Extraction of gold by electrolysis from sea water. Extraction of minerals from sea water. Other substances extracted from sea water

Gold mining began in ancient times. In the entire history of mankind, approximately 168.9 thousand tons of noble metal have been mined, almost 50% of which goes to various jewelry. If all the mined gold was collected in one place, then a cube would be formed as high as a 5-storey building, having an edge - 20 meters.

"Golden Story"

Gold is a metal that mankind met at least 6500 years ago. The oldest treasure is considered to be found in the Varna necropolis, which is located in Bulgaria, and the items are dated 4600 BC.

Gold has played an important role throughout the history of mankind, it is still considered a reliable investment. Currencies have come and gone, but it has remained a universal and stable standard for thousands of years.

Owning this metal has always been prestigious. Not only wealth was estimated by the amount of gold, but also the position in society depended on it. This is what is happening to this day.

It was gold that was often the cause of wars and crimes, but at the same time it played a huge role in the progress of mankind in general. On its basis, the monetary system began to take shape, cultural values ​​​​and architectural masterpieces were created, which are priceless and still amaze everyone. Thanks to the desire to produce this metal, scientists obtained many chemical elements, and gold rushes helped to discover and develop new lands.

How gold is mined in Russia

In the upper crust of the earth layer, gold is contained in small quantities, but there are quite a lot of such deposits and areas. Russia is in 4th place in the ranking in terms of its production and has a 7% share of the world share.

Industrial gold mining began in 1745. The first mine was opened by the peasant Yerofey Markov, who reported its location. Subsequently, he began to be called Berezovsky.

Today in Russia there are 16 companies that mine this precious metal. The leader is Polyus Gold, which has 1/5 of the share of the entire production market. Diligent artels mainly mine metal in the Magadan, Irkutsk and Amur regions, Chukotka, Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk territories.

Gold mining is a complex, laborious and expensive process. Reduce such costs by closing low-income and unprofitable mines. Reducing the volume and introducing new technologies that save capital are quite effective measures.

gold mining process

As the centuries passed, the process of mining this metal was constantly changing. Initially, manual gold mining was popular. Prospectors received gold dust thanks to simple primitive devices. River sand was collected in the tray, and then it was shaken in a stream of water, the sand was washed away, and the metal grains remained at the bottom, since they are heavier. This method is often used today.

However, this is not the only mining process. For example, it used to be common to find gold nuggets along the rivers. They were thrown onto land during the erosion of gold-bearing veins in a natural way. However, by the 20th century, there were no rich placers left, and gold was mined from ore.

Now, gold mining by hand is rarely practiced, the process is completely mechanized, but at the same time it is very complex. A deposit is considered profitable if it contains 3 g of gold per ton. With a content of 10 g, it is considered rich.

A few years ago, a method such as amalgamation was often used, which is based on the special property of mercury to envelop gold. Mercury was placed at the bottom of the barrel, then the gold-bearing rock was shaken in it. As a result, even the smallest particles of gold simply stuck to it. After that, mercury was separated from the waste rock, and with strong heating, the gold exfoliated. However, this method also has disadvantages, since mercury itself is very toxic. At the same time, she still does not give gold completely, since very tiny particles precious metal poorly wetted.

The second method is more modern - gold is leached with sodium cyanide, which is capable of converting even the smallest particles into water-soluble cyanide compounds. And then gold is extracted from them with the help of reagents. In this way, it is possible to obtain precious metal even from already existing ones, which makes them cost-effective again.

Getting gold at home

Gold mining by hand is also possible at home. In order to mine it, you do not need to go to the mines and shake trays for hours. There are more calm and civilized methods. There are a lot of items around that contain gold. For example, the old Soviet watches in their yellow cases contained real pure precious metal without impurities.

In order to get it from there, you just need to buy such watches in very large quantities. Then you will need a plastic bucket and basin, an electric stove, razor blades, a glass heat-resistant pan, a brush and a cotton filter cloth, rubber gloves and a moisture sprayer. Of the chemicals needed nitric and hydrochloric acids.

