Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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How to Extract Gold from Computer Circuit Boards?
Q. Can I know the methods in separation of metals in mother boards and hard disk drives
At least Where can I get the information from?
student - Chennai
August 11, 2010
A. I believe this web page answers how to separate gold and metals from computer equipment: www.shorinternational.com/goldrecovery.htm
--Melissa
- Austin, Texas, USA
August 14, 2010
First of all, there are more than 2 ways to extract the gold from these pieces. All of the ways that have been so far mentioned are extremely dangerous if you do not know what you're doing, and can be very costly not only to you but to the environment as well. There is a way to get the gold out without aqua regia or cyanide. It is a device called simplicity or the simplicity, I'm not too sure, but it is made by a company called Shor .
I did a lot of research and found this site. www.shorinternational.com/refining.php. Also the thing about the electric current making them magnetic is completely lies and makes no sense at all. Magnets will only stick to iron, cobalt, or nickel. Most of these pieces are nickel and cobalt alloys. Hopefully this site helps anyone looking to start recycling gold for cash.
- Manistee, Michigan, United States
April 16, 2011
Q. I have a large number of direct TV satellite receiver's at my disposal. First let me say I do have intentions of recycling them at an approved e-waste facility in my town. I have been hearing and looking at the different ways to recover the gold from old computers. I was wondering if there was any, or is any way for this to be done on a home level. I was wondering if there was any gold in these old receivers. Doing the right thing with them is my intentions but thought if there was a chance to have some fun and maybe make a nickel at the same time it would be worth the effort. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Jay Nightingalehobbyist, construction, environmentalist - Moline, Illinois, United States
August 26, 2010
A. To the people who want to know how much gold, platinum and silver is on electronic scrap you just have to multiply by the actual weight in pound. For gold multiply by .002, for platinum .001, silver .008 this is for electronics scrap segregated but not sorted I hope this is useful for somebody, thanks.
ulderys frances- hialeah, Florida usa
October 25, 2010
Q. Hi Ulderys Frances
My question is about the numbers you have given above.
Is this a percentage or we multiply the pounds of weight with these to get the weight of the metals?
Can you give an example, say I have 20 pounds of PCBs, RAMS, CPU and Peripheral cards, what can I expect in terms of the precious metals.
- Santa Clara California USA
February 26, 2011
Q. I have been doing scrap metal for 5 years and I separate all components in p.c's and sell the board at 2 dollars a pound but I have bin saving all plated pins and processor chips. I have the pins separated magnetic and non but I want to know what value I should get. I have 27.6 pounds of non magnetic and 33 pounds of magnetic with no plastics on them. should I send it out for processing or sell as is they are all in Ziploc bags with half pound in each. Nowhere that I go will anyone give me a straight or fair answer; any feedback will be helpful
anthony.
scrap metal - Babylon New York U.S.A..
May 11, 2011
Q. I have some large silver-coated copper pieces used at a coal power plant and I need to know A. where I can sell these to? and/or B. what is the best way to separate the silver from the copper?
Bruce Napierkowski- Lake Bluff, Illinois, USA
July 31, 2011
A. Place large copper piece in clean fish tank; cover with distilled water; attach positive of 12v car battery charger ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] to copper piece; attach negative to steel plate; place 2 inches away from copper; turn on. Silver will attract to steel; then scrape; as steel is harder than copper. it is much easier to remove plating.
Mike Hunt- Adelaide South Australia
November 6, 2011
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Ed. note: This advice is for those who know what they are doing! Connecting a car battery to plates that are 2 inches apart in water is an invitation to a dangerous short circuit or shock for those who aren't careful.
Q. Hi, I'm just wondering if anyone's actually sent their scrap parts off to get money for them, and if so how much they got and where they sent everything. I've got a bunch of circuit boards I'd like to send out but I want to make sure I don't get shorted. Thanks!
Taylor Wright- Alexandria, Virginia, USA
January 4, 2012
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People are welcome to say how much they received but, sorry, Taylor, this is the wrong site for recommendations of who to do business with ( huh? why?)
Q. This is a very broad question and I don't expect a specific answer. I have access to a large amount of E-waste of all types, containers full. This waste is located on a Pacific island and I would like to ship to The U.S. main land for recycling. I am not looking to profit from this only to cover costs. Would it be better for me to break the E-waste down into its sellable components or to ship it as is to recyclers. I am very early in the discovery process and would be grateful for any input.
Jeff MonroeWaste Disposal - Chico, California, U.S.
January 24, 2012
A lot of people on these blogs rush to tell you how there's no money to be made from these boards, when in fact the gold/platinum is there. I can only assume that they tell you this in order to scare people away from the practice in order to further their own goals, namely reclaiming themselves.
When there is a greater demand for anything, as you know, the price goes up ... and once enough people find that there is money to be made in these boards, of course they will become harder to get ... hence the damnation of anyone asking questions. (Yes I already know these people are going to complain about my posts, but you asked a question, and I am not one to lie in answer for my own gain).
Here is a simple and inexpensive way to go about it.
