Curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing 1989-2025
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Recovering gold from electronics, page 2
Q. Hi,
I am someone who had just bought some scrap metals. I am doing this for an experience and knowledge. I have learnt how to use aqua-regia or electrolysis to get gold. I am not sure about the purity but I can see that it's gold. But now I want to extract other metals in the scraps as well. How do I get nickel and copper from it? I have dissolved the scraps in the aqua-regia and got gold. Now I am still left with the remaining mixture. How do I recover nickel and copper? Can someone please advice me on the procedures I can take to recover them? Or some info? Please, my knowledge in this is shallow.
Thank you.
Ung ShunjinHobbyist - Johor, JB, Malaysia
2004
A. The decision on refining gold by a hobbyist is a hotly debated item at best. The first and foremost thing to be considered is the fact that no matter how careful you are, there will always be a good chance that your hobby will kill or cripple you or someone you love.
There is no such thing as a "safe" method that can be "profitably" used by the average hobbyist. I know this because I have been recycling & recovering both as a hobby and for 2 employers for over 10 years. If you truly want to experiment with recovery then you need to invest in a detailed manual and study it intensely.
Several of the larger chemical supply companies offer safety courses ranging from free to $25. TAKE ONE! Then if you are absolutely sure you still want to try home recovery start small & start with safety foremost in your mind. Don't waste your time expecting to get rich, it ain't gonna happen.
Jim Huffman- Winchester, Tennessee, USA
2004
Q. I have a fairly large amount of gold in solution. I've evaporated off the nitric and now it's in hydrochloric acid. Can anyone tell me what will precipitate the gold? Also, will nitric remaining in the solution influence the precipitation and if so, how can I test for it.
Tim RobertsHobbyist - Mesa, Arizona, USA
2004
A. Tim, When you have the solution in HCl form and works if it has some HNO3 left in it (perhaps better) you can dilute it with water, about 2000 Ml. and after bringing to a boil add "Potato White" which is sodium metabisulfite while stirring (use three times as much "PW" as gold as you anticipate) (You can buy it at a chemical supply house as a food grade very cheaply) . Then add more "PW" and see if you get a cloud, if you do you are precipitating more gold. Try a small amount and be sure there is a small Amount of HNO3 still in the solution and that it is dilute enough to be able to see through it with a light behind it.
If there is no more clouding let it cool and settle then filter through a tight filter. If you have any white precipitate you have added too much "PW" not that it will hurt but give you an indication for the next trial. The good stuff will look like coffee grounds sort of. Place the solids in a new beaker [beakers on eBay or Amazon [affil links] and boil with water to clean the white material out. or
I would just melt the entire batch in a crucible and you will have pretty good gold. about 95% or better.
I add pure lead and 4 parts silver then use a cupel to separate the gold from anything else and get about 99%
Good luck
Adrian Meador- Muleshoe, Texas
2004
! Tim, In the last note I neglected to add that you need to part the cupelled button with 50% nitric acid to dissolve the silver and leave the gold in a very pure state.
Adrian
Adrian Meador- Muleshoe, Texas USA
2004
Q. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE OR LESS HOW MUCH GOLD ONE CAN REFINE OUT OF A 1000 POUNDS OF COMPUTER MOTHERBOARDS.(RANGING FROM 486 TO P1)?
Dirk WaltersHOBBYIST - Vanderbijlpark, GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA
2004
Q. I have about 10 lbs of scrap electronic pins and fingers and would also like to refine scrap jewelry. Would it be worth my while to spend $600.00 on refining equipment to under take this task? The equipment I am referring to is the simplicity sold by Shor.
Carl Naglhobbyist - Bayville, New Jersey, USA
2004
A. As simple as I can state it. One computer contains approx. $1.20 in precious metals and it cost approx. .80 cents to retrieve it (and that is, if you do the recovery perfectly), so you profit .34 to .40 cents . Notice I said one computer... you can strip it down to the boards, chips, and pins and still going to profit 34 to 40 cents each. hope this helped.
Frankie Burk- Pulaski, Tennessee
2004
Q. I have a few pounds of gold plated electrical components. Most are very small pieces. I just read that you should never use AR for platings. My question is, How do I recover the gold? Every refinery that I've asked is not interested in plated gold.
Gregg Bremersnon-profit religious - Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
2004
Q. I am interested in removing the gold from circuit boards and was wondering if you could remove it strictly by using electricity.
Thank you,
Dan Pridgenhobbyist - Mobile, Alabama
2004
Q. I have about 100 lbs. of low-grade gold plated eyeglass frames. My goal is to recover the gold myself. I have done some experimenting and it appears that melting them and constructing some type of Mobius or Thum cell would be the best approach. I am open to suggestions on all parts of this project
Mike RotalskyHobbyist - Franklin, North Carolina
2004
Q. I am involved in a research project to recover gold from electronic scrap. The sample that I am working with have a high concentration of copper compared to gold. Hence, this makes the recovery process of gold difficult. Is there any method or sorbents that can separate gold from copper? The concentration of the copper is about 10 times more than gold in my sample.
Ryan TongStudent - Singapore
2004
Q. Need to know how to remove gold from circuit boards. Step by step in laymen's terms. I'm not super smart so please explain in steps. I would appreciate any advice. I have access to lots of old computers and would like to recycle as much as possible.
Thanks,
John minncomputer repair - Edmonton, Kentucky, USA
2004
Q. Hi, I'm a business man engaged in buying any kind of scrap such as an electronic scrap. With this, I have collected plenty of IC's (integrated circuit) from these electronic scrap. I have at least 30 kilos of LQFP and QFP package of IC's with different number of pins from 44 pins to 144 pins. I would like to know how much ounce of gold I can get from these IC's.