Processing starts when you already have 300 hulls in your hands. The process will take only 4 hours, while you will use 4 liters of acid. From this number of cases, you can get 75 grams of pure gold.

Who would have thought, but everyone, even children, daily carry gold in their pockets and bags. It's simple - each SIM card for mobile phone contains some precious metal. It can be taken from there as well. This is done in two ways: electrolysis or etching. For the latter, you need chemical reagent"aqua regia".

by the most simple method it is etching that is considered, in which gold is obtained due to the chemical inertness of the precious metal, namely, its ability to react with other elements. For etching, an oxidizing agent "royal vodka" is required, which is made from concentrated acids: hydrochloric and nitric. The liquid has an orange yellow.

gold from water

Gold mining is also possible from water. It is contained in it, and in any: sewer, sea, water, but in very small quantities. For example, in the sea it exists in a proportion of 4 mg per ton. Despite this, it is still possible to extract it using quicklime, which will require only a ton for 4.5 thousand tons of water.

In order to get gold from sea water, you need to mix it with milk of lime. After some time, the liquid must be released back into the sea, and the precious metal should be extracted from the sediment. Kirov engineers offer another waste-free method in which lime is replaced by ash from thermal power plants. This method is considered the least expensive of all known.

golden bacteria

In Canada, scientists generally found bacteria that are able to isolate gold from various solutions. Amazing, isn't it? For example, the bacterium Delftia acidovorans has a substance that just separates the precious metal from the solution. And the reason is simple - she is just protecting herself from gold ions, which are toxic to her. The second bacterium Cupriavidus metallidurans, on the contrary, accumulates it inside itself.

Both were found in 2006 in "gold" mines. Studies by Canadians have shown that bacteria that accumulate gold manage to avoid poisoning due to their genetic nature.

dragee

Gold mining is also carried out with the help of dredges. They are called floating mining machines that have dredging, processing or other equipment that provides comprehensive mechanization of the mining process. They enrich minerals and remove

The purpose of dredges is to develop flooded mineral deposits and extract valuable components (gold, platinum, tin, etc.). They are used mainly in alluvial, deluvial, deep-sea and coastal sedimentary and alluvial deposits. The only exceptions are bouldery, strong rocks and viscous clays.

Dredge types

Dredges are divided into two classes.

1. Marine, with the help of which deposits of the coastal zone and deep mines in lakes and oceans are developed. They are mounted on keel towed or self-propelled vessels that provide operation during a storm.
2. Continental, which are used to develop deposits on the continents. Mounted on a flat-bottomed vessel.

Dredges are classified according to:

• the type of energy used by the drive mechanisms;
• deep excavations of rocks in the section below the water level;
• type of apparatus (many scoops with an intermittent chain, with a solid chain, a rotary complex, a dragline bucket, a clamshell bucket);
• scoop capacity (large, medium and small);
• maneuvering method (rope-anchor and rope-piling).

On the territory of the Russian Federation, dredges are now used for gold mining, mainly this happens in the Far Eastern Federal District. However, mining by this method can adversely affect the ecosystem, destroy river landscapes, and heavily pollute the territory located downstream.

Therefore, this method can only be used with careful adherence to development projects. Their implementation will require the reclamation of lands that have been disturbed by mining, as well as the restoration of forests, soil and vegetation of river valleys.

How to make a gold mining dredge yourself

Many gold miners would like to own their own dredge, and at the same time save a lot on costs, since the prices for this equipment are very high. In this case, the easiest way is to do it yourself. Despite the fact that the most inexpensive materials will be purchased, a certain amount will still be required to create a dredge.

Initially, you need to make lists and assembly schemes, for this you can take as an example the most famous dredges for gold mining at the moment. In principle, the first stage is the study, the more you know about them, the better and better you will make your own.

Some important parts can be found in an ordinary landfill, and they can be purchased for next to nothing, for example, an engine for an apparatus. Next, you need to decide on the size of the dredge, the larger it is, the large quantity soil can be processed, but its weight and cost will also be higher than that of a small assembled product.

