Recovery And Refining Of Precious Metals (Gemology) [Paperback]

C.W. Ammen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 31, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0412720604 | ISBN-13: 978-0412720604 | Edition: 2nd

This new edition is a thorough revision of C.W. Ammen's bestselling work (often referred to as the Precious Metal Bible), a complete and practical guide to recovering, testing, extracting, and refining precious metals, from both primary and secondary sources. This text is written in a clear, simple manner and based on the author's own experience as a professional chemist and metallurgist.

Product Details

• Paperback: 441 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 2nd edition (July 31, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0412720604
• ISBN-13: 978-0412720604
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,076,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recovery And Refining Of Precious Metals - Second Edition, July 5, 2003

By 

Al Gunn (SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Recovery And Refining Of Precious Metals (Gemology) (Paperback)

Written in a clear and simple manner, this newly revised reference follows the great success of the first edition (referred to as the "Precious Metal Bible") with a complete overview of the recovering, testing, extracting, and refining of precious metals. Both primary sources - placer gold, black sand, and ores - and secondary sources - scrap jewelry, electronic scrap, old films, buffings, spent plating and stripping solutions, catalytic automobile converters, and old eyeglasses are covered.

Based on the author's experience as a professional chemist and metallurgist, this second edition offers a wealth of new material, delving more deeply into solvent liquid extraction and many other topics, and thus yielding much greater insight into these subjects.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent gold refining book!, June 6, 2003

By 

Al Gunn (SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Recovery And Refining Of Precious Metals (Gemology) (Paperback)

This book is well written. It takes highly technical language and turns it into verbage any layman can understand and easily apply. The sketches and formulas makes learning even easier. I was able to understand and apply the refining of gold, silver, and platinum quickly.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The non-chemist precious metal chemistry bible, January 19, 2003

By 

J. Avon (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Recovery And Refining Of Precious Metals (Gemology) (Paperback)

It took me two years to obtain this book for it changed editor's houses several times in the near past. Yet, it was worth every efforts! The second edition is more thorough in it's common topics than the first edition, and contains new material. This book is worth every penny you'll spend on it and I bet that if you use it in the lab, you'll regret not being able to afford a second copy for safekeeping in your library. Whether you're a small time refining jeweller or a commercial gold refining operation, the book will not only give you applied recipes and procedures but also, stimulates your imagination with contemporary methods new ideas and an original conceptual approach to precious metal chemistry. It's a treasure trove of ideas and practical information for the non-chemist or the week-end basement-lab chemist who wants to learn the basics or the commercial operator who want to get new ideas on how to improve his bottom line.

Although you could follow the recipes of this book blindly, it requires an elementary base in chemistry to fully appreciate Ammen's impressive knowledge. For teaching yourself the bases of chemistry, I recommend "Chemistry: The Central Science" by Brown, Bursten and Lemay as the perfect companion. It is by far the greatest ground-level chemistry book I've ever seen; it will take you painlessly, and with captivating style, from the level of complete ignoramus to a level where you can be fully operational in basic chemistry. I wish all my basic science textbook had been that good. A comprehension of differential calculus is desirable but high school maths will more than suffice for the majority of the content, and certainly for most of the content related to precious metals chemistry. If you are not a chemist but had chemistry classes in high school or college, I suggest you throw away your old chemistry books and buy the pair ! If you intend to make precious metal chemistry your lucrative hobby, the pair of books will easily repay for themselves as much in enjoyment as in money.