I would like to recover the gold from these IC. With this, I have performed an experiment using sulfuric acid to melt the molding compound of the IC's and then sort gold wires from the melted molding compound and copper pins. This is a long and expensive process so I stop the experiment. Instead, I use the aqua regia to recover the gold.
By heating the IC's with aqua regia at 300 °C the IC's (molding compound, copper pins and gold wire) were dissolved leaving the molding compound at the bottom. Then I filtered the solution and neutralize the nitric acid using a urea. After doing all this I'm not successful in precipitating the gold, using sodium sulfite. What I get was a black powder and white powder at the bottom. I burn to melt these powders and obtain a black colored metal not gold.
If somebody from you guys out there who have experience in recovering the gold from IC's can you please share to me some tips or more accurate, economical and safer process that what I'm doing. I already tried three times in perfecting the aqua regia process to recover the gold from my IC by not Successful. Desperate for your help.
Alex MasterScrap Buyer - Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines
2005
Q. I have used aqua regia to dissolve gold and silver from e-junk. Can the electroplating system be used to bring the dissolved gold back to gold metal? If it can be done what material should the anode and cathode be ? What acid should be used? Also, how and what is used to bring back the dissolved silver?
BILL Luxmorehobbyist - PEACHLAND , BC, CANADA
2005
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It seems like we all have something in common. Those who have the answers won't share them. I have had some success in extracting the gold off of connectors and "broken fingers" using "pcb etchant solution"from radio shack cat#276-1535. It takes longer than nitric,but is a lot safer. It works best when hot, not boiling, straight from the bottle. When dissolved, by using electrolysis on the copper the gold is easier to get too. Do not use this on aluminum. on the ceramic ICs use hydrofluoric acid also know as glass etchant to dissolve the casing. But, when all ELSE FAILS I use Abington Metals in Philadelphia, PA USA as my refinery. Linda there is a great help; if you don't know what you have, send her a sample and she will tell you what it is and if is worth anything. I hope this helps someone. Hi Doug. Thanks for your answers, but it's not fair or realistic to characterize the readers as "those who have the answers won't share them". Informative postings have already been offered by Panjala Mukesh, Arnold Hoskins, Richard Alcorn, Peter Couture, Rhangy Smith, Adrian Meador, and others. Other readers suggested books which describe everything one might want to know, feeling that people should read up and acquire some chemistry & refining background before possibly endangering themself or wasting gold with inefficient procedures. People can give step-by-step instructions for baking a cake because readers are already familiar with eggs & flour and fruits & granulated sugar & bottles of vanilla, and whisks & glass bowls & teaspoons & kitchen ovens, etc. But they can't give a novice "step-by-step" internet forum instructions for performing an appendectomy because it involves terminology & complex procedures that people aren't familiar with, so "Step 1" grows to fill 100 pages. While recovering gold waste isn't as complicated as an appendectomy, it does involve terminology and procedures that laymen won't instantly understand -- that's why the book may be a couple of hundred pages rather than two paragraphs. Thanks again. Regards, |
Q. We just acquired a very large surplus of computers & need to know what parts have gold on them. We don't know what "chips", connectors, etc., we don't know one chip from another. Is there a diagram that shows what parts are salvageable? How do you refine it?
Debbie Smithamateur - Montana, USA
2005
Q. Have removed most of gold and other metals from 32 year old computer; now what do I do with it? Help me please: my husband was Vol. Fireman who was disabled in line of duty; this is something he started before totally disabled and we could use any financial help possible. He was sure when he did it it was a good thing; been sitting here about 7 yrs. If you have suggestions please.
Thank You,
- Cadiz, Kentucky, USA
2005
A. While there was more gold on typical electronics in 1973 than today, computers use a few millionths of an inch thickness of gold, the parts are not made of solid gold. I hate to have to be the one to tell you, but the value of the gold from even a 1973 computer may not buy much more than a Happy Meal. But take it to any jeweler or pawn shop who says they buy gold, and see what they say.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2005
A. My experience is to take a fresh razor blade and follow the printing of the board and remove as much as you can. This is very time consuming but it will save you money on acids due to scraping the gold into a smaller quantity. I personally would not do it if there were hundreds of boards but for a few and experimenting it saves space and money. If not, sell on eBay [adv: electronic scrap on eBay].
Holly Figueroa- Houston, Texas
2005
2005
A. For those that are trying to refine electronics, maybe this will help you. I use this process for refining all gold including electronics.
1. put 5 lbs scrap in to a heatable container and add 1 quart of HNO3 (nitric acid) 70% tech grade is ok.
2. let acid work until there is no more reaction.
3. add 3 quarts of HCl (hydrochloric acid) muriatic acid
⇦ this on
eBay or
Amazon [affil links] is ok.
4. let set and work until there is no solid metallics left.
5. add the leach solution to clean warm water, and add 1 to 1 1/2 pound of urea to solution and stir to help dissolve, this kills and neutralizes the nitric acid.
6. add 1 and 1/2 teaspoon of sodium sulfite for each ounce of total metals dissolved, (not just gold). the gold will filter out as brown particles that look like mud, this is 999.3 fine gold. filter wash and dry then melt.
I hope this has helped you.
- Enid, Oklahoma
Ed. note: See also letter 771b for more discussion on recovery of components and precious metals from electronic scrap.