You need to build it with a hose diameter of up to 12 cm so that you can handle the dredge yourself. The most optimal size is 10 cm. If you need compressed air, then you need to purchase an air compressor, diving equipment and an air intake tank. However, this is not the first need, you can do it later.

In order to build a coveted apparatus, you will need: an engine with a pump, a variety of tools (hacksaw, hammer, spanners, screwdrivers). It does not hurt to buy a welding machine. You can buy second-hand parts, but some of the most important and problematic or hard-to-replace parts are better to buy new ones in the store.

Some dredge parts are often impossible to make with your own hands, so you still have to purchase them: an engine, a water pump, an air compressor, a hose, an ore washing chute. It is the latter that is the most important detail, without it, gold simply cannot be captured, respectively, the entire constructed apparatus loses its meaning.

The dredge socket should be installed in the head of the lock so that it directs water and soil flows into it. The suction valve takes water into the pump (this is also one of the important details). If sand is sucked in, the pump can quickly break down, so dredging without a valve is impossible.

The hydraulic elevator is located at the end of the hose, while water is supplied to the beginning and a vacuum is created. Here it is best to use a suction nozzle. It is difficult to control the elevator on large dredges, so the application is mainly on small machines if the work takes place in shallow water.

The buoyancy of the apparatus is a separate stage in the creation of a dredge. It can be provided in several ways. Initially, they used tires from trucks, they weigh a little and are cheap. The only obstacle is that getting them is not as easy as it might seem. However, this would be the best option.

Now many manufacturers of drags use They are quite reliable, but also heavy. However, there are many options here as well. Some dredges that are assembled at home have various plastic pontoons. One of the interesting ways is when plastic containers or barrels are used, the capacity of which is up to 40 liters. You can buy them quite cheaply. If you are not sorry to spend a large amount, but buy ready-made, then it is easier to purchase from the manufacturer.

Another important detail that affects buoyancy is the frame. It is on it that the motor and the ore-washing chute are attached. If you do it yourself, you can take simple pieces of aluminum that are easy to find in any landfill. It's cheap and requires almost no effort. If the frame turns out to be flat, then tires from the truck are simply attached to it.

You can check the operation of the dredge after its complete assembly. For this, two dozen small pieces of lead are taken, which are leveled and painted in bright color. Soil is collected in the reservoir, and they are placed there. That's just on it and you can try the dredge. See how many pieces of lead came back after washing the rock. During normal operation of the dredge, losses are possible only up to 2 pieces. If the lead is not enough, then you should once again check the entire assembly according to the scheme, and, if necessary, make additional improvements.

Plans for gold mining in the future

There are fewer and fewer gold deposits, they are now being discovered mainly in South Africa, others are being significantly depleted, and it is simply unprofitable to develop deposits with a low and medium content of the precious metal.

According to experts' forecasts, it will be possible to develop mineral reserves that contain gold for another 50 years. Then they will run out. Simply because humanity has been mining gold very intensively in recent decades. And it becomes less and less in nature. Now we have to find new opportunities for the extraction of this metal in the coming years. The most promising method is gold leaching technology.

In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about ocean exploration as another way to mine gold. There are a lot of sea placers, deposits, but the bottom has not yet been fully explored. It is possible that it is in the ocean that most of the deposits of the precious metal are hidden. Our descendants will have to find out.

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Electrolysis of gold from sea water

The idea of ​​extracting gold from sea water by electric current is based on the fact that gold in its halide form is a positively charged Au 3+ cation.

This idea found practical implementation in the proposal of Brinker and Gray 2 to pass sea water between oppositely charged electrodes carrying the corresponding potential. In the proposed installation (Fig. 96), the cathode is made of silver or copper, and the anode is made of carbon or other electrode material. To fully capture the recovered gold, it is recommended to cover the cathode with mercury, which contributes to the accumulation of gold. Periodically, the gold-containing mercury film is removed from the cathode and processed by conventional methods.

