

 

My next step is to test the cat to see which precious metal was used for a catalyst, hopefully it's not zeolite.

 

 

 

 

Scrap yard was right this cat has no value. The piece I broke off for testing was very soft and easy to crush into powder. it's probably made from zeolite.

[bc.gold 3,399]

Rhodium infused with a lead button.

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

Palladium the colour of coffee.

 

 

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

Making fresh ammonium chloride.

 

Ammonium chloride is used as a flux in preparing metals to be tin coated, galvanized or soldered. It works as a flux by cleaning the surface of workpieces by reacting with the metal oxides at the surface to form a volatile metal chloride.

 

Ammonium chloride - Wikipedia

 

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

Platinum leach after adding zinc, the platinum salts have now converted to metallic particles. I stirred the heavies up into solution for he video, the sunlight reflects off the platinum.

 

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

This is from the jar above, 300 grams of high grade concentrates.

 

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

Zinc sacrificial anode at work, platinum, palladium and rhodium is being cemented out of solution as a black powder which at sometime in the near future will be further refined to separate the metals in their pure form.

 

The jar to the right has almost had all the precious metals cemented out, the liquor has turn black once the powders settle the liquor will be clear of any colours.

 

The zinc I'm using is from wheel weights marked Zn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

Three jars, one of my largest drops., one everything settles out to the bottom I'll siphon off the clear liquor. Turn the zinc into a hydroxide.

 

 

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

From four cats, later when its dried I'll weigh up the metallic filtrate to get an average.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2020 by bcgold

[bc.gold 3,399]

I ran out of zinc and had to sacrifice that old Briggs Zenith carburetor which is made from die cast zinc to cement some values, now have another 110 grams of high grade concentrates.

 

Edited August 8, 2020 by bcgold

[bc.gold 3,399]

As the value of the three platinum sister rises in value, SUV's n Trucks are often targeted for their catalytic converters.

Each troy ounce as priced in US dollars, Sept. 17/2020

 

Platinum	933.00	+2.00
Palladium	2204.00	-67.00
Rhodium	11400.00	0.00

 

Edited September 17, 2020 by bcgold

[bc.gold 3,399]

From catalytic converter comb to the contents in jar which has in-turn been turned into a liquid containing double salts from which palladium and platinum will be separated and once again become metal.

 

My metals are currently in the liquid stage.

 

 

 

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

Interesting day, my buddy on Vancouver Island gifted me a jaw crusher, John is not wired or air gaped so there won't be any pictures anytime soon.

 

Perhaps tomorrow evening when I have the manufacture and model number I can find an image on the net to post.

 

Here's what I know about it so far, it's very old uses babbitt bearings which need replacing, it's powered with a 7 hp gasoline engine and it was previously used to crush bricks.

 

I have about a ton of gold bearing quartz, this gold button was recovered from a 20 gram sample, there's enough gold in the sample to even give the topside of the button color.

 

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

On 12/18/2020 at 2:36 AM, bcgold said:

Interesting day, my buddy on Vancouver Island gifted me a jaw crusher, John is not wired or air gaped so there won't be any pictures anytime soon.

 

Perhaps tomorrow evening when I have the manufacture and model number I can find an image on the net to post.

 

Here's what I know about it so far, it's very old uses babbitt bearings which need replacing, it's powered with a 7 hp gasoline engine and it was previously used to crush bricks.

 

I have about a ton of gold bearing quartz, this gold button was recovered from a 20 gram sample, there's enough gold in the sample to even give the topside of the button color.

 

 

WetnDry

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

Quartz milled into powder, not sure where the moisture came from at -30.

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by bcgold

[bc.gold 3,399]

I used table salt dissolved in water to remove silver plate from flat wear  the more expensive silver plate is over plated with rhodium and these small bits are causing the sun to reflect off of them.

 

Rhodium is currently at USD per troy ounce,

Rhodium

$19,300.00

 

Another thing occurred to me, table salt via electrolysis your creating two other chemicals, sodium hydroxide and sodium chlorinate. The chlorite is an oxidizer capable of spontaneous combustion when coming into contact with organic materials and possibly even react with petrochemicals.

 

Sodium chlorite | NaClO2 - PubChem

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Sodium-chlorite

SODIUM CHLORITE is self-reactive. The trihydrate crystals of sodium chlorite explode on percussion. Sodium chlorite reacts with acids to form spontaneously explosive chlorine dioxide gas (ClO2). If heated above 347°F, the reaction yields enough heat to become self-sustaining, [Mellor 2 Supp. 1:573 1956].

 

 

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

Catalytic converters are going to become a major target, rhodium one of the three platinum group metals used as a catalysis has gone through the roof at $24,000.00 US dollars a troy ounce.

 

Keep your dog chained to your vehicle and hungry for raw meat and keep your arms loaded.

 

I've been de-plating some plated flatware in a salt cell, some of the more expensive stuff has the silver over plated with rhodium at today's spot price has a value of $774.19 per gram.

 

If the price of rhodium goes much higher you may find that the next fossil fuel vehicle in the sales agreement that the catalytic converter is via lease then and the end of life of the vehicle the converter refined to determine the lose from which you are billed.

 

Precious Metals Leasing Explained

 

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by bcgold