Q. I like everyone else it seems have several hundred pounds of motherboards, ethernet, etc scrap as well as telephone scrap that I need to process. What I have been doing is pulling the cpus and cutting fingers and selling via the internet. What I wonder is what is remaining on the boards and how do I remove it. I think the jumper pins, ide connector, pci slots, etc are gold plated but after many attempts at many methods I have yet to find a way to efficiently remove the pins from the boards. The worst seems to be the pci type slots that just won't let the pins come out of the assembly. Is there a product, acid mixture, or solvent that will dissolve the plastic material and leave only the metal pins? I remove the pin assemblies with a small Dremel ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] tool just clipping the bottom of the leads but the plastic is a very big problem so far. Any help is very greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Chris Colemansurplus - Weslaco, Texas
2006
A. Lots of people seem to be interested in doing this. I found a guy on eBay selling old chips and he said "gold recovery" and I did a little google search and ended up here.
From what it looks like, there is a very small amount of gold inside computers, certainly not enough to be worth your trouble as a private individual. There's probably more gold in a 1 liter bottle of Goldschlager than there is on a chip.
If you're a factory owner with hundreds of thousands of chips and machines, then that's a different story. But if you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this isn't one of them. The cost of the chemicals greatly outweighs the value of the tiny bit of gold you're going to recover.
- New York, New York
2006
2006
A. Hello,
If you have electronic scrap , sell it.
Chemical extraction is a dangerous business best left to professionals. And if you are entirely successful , you may only extract 40 to 50% of precious metals anyway.
If you have 40 tons.....sell it.
If you have 200 tons.....sell it.
If you are generating 100 tons monthly , sell it to someone who can make you an attractive offer or a licensed refiner. Of course you can enter into an agreement to get paid on settlement...but don't hold your breath...a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.
No one ever went broke making a profit.
No amount of money can compensate for your health.
Hope this helps.
- New York NY USA
A. I think all these people inquiring about refining gold and silver from computer parts are all wasting their time. I agree with the general consensus that there is no significant amount of gold to be recovered from these sources. The health risks greatly outweigh the potential profit margin, if any at all. It amazes me to see people willing to risk their health, as well as the health of others in their immediate environments to get a tiny scrap of gold, expending so much time and energy for the smallest returns. You could make far more money per week working at McDonalds and eat all the fattening food they sell for free. At least it would be a regular paycheck and even healthier for you too, if you can believe that. God help the get rich quick mind. Get a job, it pays more. Lol.
Ryan Maximus- Stamford, Connecticut U.S.A.
2006
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Q. To all the "Experts", A. Thanks, William, but please write down the steps for people to go back and save a pet who is in a burning building :-) Would you not urge people to call 911 instead? And if they have an abiding interest, then urge them to get hands-on training and qualification testing in lifesaving, read books, and don't attempt it unless they have the right equipment? That's exactly what I and many readers have done on this thread a dozen times and counting. If someone knows enough about it to frame a specific question, I think the experts answer it, but "full answers" that can make things understandable and safe for most readers is an impossibility. All we can do is to continue to urge people not to work with hazardous chemicals without hands-on training or outside of a proper industrial facility with the correct gear and PPE. 2006 Don't make the mistake of thinking that I condone an untrained person doing anything that is dangerous. - Campbellsville, Kentucky, United States 2006 Returning to the analogy to your line of work, William, people will go into a burning building to save their pets even though you tell them not to. So let me quote you -- -- So please list the steps our readers should take in entering a burning building to save their pets if they insist on doing so anyway. Actually, your first posting was right: people who are using these dangerous materials without hands-on training are "a danger to anyone within a hundred yards of them". People lacking a background and who will not get training must at least start by reading a book. Otherwise, what topics do we leave out of the discussion you seek? Shall we skip fulminates? Skip the dangers of perchloric acid? Skip that nitric acid will ignite organics? Skip a discussion of goggles? Skip respirators? Skip exhaust systems? Skip waste disposal? Skip the evolution of poisonous HCN gas from acidified cyanide? Skip explosive heat of reaction? Skip treatment of chemical burns? Which safety topics do we omit? We would be happy to have threads on each of those topics and we already do have threads on many of them, but we're still right back to people wanting to skip all those topics :-) Ted, first let me thank you for allowing me to have a voice here. Now then, this will be my final post. You guys keep up the good work and keep me and all the other firefighter/medics in work. William Bemis- Campbellsville, Kentucky 2006 |
A. It would take far too long to acquire any decent amount of gold from electrical appliances, why not collect broken jewelry and when you have a sufficient amount for a small bar, melt it down using a crucible, these can be made or bought the electric crucibles work great although you can make one by using a oil drum cut down with a smaller drum in side and fill with concrete using fire proofing bore a small hole in lid attach a coupling to the wall and fit your gas supply using propane this is a hot burning clean gas, crucible goes inside with some bonami powder and gold into the crucible and turn up the heat, about an hour later hey presto you got gold, advisable to melt the gold more than the melt heat for pouring, make sure you got a good bar mold preferably cast, you can make them out of clay or porcelain fired well, but these want last long,.
Paul Batespureinkuk - Doncaster
2006
I too saw the eBay sale for 10 lbs of "Recycling" CPUs and decided to research the topic. I am proud to say that I will NOT be attempting to conquer this chemistry experiment. I am smart enough to know NOT to try this. I'm sorry, but to spend $.80 to recover $1.20 in gold using toxic chemicals does not make sense to me. I can make more money cutting lawns!