According to the researchers, this method can be used to extract not only gold, but also copper and silver from sea water.

An indispensable condition for the economic feasibility of using the electrolytic method for extracting valuables from sea water is a sufficient amount of cheap electrical energy.

In this regard, the inventor Sonna proposed a marine power plant operating under the action of wave force. Power equipment is installed in shallow water and at such a depth that the surface of a calm sea is 60-90 cm higher than the base of the equipment. The movement of the waves affects the floats, which rise and fall between the guides, which are designed to rotate continuously.

Horizontal direction horizontal shaft machine with flywheel
wheel, from the pulley of which energy is removed. This energy can be used not only to generate electric current for electrolysis, but also to pump water into coastal tanks during chemical, sorption and cementation precipitation, for heating and other processes that require energy.

Despite certain negative statements of opponents of the development of marine reserves of metals, sufficient awareness of the form of gold in sea water, places of its increased concentration and possible ways its extraction has now allowed some countries to fully raise the question

On the continuous industrial extraction of gold from the oceans. In particular, in India, the problems associated with a decrease in Lately extraction of gold from rocks. It was decided to make up for these losses and cover them by separating gold from sea water using sorption, extraction on amalgamated sheets, and plankton processing. At the same time, the profitability of the proposed route was assessed in detail and, at the same time, the possibility of extracting rare earth elements was considered.

In addition to the described methods, Special attention Researchers have recently been attracted by the possibility of biometallurgical precipitation of gold from sea water using biomass prepared from cultivated molds. As preliminary studies have shown, the possible gold capacity of such biomass significantly exceeds the capacity of active carbons and even special ion-exchange resins.

In 1866, one of the members of the French Academy of Sciences discovered the presence of trace amounts of gold in sea water. And later, in 1886, it was reported that the gold content in the waters of the English Channel is up to 65 mg per 1 ton of water.

The famous Swedish scientist Arrhenius estimated this amount at 8 billion tons of gold. Many people knew about this fabulous treasure, about gold present in the form of small impurities in sea water. The idea was very attractive - to simply extract this gold from the sea, and not mine it with hard work, as usual.

At the turn of the century in England and the United States, attempts were made to extract gold from the sea on an industrial scale. In 1908, a joint-stock company under the leadership of William Ramsay tried to solve this problem. Soon, patents for extracting gold from sea water abounded. Success was not heard. All attempts died out in the bud due to the very low gold content, as well as the presence of numerous accompanying salts. There was no such industrial method that would allow separating gold from related substances, that is, enriching it and extracting it.

The physicochemist Haber, who had succeeded in converting the nitrogen of the air into ammonia, now wanted to venture an attempt to extract gold from the sea.

At the beginning of 1920, Haber announced this to his closest collaborators. In complete secrecy, preparations were made for this great undertaking, which the rest of the world was not supposed to know about. More than three years until the summer of 1923, Haber and his collaborators spent to figure out the most pressing problems: analytically accurately determine the concentration of gold in the seas and confirm these data statistically. The gold content turned out to be incredibly low. 50 years earlier, in 1872, the Englishman Zonstadt first analyzed sea water from the Isle of Man Bay and found there a maximum of 60 mg of gold per ton, that is, per cubic meter. Other researchers thought that this value was too high. Data ranged from 2 to 65 mg. Apparently, they depended on where the samples were taken in the World Ocean.

No less labor was the development of a method for the quantitative determination of gold. For this purpose, Haber proposed a microanalytical method, which for the first time made it possible to capture very small amounts of gold. He used the ability of small amounts of lead, precipitated from solution in the form of sulfide, to entrain all the gold contained in sea water during precipitation. After separating the precipitate, it was restored and remelted into a lead pellet, which contained gold and, possibly, silver. Lead was removed by calcination, and the microresidue was fused with borax. A grain of gold remained in the melt, the size of which could already be determined under a microscope. From the volume of the ball and the known density of gold, its mass was determined.

