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How do I Separate Nickel From Gold?

Minerals and other elements need to be separated from gold during the extraction process. This is because gold is not found in nature fully pure. Engineers and scientists have created a number of industrial techniques that separate these elements from gold so that gold companies can utilize pure gold in their products. One common element found in most gold in nature is nickel. Although some common metal removal techniques can help with nickel removal, other refining techniques can be utilized to separate the nickel from gold. You will need gold and nickel alloy and then utilize a number of mechanisms to remove the nickel from the gold.

Instructions

Lateritic Method
- 1
  Dry the gold under high heat. Lateritic separation requires all moisture to be removed from the minerals.
- 2
  Place the gold in an electric furnace. The lateritic method requires such high heat to melt the gold that electric furnaces are required to raise the temperature high enough.
- 3
  Add sulfur to the gold and nickel alloy. Sulfur helps with the processing of the gold and nickel alloy.
- 4
  Wait for the gold to melt off. The gold will melt off the nickel alloy. Allow the materials to cool and brush away any liquid or burnt off gold. The remains on the heating tray should be pure nickel.
Sulfidic Method
- 5
  Pre-heat electric or flash smelting ovens before the nickel and gold alloys enter the oven.
- 6
  Place the gold and nickel alloy within the oven.
- 7
  Vent air into either kind of oven so a consistent stream of oxygen enters into the process.
- 8
  Remove the solid matter from the liquid remains in the oven.
- 9
  Place the solid matter into a non-vented electric oven. Wait for all much of the solid matter to melt off in the electric oven. The pure remains that are leftover will be nickel.

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