- Vero Beach, Florida
2006
Q. I in no way plan to even try this, but find it interesting that people would consider such a dangerous task. Lack of understanding to the dangers I think. One question: Why wouldn't you grind to a fine powder, then separate by weight, then just melt out the gold? Gold is so heavy it should separate easily and I don't understand the need for all the chemicals. The melting process would probably still leach some pretty toxic gasses, but less then all the acid use, as the other substances could be removed before melting. Anyway just my two cents worth. Oh yeah, working at McDonalds would provide a better income, I agree.
Kevin Longbrake- Marysville, Ohio
2006
A. I have experience in recovering gold from a variety of sources but not specifically in e-scrap.I am posting this information on this board to see if any one has attempted the recovery process on e-scrap.
The process of gold recovery can be improved by treatment to recover or remove lead and tin. The scrap has to be burnt to remove plastics. This burning process will produce toxic fumes from the destruction of the plastics and the formation of toxic fumes of mercury, zinc oxide as well as arsenic and antimony oxides. Excellent ventilation is mandatory during this incineration step. The resulting solid material from the burning process, cinder or calcine as it is called is usually crushed and then leached with caustic solution to solubilise the lead and tin values contained in the e-scrap.This caustic dissolution step has to be done using protective suit, rubber gloves
⇦ this on
eBay or
Amazon [affil links] and face shield
⇦ this on
eBay or
Amazon [affil links]
because the caustic solution will produce a severe caustic burn.The fumes will damage your eyes or lungs if ingested. The lead and tin values are converted to soluble plumbate and antimonate respectively. This step should will also dissolve any arsenic and antimony in the e-scrap as arsenate and antimonates which are also very toxic. The residue from this stage obtained by filtration will contain copper, gold, silver and the Platinum group metals(PGM).This should reduce the weight reporting to copper, gold,silver and PGM recovery.The hot caustic solution free of any solids is treated with scrap aluminum beverage cans that have been stripped of the plastics by burning. This will produce metallic lead which will form as balls and will sink to bottom along with tin. During the process hydrogen evolution will occur and if not done in a location with excellent ventilation hydrogen explosions can possibly occur. The lead and tin are recovered by filtering. If the metals are not removed when the reaction is done they will go back into the caustic solution. After the lead and tin are removed the solution should be neutralised with muriatic acid to produce a neutral solution that is neither acid or basic for safe disposal. This is very important because if too much muriatic acid is used the solution will turn acidic and then there is the danger of produce Arsine and Stibnine gases which are also very toxic.
- Hillsboro, Oregon
2006
2006
A. If you have a lot of gold, you are in the gold refining business. If you have a lot of copper, you are in the copper refining business.
Connectors are comprised of mostly copper and very little gold. Simply refine the copper using copper sulphate
⇦ this on
eBay or
Amazon [affil links] salt in aqueous solution with very little sulfuric acid for free acid. The connector should wither away leaving the gold "glove".
The copper collected at the cathode is pure electrolytic copper.
Voltage should be low and current densities should be low as well to get a good plating. Please note that de-copperising is a long process and I do it in two stages. First stage, de-copperise as fast as possible bulk connectors, fingers, etc. This will also turn the copper sulphate into iron sulphate as iron is exchanged by cementation. No worry, it still de-copperised once the copper sulphate is gone.
Then take the copper "mud" and slowly refine it again. This should leave hard copper on the electrode and will remove impurities such as gold which was dropped in the first stage.
Once I'm left with de-copperised gold "leaf", I send to refiner. The copper is sold as pure #1 copper.
The process is a continuous, renewable process.
Regards,
- Edmundston, NB, Canada
I've got about 15 lbs of gold plated circuit boards, Does any one have the specifics on how to glean the gold from them. I understand the concept of reverse plating but the specifics and chemicals are the unknown factor. If you know, Please post for me
Allen SeabridgeHOBBYIST - Vancouver, Washington
2006
This has been said a few times in this thread, but I'm sure it can't be said enough. All of you who are trying to extract gold from modern day electronics (IC sockets, edge connectors, monster cable, etc.) are wasting your time. 1 OZ gold = ~ 500$ You'd need about 50 computer mother boards to extract 1 oz of gold. You really didn't think electronic manufacturers lay this stuff on thick, did you? we're talking microns, and it's used to enhance the conductivity of the part - not to protect the part.
But let's say you persist: You'd need $200 in chemical supplies. 20$ in electrical energy - You'd have to pay $50 for safe disposal of the chemicals. You'd need about 40 hrs of work to extract your oz of gold. You'd end up with a profit of 250/40 hrs = 6$/hr. Downside: Explosion, poisoning, environmental contamination, acid burns, accidental blinding, secondary party (human or animal) incidental accidents, bylaw infractions and hefty fines, fires and death. You'd be better off desoldering the chips and selling the 555's, 7808's, clock crystals, bus connectors and fan for .50 cents each for a profit of 400$ for 50 mother boards.
- Andover, Massachusetts
2006
There's a program now showing on the travel channel about gold mining and recovery. It seem that it is easier to recover and more cost effective, to remove gold from electronics than to remove it from the ground. It was said on this show that there is about three oz's gold per ton of computer. It seems to me the best way get proper information on recovery, Is to go to the Retired Business Men's association and consult someone in the field of metals.
On this show the parts are crushed then ground up. This may answer the question of metal removal from parts! Any way you look at it this would be a very profitable business being it done properly.
- Snow Camp, North Carolina
2006
2006
To Mr. Panjala Mukesh, Can I use another substitute from sodium meta nitro benzene sulphonate at Mr. Panjala Mukesh' methods?