Such an analysis process was also to form the basis of a production option for extracting gold from sea water. Haber's idea was to first pass the sea water through a coarse pre-filter and then, after adding the precipitant, suck it through a fine sand filter. All these and subsequent operations were to be carried out on the high seas.

After three years of working on the gold problem, Haber believed in his cause: according to his analysis, the ocean water contained an average of 5 to 10 mg of gold per cubic meter. The ship companies of the Hamburg-America line had to be brought up to date: would the process of extracting gold be profitable if huge quantities of water had to be processed on steamboats? The results were encouraging: mining a few milligrams of gold per ton of sea water would cover production costs, and more than 1 or 2 mg of gold would go into profit. The implementation of the project was agreed to be financed by such concerns as the Silver and Gold Extraction Enterprise in Frankfurt am Main and the Bank of Metals. Gaber could create his own floating experimental laboratory. He wanted to systematically go around the World Ocean in order to explore where the most gold is.

On the rebuilt gunboat "Meteor", from which only the hull remained and which was converted into an "oceanographic research vessel", the gold seekers put to sea in April 1925. They were to return from their journey in early June 1927. Circulating back and forth between the coasts of America and Africa, the expedition took over 5,000 water samples, which were sent in special sealed vessels to the institute in Berlin-Dahlem. Several hundred more samples were taken from other ships from San Francisco Bay and from the coasts of Greenland and Iceland.

In May 1926, in the report "Gold in Sea Water", Fritz Haber first revealed the secret and reported on the chances of obtaining gold from sea water. The balance he brought was devastating: There will be no gold».

The results of the first analyzes were ... incorrect. Creep methodological errors, not immediately detected, which gave an overestimated gold content. Too great was the faith in the classical chemical assay art. At the beginning, there were also no skills to separate micro-quantities of gold and silver, as a result of which gold containing silver was isolated.

It took Professor Gaber a long time to find the most significant sources of error and eliminate them. In the end, with the help of an improved method, he could determine with certainty even a millionth of a milligram (10 -9 g) of gold. The possibility of introducing microquantities of gold from outside was not taken into account at all. Gold in the form of traces is present everywhere: in reagents, vessels, utensils. These are small numbers, but they are enough to distort the result of microanalysis and lead to unrealistically high values.

As a result, instead of 5-10 mg of gold in a cubic meter of sea water, Haber found only a thousandth: an average of 0.005 to 0.01 mg. Only off the coast of Greenland, the gold content increased to approximately 0.05 mg/m 3 . However, gold of this concentration could only be found in water obtained after the melting of the pack ice. Haber also explored the gold-bearing Rhine, he took into account the fact that a hundred years ago the land of Baden mined gold for minting its coins in the mines of this river. Haber found an average of 0.005 mg of gold per cubic meter of water. From the economic and production point of view, Rhine gold also did not represent anything attractive. Of course, almost 200 kg of gold, dissolved in more than 63 billion cubic meters of water, float away with the water of the Rhine every year. Gold in concentrations (1-3) * 10 -12, that is, 3 parts of gold per 1,000,000,000,000 parts of river water. Haber did not see the possibility of cost-effective processing of such small traces of gold. The frustrated scientist believed that perhaps somewhere in the ocean there were spaces in which precious metals were in concentrations favorable for their industrial use. Gaber resigned: " I refuse to look for a questionable needle in a haystack».

Despite many attempts to extract gold from sea water, only one case is known when appreciable amounts of this metal were obtained. In connection with the work at the bromine recovery plant in North Carolina, a study was made of the possibility of extracting other metals, including gold. As a result of processing 15 tons of sea water, it was possible to extract 0.09 mg of gold, the value of which is approximately 0.0001 dollars. Today, this insignificant amount is all that gold that has been extracted from sea water.

gold deposit mining mercury

Precious metal can be mined at home

Set up a business and earn money original way in modern times, it will not be difficult. If you are full of ideas, enthusiastic and determined to work hard, you can start earning on gold. It's not about sales, pawnshops and jewelry stores, but about gold mining at home.

