Boron in metals and gold
From mining to processing to metal recovery, borates serve a versatile role in metallurgical applications.
Their functions include:
Making excellent fluxes, removing metal oxides and dissolving impurities
Stabilizing metallurgical slags, to enable greater waste control
Passivating ferrous metals, to reduce harmful corrosion
Producing more corrosion resistant alloys (steel and aluminum)
The right borate purity, concentration, and granulometry influences these properties and determines their efficacy. With it, you can recover more high-quality material, improve flux functionality, and avoid costly defects in finished products such as cracking and pitting in electroplating.
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Borax in metallurgy
Borates’ uses span a wide range—from stabilizing blasting holes to fluxes, refinement, and oxidation protection.
As a metal producer, you’re seeking ways to become more cost efficient, increase yields, and reduce energy consumption. Borates enable improvement across metallurgical processes, from using borax for flux formulations to their ability to enhance product quality.
Key metallurgical uses include:
Borax for fluxes: During smelting, borates reduce melting temperature and viscosity, dissolve metallic oxide impurities at a relatively low temperature, lowering energy costs
Refinement and impurity removal: Any oxides, impurities, or siliceous material will be subject to borates’ high solvent action when used as a refining flux
Electroplating: By controlling pH, boric acid prevents nickel deposits from cracking and pitting, so you can avoid costly defects
Stabilization: Metallurgical slag is problematic, wasting time and money on proper disposal. Borates modify the slag into a stable rock-like material, simplifying slag handling and give you great control over slag to lower your environmental impact
Reducing fluorine emissions: If you’re looking for an alternative to fluorine-containing flux, potassium pentaborate is an effective solution to reduce fluorine emissions
Why is borax used in melting gold?
When used in a gold refining flux, borates keep recovery high and equipment degradation low.
In gold metallurgy, borates are:
Incorporated in refining flux formulations to dissolve metal oxides
Used as a flux in gold assaying
The right borate concentration helps you save energy, reduce damage to melting equipment, and recover more precious metal. That’s because borates dissolve metal oxides at lower temperatures.
Promote a substantial reduction in the sintering temperature of the charge
Facilitate better gold ore recovery at lower temperatures
Reduce slag viscosity
Produce easily fusible borates
Prevent combustibility and minimize fuming
Form highly fluid slags with only mild attack on refractories
Easily thicken slag if necessary and slammed
Avoid intumescence and puffing
Reduce the loss of precious metal content to slag
Prevent “spit and crackle” problems
Slag stabilization
Borates impart greater control and stabilization of slag in fluxes for stainless steel.
As a stainless-steel producer, you can rely on borates to help stabilize slag. If a slag becomes unstable (or even partially stabilized), a fragile, dusty slag can form. In that case, recycling becomes impossible, and more waste is generated.
By using borates in a flux for stainless steel, slag is modified into a stable rock-like material. As a result you can reduce slag dust to:
Save money on handling and treatment
Lower disposal costs
Improve regulatory response and adherence
Borates in lead recycling and metal recovery
Your goal is to produce a product that’s as pure as a primary metal. Reaching it requires a high-performing borate-based flux formulation to surface oxides and impurities so you can easily decant or skim them off. Using borax as a cover flux provides safe and easy handling, greater slag control, and reducing harm to refractories.
What can happen if your borate concentration is insufficient?
What makes U.S. Borax the right partner for your metal application?
Technical expertise, premium quality, and extensive product offerings separate us from market alternatives.
Unmatched quality, consistency
Your metallurgical process demands reliable, effective inputs. That means you need high-quality products with low impurity levels, consistent granulometry, and product options such as anhydrous borates. As a world leader in refined borates, you can trust our products to deliver superior quality.
Proven technical expertise
Our technical team provides the knowledge you need to meet your specific metallurgical application. Whether it’s supplying technical information, suggesting a packaging format, or help with proper loading percentage, we’re a trusted partner always there for you.