Is economical the recovery of glass frames? Can we recovery which metals and how methods are used?
I have a terminal electrolysis equipment recovery of silver from photographic waste solutions. But, I can not use it for bleach-fix solutions which content Fe_EDTA complexes. Because, it has low amperes (6 Amps). Have you any methods To decrease effect of Fe-EDTA, a chemical solution?
Thank you,
I am a chemical engineer - Ankara, TURKEY
How to get gold from CPUs? I want to know about how I can extract gold from CPUs of mother boards?
Syed Sajid Ali- New Delhi, India
2006
Hello I live in Tennessee and I have a large amount of computer boards and I'm looking for a dealer to sell them to can any please give me a listing of dealers near me?
Thomas ThurmanCOMPUTER BOARDS RECYCLING - DAYTON, Tennessee
2006
2006
I need to find all of these people who are recovering gold from scrap in their basements. As an environmental professional and remediation specialist I could make a fortune!
Seriously, I would advise anyone considering chemical reclamation of gold from scrap to really think twice before embarking on such an endeavor. The risk (to your health and the environment) is not worth the reward.
In a perfect set-up, you "might" recover 6 to 10 troy ounces of gold from a ton of high grade scrap, the costs to recover the gold run will run about $3000 a ton, leaving you a net of about $3000 on the high side, and guys trust me, the set up to effectively process a ton of scrap is not cheap. Not something you can do in your basement in a month. Oh well, that's my 2 cents worth.
Best of luck in all that you do.
- Knoxville, Tennessee
I have hundreds lbs of PC boards, CPUs, memories, etc. from scrap computers, I like to find gold refining/recovery firms near my place, New York, New York,and I can send them for gold bars.
Edward Lee- Woodhaven, New York
2006
Under optimal conditions and following precise step by step instructions, approximately 1 oz. of gold can be recovered from approximately 15 lbs. of older ceramic CPUs and connector edges in Aqua Regia.
Charles Rogers- Jacksonville, Florida
2006
Hello, Please read this to the end before attempting this process. I use this set up: use 1 quart of HNO3 (nitric acid 70% technical grade) dilute to 50% , soak one kilogram of computer CPUs in the solution for a period of time till the CPUs legs are fell off the ceramic or fiber backing, please do not agitate the solution. What this is doing is removing the silver solder that bond legs to CPUs backing. Filter the gold legs with coffee filter or you can use old pair of panty hose which should not be affected by the acid – caution solution is acidic! Add table salt to the solution after you filter the gold out to recover silver chloride, it will be in the form of white flakes. You can refine gold in aqua regia by washing the gold legs in the hot water to remove silver salts, this is important because silver will lock the gold in aqua regia! What that mean is gold will not come out from aqua regia; it will be difficult to droop out gold from the aqua regia! Next mix the acids: 30% by volume (70% nitric acid) and 70% by volume (35% hydrochloric acid or muriatic acid ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] ). I use 300 ml of 70% nitric acid and 700 ml of 35% hydrochloric acid and it is working. Now you made the aqua regia – caution this solution is extremely acidic! Use 1 quart of aqua regia per 140 gram of gold legs. Don't use more then 140 gram of gold per 1 quart of aqua regia! I don't have time to explain why. Dissolve the gold, if it is not dissolving fast for you heat it a bit (90 F – 160 F) but not more than that, and please do it outside or under fume hood. I don't have time to explain why. After all your gold is in solution you need to mix one more think to neutralize the aqua regia; dissolve one and a half pound of urea in one quart of hot but not boiling water then add to the aqua regia till it will no longer fizz / bubble. Congratulation! You neutralize aqua regia. To precipitate gold from the neutralized aqua regia you going to need one to two teaspoon of sodium sulfite for each ounce of gold metal dissolved. Gold will come out of off the solution and settle on the bottom as brown particles that look like mud, this is 99,9% fine gold. This set up works on CPUs I don't know if it will work on everything.
Paul Prisyazhnyuk- Erie, Pennsylvania
2006
Since there is so little gold on the copper traces and wires, why not consider the gold a slight impurity and ignore it? Scrape/clip of the copper wires, melt the wires down and cast it as copper. Copper is not a cheap metal. It has to be WAY more valuable than the gold, and all it takes is heat to melt it.
Why does everyone want that recycled gold so badly? Cast the copper and sell the ingots instead.
- Ventura, California
2006
2006
I agree that using powerful acids is far too dangerous and costly for the small business, home business, hobbyist market. Especially when considering making a profitable enterprise.
I am an electronics engineer, and must also mention again, it is not solid gold in these electronics boards, the only gold in there, is the gold you can actually see on the surface of connectors, and it is VERY thin, it is simply to stop corrosion "on the surface" There is also nothing substantial hidden inside plain chips. If a large (CPU) chip is gold colored on top or bottom, it is still only a very thin layer, it isn't solid gold. It is so thin, you can't even scrape it off properly. Inside a CPU there is VERY fine connecting wires made from gold, (386 and 486 are best, old Pentiums have less fine gold wires) and you can crack them open, and scrape the wires with a sharp blade onto a glass plate, (don't blame me if you cut your finger please!:) and collect them to a nice pile... etc etc.. I have done this, but not for profit, as it is a time consuming and very wasteful process.
You are best to do as mentioned previously, and collect only all the gold looking stuff, stripping down best you can, and get a premium buy price from a good scrap dealer.
