Cornstarch to replace cyanide in gold extraction process - Polidicks

[QUOTE]Today, miners sift out gold from a river of cyanide, basically: They mine rock with tiny concentrations of gold in it, crush it up, and use cyanide to pull the gold molecules out.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]Mining gold to create a single 1/3-ounce 18-karat ring produces at least 20 tons of waste and 13 pounds of toxic emissions. Those emissions contain 5.5 pounds of lead, 3 pounds of arsenic, almost 2 ounces of mercury, and 1 ounce of cyanide.[/QUOTE] [URL="http://grist.org/list/best-switcheroo-ever-scientists-could-extract-gold-with-cornstarch-instead-of-cyanide/"]http://grist.org/list/best-switcheroo-ever-scientists-could-extract-gold-with-cornstarch-instead-of-cyanide/[/URL] [QUOTE]Researchers at Northwestern University recently stumbled upon a solution that uses cornstarch instead. It involves some complex chemistry, but it’s cheap, biologically friendly and nasty-ingredient-free. Led by Sir Fraser Stoddart, a chemistry professor at Northwestern, the team discovered this method by accident when looking for something else. A postdoc named Zhichang Liu was trying to make three-dimensional cubes out of gold and starch, aiming to use them as storage containers for gases and small molecules. But a liquid mixture of dissolved gold-bromide salts and a starch-derived sugar didn’t form cubes, it formed needles. This was strange, so the team decided to try to replicate it and tested different forms of sugars.[/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-05/cornstarch-replaces-cyanide-clean-new-gold-extraction-method?src=SOC&dom=tw"]http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-05/cornstarch-replaces-cyanide-clean-new-gold-extraction-method?src=SOC&dom=tw[/URL]

[QUOTE]A postdoc named Zhichang Liu was trying to make three-dimensional cubes out of gold and starch[/QUOTE] This is some next level shit.

That sounds like the most hardcore job ever: Using cyanide to extract gold.

[QUOTE=MasterFen007;40717051]That sounds like the most hardcore job ever: Using cyanide to extract gold.[/QUOTE] sounds like polluting the earth for fucking gold

[QUOTE=MasterFen007;40717051]That sounds like the most hardcore job ever: Using cyanide to extract gold.[/QUOTE] Probably has some sick health benefit packages to go with it

[QUOTE=Zero Ziat;40719274]sounds like polluting the earth for fucking gold[/QUOTE] the cyanide isn't the biggest concern the biggest concern is the land degradation, the acid runoff, and the giant amount of waste rock produced by the majority (60% in the US, iirc) of mining processes. in fact, some 90% of solid waste in the united states is waste rock from mining. but this is certainly a desirable development, because nobody likes cyanide.

Cornstarch and happiness doesn't sound as good to me.

[QUOTE=MasterFen007;40717051]That sounds like the most hardcore job ever: Using cyanide to extract gold.[/QUOTE] A machine does it source: friend worked at a gold mine

Hoping those mafakas at Barrick implement it.

So there's a use for cornstarch besides thickening soups and playing with them in science classes.

I live in one of the largest gold mining sectors in the entire world, so I am pretty excited about this.

[QUOTE=shian;40723964]So there's a use for cornstarch besides thickening soups and playing with them in science classes.[/QUOTE] Making oobleck

'bout time they found a non-poisonous way to do gold extraction; all that toxic shit is not good for life by any stretch. Also, I'd imagine that cornstarch would be WAY less expensive than cyanide, so it means less expenses for the gold industry, and more profit for them. Here's hoping the secrets of starch-based gold extraction get to all those gold-diggers out there, so they don't have to rely on as much poisonous shite to get what glitters.

this is brilliant news. hopefully the changeover is very fast.

[url]http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1270539[/url] Late.

I love it when serendipitous discoveries like that are made. You're looking for something quite unrelated, but then an entirely more useful discovery pops up.