Gold mining is a rather ancient process, and today there are a lot of ways for this. Gold is a valuable metal that the inhabitants of the planet met more than 7,000 years ago.

It is necessary for the manufacture jewelry, utensils, souvenirs, furniture, clothing, interior items and even building materials. Owning this metal has always been prestigious and fashionable.

The main methods and the beginning of gold mining at home

Surely you are skeptical that gold can be mined on your own. You ask, from what it can be obtained at home? In fact, the methods of extracting gold at home are quite diverse.

You do not need to look for a special place in the yard of your house, explore the territory with special radio devices and gold prospectors, dig up the ground and look for treasure. In order to get this precious metal, it is enough, for example, to have an old gilded watch. It is clear that you cannot have more than a hundred gilded watches lying around at home, a maximum of 1 or 2 copies of old non-working accessories that you inherited from your grandfather or grandmother.

How to increase the amount of "raw materials"? Very simple. We need to start collecting gold-plated watches from the population. Naturally, this must be done consciously, in a civilized and civilized manner, so that it does not look like extortion. It would be advisable to post ads where you indicate that you are collecting gilded jewelry for such and such a price, contact by such and such a phone number. IN Soviet times not everyone knew that it is gold that gives the yellow color on the watch. The watch is not entirely made of expensive material but only topped with gold powder to create a gilded look.

According to calculations, we can conclude that two men's gilded watches give 1 gram of 850 gold. You can easily sell this to any jeweler. There is a little less gold in women's watches, but if the number of women's watches is considerable, then the extraction of gold from them will be a large part.

Gold mining process at home

The process of cleaning a gold-bearing part

Mining gold at home, as mentioned earlier, does not require a special search facility, you do not need to look for a place where the treasure can be located. The main thing is the availability of materials from which gold will actually be mined, and the right tools, which will help to mine gold at home. So, when working, you will need the following equipment:

• laboratory or jewelry scales;
• plastic bucket;
• plastic bowl;
• electric stove;
• heat-resistant glass pan;
• gauze or cloth similar to gauze;
• sprayer (possible from a plastic bottle);
• brushes;
• sharp blade;
• rubber gloves;
• water;
• nitric acid.

Jewelry should be placed in a basin with nitric acid and kept until the base material is completely dissolved and only gilding remains on the surface. Choose a special convenient place where you will carry out all these procedures and where nothing will interfere with the process. Gold, which is mined with your own hands in front of your eyes, should be filtered with gauze.

After gold mining, expensive material should be thoroughly washed with water and immersed in a solution of alcohol or vodka. Next, hydrazyl hydrochloride must be added to the solution in order to completely precipitate the metal. Leave the gold in the solution overnight in a safe and closed place.

This precipitate is gold

After the gold settles, a precipitate forms Brown color, which will look like oily clay. It must be washed with distilled water. This will remove all unnecessary reagents. Next, pass the entire sediment through the filter and dry. At this stage, gold mining does not end.

You should place the residue that has formed after filtering into a crucible and heat it with a special gas burner. After that, your gold should turn into a formed ingot. When placed in a crucible, your alloy will still have unwanted impurities, use borax or soda to remove them.

Mixtures of soda and borax are able to prevent gold from unnecessary losses during the smelting process, and also remove excess metal impurities. Place the ingot in a separate place, you can put it in a bowl or saucepan, and pour cold water with a little citric acid. So your ingot will acquire a special shine.

Over the years, the process of extracting valuable metal has constantly changed, before everything was done manually, now this process is mechanized. There are many places where metal can be mined. But not everyone knows that gold can also be found in water.

In what water can you find gold?

The precious metal can be found in sewer, tap, sea water and other types of it. The content of gold in water is low. Most minerals are found in ocean waters.

gold in water

The bottom of the rivers consists of sedimentary deposits that lie on the bedrock, the so-called raft. There are deposits on the raft that are washed away by water flows. And also streams can wash gold from the mountains. And since it is heavy, it settles to the bottom, where it is retained by stones, sand, clay and other sedimentary deposits.