HOWEVER, the reason I am here, in this particular subject thread, is pretty much the same as everyone else's. I would like to refine my own small nugget of pure gold (and pgms would be nice too!) for my elements and mineral collection.
There seems to be a non acid and "safe" method of refining gold (and advertised commercially as a kit set) using simple salt solution(?) and ceramic filters, etc.
NOW wouldn't this be a great way to promote safe home chemistry, without the use of dangerous chemicals, if we could know what the process used.
NOW, as others have mentioned here, I would purchase this system, but where I live, it makes it a bit price prohibitive, and I am sure it is a simple solution which someone is marketing with a HUGE profit margin on the unit, (I don't know, maybe years of research did go into this kit set, but when the prices of them vary by hundreds of US$, it makes me wonder) and the ongoing supply of what must be simple and safe chemicals. (I cannot import ANY chemical into the country where I live, but may be able to buy them if I know what they are).
So, I ask this question of the experts, in the name of safety and simplicity, this safe electrolytic refinery process surely must be the answer to all our wonderings, but what the heck is it?
thanks,
elements collector - Auckland, New Zealand
Regarding that "HUGE profit margin", Tony, I think you'll find "The grass is always greener . . ."
But why don't you contact the manufacturer and get a license to distribute or manufacture the units and the chemistry on your side of the world and participate in the larceny? Despite any "safety and simplicity" justifications you advance, this website is not going to collaborate in the theft of trade secrets :-)
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
December , 2006
What about gold melting pots, is that a way to melt the gold off circuit boards?
Jon Jacksonmobile computers - Suisun, California
2007
I would like to know how I can find large lots of scrap computer parts for precious metal recovery (refining) excluding eBay ? I have read questions on this site that people post who want to know how they can refine computer scrap because they have an endless supply (supplier). Can someone let me know the secrets to obtaining all that scrap for free or at little or no cost? I have done a lot of research gold refining and will share it with anyone. If you have solid karat gold scrap for refining such as 10 k, 14 k, 18 k, 24 k, solid gold jewelry (unplated), aqua regia method will not work. Aqua regia is for gold plated items only. You could use the Simplicity gold refining system for your solid gold items.
Thanks for your time and help!
- Ball Ground, Georgia
2007
2007
Actually solid gold can be done by aqua regia, I don't care what you read, I do it. I use aqua regia (now sub zero) Check ishor.com for solid gold, gold filled, circuit boards, memory, IC chips, processors and anything non metal based plated.
For pins and gold plated items I use a simple reverse electroplating cell. It simple to make, a Pyrex glass measuring cup. You need sulfuric acid,( I use "Rooto acid drain cleaner
⇦ this on
eBay
or
Amazon [affil links] ) (2 cups) glycerin (1/4 teaspoon) and you have your electrolyte, The cathode has to be lead, the anodes have to be stainless steel. use a 10 amp battery charger
⇦ this on
eBay or
Amazon [affil links]
and your set, obviously there is more to it but that's the general set up the "poor mans way"
I have recovered over 3 pounds of 99% pure gold over a 2 year span using these two methods so I know what I'm talking about when I say you can do solid gold with subzero, and pretty much anything.
The reason there's so many questions and not enough answers is the general population is not mentally equipped to do this stuff, you can kill yourself easily or others. Not to mention the lazy ones you do not dispose of waste properly and just dump it anywhere. there are no shortcuts that do not result in harm! It is a tedious and detailed process and each step must be done correctly!
- Ashland, Pennsylvania
2007
Hey guys,
Just wanted to let anyone interested in gold refining from electronics scrap my experience. There really is not any money in it. First refiner I went to was a company in the North west Suburbs of Chicago. Sounds like "Progressive Soup" Refiners. I sent "Progressive Soups" precious metals division over 42 lbs of Mix heavy 1970s gold electroplated Pins from telecom equipment over 800 ceramic based CPUs, and about 2 troy oz. of 14 Kt yellow gold junk jewelry. They took 2 full months to get me a settlement check of a whopping $607.00 dollars . (I have documents to prove . half the stuff I got on eBay and the other half I bought from a retired Bell Labs employee. so I spent over $2000 dollars (not including my time and labor cleaning the crap. )
The other company I sent a similar amount but only 18 lbs (T oz) which I spent $1000 dollars minus my time and effort cleaning and pulling pins, and they sent me back a whopping $500.00 (five hundred u.s. dollars). This company which sounds like "Spackelty Helters and Sckelters Refiners". All this is the Truth, and nothing but (i have some significant paper documents to prove) . I am a hard working , God Fearing, Honest young man from the Midwest.
To be honest , I wish I never got involved with it. Also these "Gold Refiner's" have short fuses, or very lacking in customer service and relations. When I was calling around and told them I had over 40 lbs. of ceramics based CPUs, they were all very keenly interested, but why would they if the 40 plus lbs of Ceramics based Processors only yield about $600.00 U.S. dollars and their cut is only 10%? Something stinks and I am the sucker.
From my experience , I would recommend avoiding refiners, or just don't bother with e-trash (unless you are getting the stuff for free and don't have to clean any of it). I would have made more money if I auctioned my collection on eBay . Financially I have lost over $3000.00 dollars, and Lost over I think over 800 man hours of labor. Keep in mind this is for the "high yield electronics" . This is worse than slave labor, because at least a slave gets meals, and roof. Better to get gold from real scrap jewelry and sell to jeweler.
Are there any "Honest Refiners" ?
