Gold in old copper items?

[Yggdrasil]

I`m not saying that it is not true, but while in ancient times the craftsmen mastered the refining of gold, it is hard to believe that from 12-th to 20-th century they made copper items that still contained gold in high percentage...

But still, i don`t say it is impossible.. just more like improbable..

Pete

They were mining and producing Copper.
That is it.

In the beginning all that was needed was Copper in any purity.
After the demands for purer and purer Copper rose they devised techniques for this and the Gold became a valuable extra income.
Of course as the price of Gold increased it became more and more important.

 

[minero74]

I`m not saying that it is not true, but while in ancient times the craftsmen mastered the refining of gold, it is hard to believe that from 12-th to 20-th century they made copper items that still contained gold in high percentage...

But still, i don`t say it is impossible.. just more like improbable..

Pete

With respect
When they bring electrolysis is when they get purer copper.
Unrefined copper is not pure. It contains traces of metals such as Fe, Zn, Ag, Au, and Pt.

there still many copper items with others metals alloy.

Locals in many countries that still producing copper by smelting the ore
get the metal alloy and sale it.

many local preferred to buy copper from them,than buy copper from internacional companies.

in some countries of South America
some copper mine
they get the copper ore in a leaching solution
then they add pieces of iron
when the copper cement out of the solution
they simply get it,clean it and smelting in bars and sale it.

Some locals artisans buy it the copper metal alloy and make beautiful items.

some copper ore in Arizona is mix it with others precious metal
and contains copper sulfate .

copper sulfate is a good oxidizer.

I don’t know if copper sulfate in copper ore
with sulfuric acid can dissolve gold .

and if it do.
probably when they add pieces of iron
gold cement out and mix with the copper.

Edited.

 

[minero74]

In this photo
If they're not painted.
it is possible that those ancient copper statues are alloyed with other metals.

when copper is alloy with gold,a pink/yellow tint can be seen.

 

[GoIdman]

With respect
When they bring electrolysis is when they get purer copper.
Unrefined copper is not pure. It contains traces of metals such as Fe, Zn, Ag, Au, and Pt.

there still many copper items with others metals alloy.

Locals in many countries that still producing copper by smelting the ore
get the metal alloy and sale it.

many local preferred to buy copper from them,than buy copper from internacional companies.

in some countries of South America
some copper mine
they get the copper ore in a leaching solution
then they add pieces of iron
when the copper cement out of the solution
they simply get it,clean it and smelting in bars and sale it.

Some locals artisans buy it the copper metal alloy and make beautiful items.

some copper ore in Arizona is mix it with others precious metal
and contains copper sulfate .

copper sulfate is a good oxidizer.

I don’t know if copper sulfate in copper ore
with sulfuric acid can dissolve gold .

and if it do.
probably when they add pieces of iron
gold cement out and mix with the copper.

Edited.

Of course, i agree. I said it is most likely improbable that you can still find those copper items in a large enough quantity to worth go after the gold. Also to separate from copper you need a good amount of investment in equipment and technology (if you dont want to create acid waste in large quantities).

Pete

 

[Martijn]

In this photo
If they're not painted.
it is possible that those ancient copper statues are alloyed with other metals.

when copper is alloy with gold,a pink/yellow tint can be seen.

Aren't those bronze statues? So copper, alloyed with the dreaded tin, creating recovery challenges?

 

[justinhcase]

Having though about this, I have to say processing scrap copper to find value would be uneconomic on the scales that any of us are likely to achieve.
But if there is value in antique copper, we might still find a use for this in sacrificial copper for silver and waste drums.
If you can source it and there is a possibility of a small value, potentially it would be preferential to use rather than the pure copper scrap we find from modern sources.
As long as the other impurities it contains do not overwhelm our cementing processes.