The greatest amount of gold is formed in deep water bodies or in places where the flow rate slows down, as well as in places where there are large stones and boulders. Gold can be found in places where the river flows out onto the plain. Metal is also deposited where the river widens and the flow of the reservoir slows down. Previously, one could find nuggets along the river, which were thrown out by a stream of water after the erosion of gold-bearing veins.

In sea water, the precious metal was discovered at the beginning of the 19th century. But his prey from the water did not spread. Gold particles are found on rock sediments and are found in beach placers. Minerals enter the water during the destruction of rocks, banks, forming placers. They settle to a depth of five to fifty meters over hundreds of kilometers.

Nobody knows the exact amount of gold in sea water. It is calculated that this is about four to ten mg per ton.

Gold gets into sewage and drain water from industrial facilities, from electronics, dentistry, and jewelry workshops. American scientists, after research, found that sewers contain more gold metal than reservoirs. No one extracts metal from these waters, as it is unprofitable. But scientists are looking for a way to purify runoff water and extract the precious metal from there. It is quite possible that soon such methods will be found, and with their help it will be possible to drink ecologically. clean water and to enrich countries with valuable metals mined from stocks.

In Japan, from the sewers of the city of Suwa, it was possible to obtain 2 kg of gold from each tone of ash. The ash was formed on the sewer filters and delayed, accumulated gold minerals thrown out from industrial production.

Research and extraction of gold from reservoirs

There was a lot of controversy among researchers about how to get gold from water. The development took a lot of effort and money. Initially, they tried the method of obtaining using pyrite. To do this, during the voyage, sacks filled with ore were towed from ships, it was believed that it attracts precious metal. Indeed, after returning from the voyage, the ore had an increased content of gold particles.

Later, the explorer Henry Ball suggested extracting gold minerals using quicklime. The flow of water fell into the pool, mixed with limestone, then it was filtered, processed and poured back into the reservoir. The precipitate was treated with cyanidation. In order to build such a pool, you need to choose a location near the currents, where there will be ebbs and flows and away from the population.

The Russian engineer from Kirov proposed his own method for obtaining precious metal from sea water: instead of lime, put the ash of thermal power plants. This method turned out to be less expensive.

The German chemist Hubber, after much research, came to the conclusion that it is unprofitable to obtain gold from water. Scientists suggested using sulfides for mining (they believed that gold particles would stick to them), mercury.

At the moment, it is difficult and expensive to obtain gold from sea water, the process does not pay off. Scientists continue research.

Various devices are used for out of the river:

• Mini drags. This device sucks rock from the bottom of the river like a vacuum cleaner, while separating the metal from it. It consists of an engine, a floating system, an injector, a pump, a washing trough. The mini dredge has an air supply system that allows you to breathe underwater. Small mini-dredges have a weight of 24 kilograms, and large ones - 90. They are used only for reservoirs with shallow depth.
• Metal detector. This device allows you to search for places where gold accumulates.
• Tray. This thing has always been in demand and useful, used by search engines. It is installed in the river, cleaned of gales, gold particles sit on the bottom, then they are washed into the bowl. Using the tray, you can take gold for a sample, if you find small particles, you can start searching.
• Gold probe. The device allows you to feel the presence of gold particles. The device has a sensor device at one end and a handle with a control unit at the other. He sticks into the ground, that there is gold, notifies a sound signal, while the light bulb lights up.
• Dredge. A floating device that I use to extract gold. It sucks in the rock and pumps it to the factory. However, the dredge spoils the river, destroying the channel and banks. Now they are modernized and improved.

In Russia, the law prohibits from water bodies.

There is gold in the water. They learned to extract it from the river and shallow reservoirs. In order to obtain valuable metal from sea water, it is necessary to develop methods that would be cost-effective. The same thing happens with waste water. Researchers are looking for methods to purify water, filter it and extract gold from there. Since, judging by the studies of gold, there is enough there.