Thanks,
- Naperville, Illinois
American manufacturers have found it exceptionally difficult to compete against China, where skilled labor is available at 1/10 the cost. More than half of all e-waste goes to China where the desperate, who are unable to land those jobs that pay 10% of American wages, illegally refine this stuff on street corners and front porches to try to survive. You can smell the towns from miles away. Go to ted.com/tedtalks and search for the presentation by Ed Burtynsky, which is fabulous; one of the things it includes is the photos of these desperate people, their polluted towns and acrid air, their streets paved with e-waste.
If you want to compete in the free market against people who are scratching in the dirt to survive, and who would be elated if they could have hope that their children might someday make 10 percent of American minimum wage, then reclaiming e-waste may be for you.
I guess it's hard for those of us who don't have gold fever to understand what it's like :-)
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2007
2007
I am interested in recovering copper from electronic scrap, it seems to me that there is more copper in pcb's then gold or silver.
I would like to know in detail how it is done, is there anyone out there that will share?
Thanks
Dick
Richard R. Conway
- Clearlake, California
Look....I read all the responses from this site and questions...I come to this conclusion.... gold from computers has to be worth it. The free world is ALL collecting this stuff... and China is buying the computer boards whole by the container...and I have seen with my own eyes gold bars being loaded onto a bank truck in a SCRAP YARD...yes...gold in a scrap yard locked up...who would guess ... now it is obvious the newbies like me do not know the full extent of this...but something is up here...just like the guy talking about CAT CONVERTERS... actually they are over a $100 US and smelted worth a $1000...now this gold stuff is the same thing...before years back car scrap was everywhere, and all shops said please take it away..NOW,,everyone knows about it and stealing them off cars... the people that know about computer scrap are not making the same mistake...they are shutting up and getting rich...think about it...
But one thing for sure, soon it will come out because WAY too much interest now. But then will be hard to get a scrap computer ... everyone will be selling scrap...just like cars...cars that don't run and rotted, people still don't give them away ... These people who know and read this know what I am talking about.... and they are not going to say diddly squat to anyone...think about it would you if you have a sure thing...I DON'T THINK SO.....so you know what.... get a real job or hobby and forget it...unless you get one of these guys and choke them..LOL.... and maybe they will tell you...then ok...good luck everyone..because anything to do with money.... is called good luck.
Robert Talarico- Ontario, Canada
2007
2007
The world also trades in sand, gravel, and manure, Robert. That doesn't make them "precious". Do yourself the favor of reviewing some podcasts or videos of disabled Chinese people living in squalor and recycling this garbage. A short life-span, a constant eye-watering stench, living outside of the law, polluting their streets, and a few cents an hour, at most, are their reward for this recycling work. You are welcome to it.
As for "secretive", there are numerous peer-reviewed books, going back many decades, to tell you everything about precious metal recovery--there is nothing the least bit secret about it. There probably is a scam element to it when people suggest it is a road to riches and only they can guide you on that road.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2007
This is for all questioners and respondents to this "topic".
I have been doing the "scrap process" as an amateur for many years. I have many contacts in the scrap business and a lesser number in precious metal recovery. I do it as a hobby; not necessarily, an income maker.
For the amateur:
Recyclers will only pay 50% of what they "know" they can sell for. That is, the least they can sell for. They will have every excuse as to why the item has little value.
Sodium or potassium cyanide is deadly for the amateur.
Agua regia is only a little less risky. Nitrates of lead, copper and mercury are explosive when dried.
Copper hydroxide,developed when using the heavy alkaline leaches, is deadly in small doses.
The list goes on for ever.
You can make a bit of money from it; but, you have to spend the money for equipment and the time to learn how to use each of the processes BEFORE you start. Learn the disposal process. Learn the SAFETY aspect of the process; know them by heart.
AND FOLKS, IT AIN'T EASY!
For the professional:
The acidic/SSN/chlorine (SSN=saturated salt natant), where the acid is HCl, is by a wide margin the safest for the backyard recycler.
webpages.charter.net/kwilliams00/bcftp/front.htm.
This guy has some formulas for those that will allow users to work a bit more safely, if they follow instructions. There are others, but this was handy.
- Socorro, Texas
2007
Gday all,
Very interesting topic! Personally I have done hours of research into the economic viability & environmental liability of numerous processes involved with the recycling of ALL e-waste. As the exponential rise of ewaste continues, the amount of e-waste exported to third world countries has increased. There is a convention in place for most countries regarding export of this toxic waste, the Basel conv., however the leading country involved in the formation of said conv., America, has not adopted any of the practices regarding the export of these toxic substances, and still export to poor countries for them to deal with to the best of their economic ability, with disastrous consequences!
The only way to prevent more damage to our perhaps already dying planet, is to adopt safe process from the very beginning, the manufacturers. Surely with their billions of bucks they CAN create more recycle friendly equipment using less toxic materials and identifying the toxic substances they do use.
As has been said many times before THIS STUFF WILL KILL YOU maybe not now but it builds up in organic systems. Look at the report the US Navy has done on Beryllium commonly used as a heat sink paste, you don't want to touch the stuff!
[deleted by editor] you blokes [deleted by editor] around with this stuff have not researched the full dangers of what you are trying to deal with, and if you have, you don't give a [deleted by editor]. Several towns in poorer countries now do. Travel for miles to find uncontaminated drinking water, kids maimed and mutilated by acids, the list goes on.
Sell or give ALL your unwanted electronic equipment to an accredited e-waste recycler for the good of OUR EARTH OUR CHILDREN & THEIR CHILDREN, the are many good ones out there, find them.
Let me assure you to recycle e-waste to recover the precious metals & common metals requires a huge amount of capital, licensing, & knowledge also you must have ethics, not just out for the quick buck. Bloody hell burning boards, acid leaching, etc., that process alone you people are stuffing OUR earth. You must take the temperature up to at least 1300 °C to destroy the dioxins, the emissions taken through a two stage wet filter then a two stage dry filter and must continually monitored. Can you afford or have the knowledge and approval for this? This is just the first process! Let alone removing all metals from acid solutions, to make them safe for disposal!
Come on get some sense about yourselves, support accredited e-waste recyclers, the only profit from e-waste comes from economy of scale and should not be treated as a hobby, please look after our mother earth, she's the only one we have!
- Brisbane, QLD, Australia
HI EVERYONE,,I JUST FOUND THIS WEB-SITE-SO COOL---MY QUESTIONS ARE--FIRST OF ALL I KNOW NOT A THING ABOUT GOLD..I HAVE CAME ACROSS A LOT OF COMPUTERS BROADS..QUESTIONS ARE,,I THINK THE GOLD PINS ARE PLATED? BUT I HAVE A LOT OF SILVER ONES ARE THESE WHITE GOLD? I ALSO NOTICE A LOT OF BLACK THINGS ON THIS BROADS[[BOXES]]SHOULD I TAKE THESE OFF THE BROADS I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THESE ARE CALLED IS THEIR GOLD IN THESE?DO THE BOARDS THEM SELF HAVE GOLD IN THEM? SHOULD I TAKE THE TIME TO BRAKE THE BOARDS UP? I WOULD LIKE TO THANK ANYONE WHO COULD HELP ME WITH MY QUESTIONS--THANKS
MICHEAL AHLSTUDENT - CORNING, California
2007
Get rich quick or die trying .... I think its the latter in this case, the environmental costs of these idiots setting fire to circuit boards all over the planet beggars belief!
Colin Colboy- Poole, UK
2007
Can I use DC current to extract the Gold from a NX stripper(base)that has Potassium Cyanide in it to strip the gold that has become heavily laden in gold stripped from plated terminals and circuit board connectors. If so, do I need to pacify the cyanide before removing the gold. I hope to plate the gold to a piece of stainless steel bar and melt the gold from it in a crucible to pour into a mold.
Steve Caldwellhobbyist - Winston Salem, North Carolina
2007
I've come across lots of information detailing the methods of recovery of various precious metals, including gold/silver/PGMs from electronic scrap. Personally, never tried it, never will. It is not worth the time, expense, effort or inherent dangers to attempt this on a small scale. Some people trying to sell you certain books will try to convince you that it can be done by anyone in your basement or garage. But, they're trying to sell you a book. I have a question, though... Where are you guys getting all this computer/telecom/electronic scrap? I've read several posts from folks saying they have tons. I'd love to know how I could get my hands on some. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Tom Banks- Woodstock, Minnesota
2007
It depends what town you live in, Tom. In some towns the citizens are encouraged to take any stuff from the town dump that they feel they can reuse -- and that includes old radios, telephones, computers, TVs, and stereos.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2007
2007
To the general public knowledge: PMG recovery is cut-throat business.
Cut fingers from the PC board, pull all gold plated contact from the MoBo (Motherboard) Get them in large plastic or glass container 3 Liter or larger, use one pint of 70% Nitric acid with 1 pint of distill water, add 40 gram of metal contacts bearing gold to the acid
. Let it sit for a month at room temperature. Agitate container once a day. Acid will get hot - work it self true the base metal (does not work on stainless steel) after all base metal dissolve in acid you going to see the gold color flakes on the bottom of the container, to be sure that liquid is neutral and all acid is gone add a piece of copper wire to the solution to kill the rest of acid, pore distilled water to the solution let the gold particles to settle down on the bottom of the container pore the solution with out the gold flakes into plastic container or glass you can recover copper and other metals later just add aluminum to the solution. Add hot distilled water to the gold flakes. Let it stand for the hour or so, gold will settle on the bottom of the container, pore the water off of this container in the drain it contains wary little metal salts.
The most efficient method to get gold from the gold flakes metal is to use Mercury / Sodium amalgam. It is not too difficult to recharge the mercury after it is exhausted in the processes of gold recovery. It is safe if one takes full precautions in mercury recovery after it's been in used. Mercury / Sodium amalgam can absorb one third of its weight in gold. So if you need to absorb one troy ounce of gold it will take 100 gram of Mercury / Sodium amalgam.
- Erie, Pennsylvania
I'll probably be accused of somehow being in cahoots with the major refineries because people can be pissy when they have gold fever; nonetheless . . .
One problem with e-waste is that amateur recycling is a wrecking ball that scatters the toxic materials everywhere. Add to it that the cost of recycling the whole item is so close to break even that when 'cherry picking' like this is done, you inflict the planet and the rest of us with the balance of the toxic waste in unrecoverable form and scattered everywhere. This video, and there are dozens like it from every major environmental organization, explains why leaving the computer whole is a central ingredient in gaining control over the world's e-waste problem:
Crutchfield has a nice little widget on their website at http://www.crutchfield.com/environmental-policy/recycling.html that lets you plug in your zip code and get a list of recyclers.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Hey people what melts metal, da?
It's heat. grind the boards up to small stuff, put it in a pot and heat it up.
then the heavier metal goes to the bottom.
The scrap yard does it. If you add a little gold to the pot when you heat it the other gold will go to it when you melt the stuff
wala ... gold , silver, lead.
- rouseville, Pennsylvania
2007
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