For riser cards (which of course are the easiest), simply soaking the gold fingers in muriatic, (hydrochloric) acid will make the gold coating simply "slip" off. (Muriatic acid is easily obtained from your local hardware store). Now as to the board itself, things here get a bit more difficult. The best method is to remove the gold-bearing pins and connectors from the board before soaking them in the solution. If as you say, you have literally "tons" of these boards, you likely have about a pound of gold you can reclaim. After you soak your items (boards), in the muriatic you will end up with a muddy mess that surely looks like pure trash .... do not be misled, this "mud" likely contains silver, gold and platinum. At this point you will need to revert to "Aqua Regia" in order to separate the different metals from the "mud". Let me say that Aqua Regia, while simple and cheap to make, is an extremely dangerous liquid, the fumes can not only KILL YOU but also do substantial damage to any metals that a concentration of the fumes comes in contact with.
I am not going to go into detail on Aqua Regia whereas there is a wealth of information on the web which can instruct you much better than I can.
Hope this helps.
- Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.A.
January 27, 2012
The only thing you can assume is that I'm here "to further my own goals, namely reclaiming myself", eh?
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
January 27, 2012
"Assume" Yes, although some may consider any semblance of logic as "beyond their reach" I Sir am quite proficient at it.
Before you mock someone, logic would suggest you think before typing.
- Kansas City Missouri U.S.A
January 28, 2012
No Ed, it is you who should think before typing -- publicly implying that as forum host I'm only trying to mislead readers to protect my own vested interests in a precious metal recycling business. It's so ridiculous besides being insulting.
This website is my only business; I do NO recycling. I discourage amateur recycling because I feel it is dangerous and an environmental nightmare, and because I believe there is very little if any money to be made in a business where starving street urchins in 3rd world countries are competing against you yet they remain starving. When statements to the contrary are posted on my website, I simply want to make it clear that they are the opinions of the posters and not my opinion.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
January 30, 2012
Ted, Whether intentional or unintentional, your facts are incorrect, Depending on when this thread was originally posted, your facts may or may not have been correct at the time, but considering that gold is over $1700 an ounce (Troy) and Platinum is over $1600 an ounce the recovery on this amount of boards could and in actuality WOULD BE substantial. Your first reply to my comment was INTENDED as a sharp barb and even you cannot deny that honestly. I of course responded in kind.
Ed Meyer- Kansas City Missouri U.S.A
January 31, 2012
Q. Do Dell Dimension e520 have gold in them?
Jacob smirh- new york city, New York
January 30, 2012
The most common gold compounds are auric chloride (AuCl3) and chlorauric .... radii; covalent radius; metallic radius; element bond length; and Van der Waals ...
Place the stripped down circuit board (all IC'S, and plastic, even heat up in oven to 3 °F above the melting point of Solder, which can be 750 °F to 990 deg F, depending on Sn:Pb or Sn:An or even Silver solder. Make sure you don't reach the Gold Melt Temp of 1050.
Then take the remaining Solid material and place it in a glass tub full of Auric chloride in a well ventilated area, the solution must be diluted to 10% AuCl3 and the rest Distilled H2O. Place a 1/4" by 20" long solid Copper rod @ one end of the Glass tub so that 18" is immersed in the Solution, @ the other end of the tub place a 20" Nickel rod immersed 18", put a square wave pulsed 12 vdc/8 amp charge (-) on the copper rod and (+) on the Nickel rod.
Remove the pulsed DC charge about when the boiling stops, with rubber gloves remove the copper rod and clean it with water. The rod will be plated with the gold that was in the circuit boards. Good luck purchasing Auric Chloride, the Dept of Homeland Security might Visit you, since it has other malicious uses.
- Norwalk, Connecticut, USA
February 2, 2012
Q. Hello,
I'm really confused with all the discussions and how much can really be recovered from gold pins, gold fingers (cut off boards) and the actual boards with circuits still attached. I have about 15 pounds of 'trimmed' gold fingers off computers and CRTs built in the 70's/80's and the gold looks much thicker fingers than on the new ones today ... I also have about 20 pounds of solid and plated gold pins cut off circuit boards and wires. I have about 100 pounds of circuit boards (6"x6"). I have a lot of 'silver' looking pins as well - but not sure if it's silver. I'm trying to find out who to sell these to in Austin and about how much to sell for prior to recovery (as-is) as I've been getting very wide ranges of offers ... I'd like to find someone to actually recover while I'm watching so I can learn from the process as well.
Thanks...
- Austin, Texas, USA
March 16, 2012
A. Hi, Rick. I doubt that these electronic components are silver plated; to my knowledge tin is far more common. I'm not really following why you aren't simply taking the best offer, but to determine exactly how much precious metal you have without sophisticated instrumentation is laborious and requires very good chemical assaying technique.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
March 18, 2012
One thing is for certain. If you do not have a chemical background or have worked around acids before, then get educated first BEFORE using them. The danger is real, you can be blinded, horribly burned or even kill yourself. Now, anyone with average intelligence can quickly learn about acids and the dangers of them and the way they plan on using them. Getting reagent grade chemicals of any kind is for the most part difficult for the average person, if not illegal; you can be charged with being in possession of an industrial controlled chemical. Too bad, anything that works really well is generally off limits to the general public. The excuse used is they are concerned about your safety ... more likely they are concerned about their own profit. Better to take your memory cards, industrial silver, etc. and just cash in and be lucky you have some of it and the big boys don't yet have all of it.
Shawn Sanbornscrapper - Lodi, California, USA
March 25, 2012
Q. Hi. I have about 1 lb. (454 gm) of Silvabraze. It is in its original packaging; it's made by Engelhart of Plainville Ma. It says it's brazing alloy .050 x 1/8". My question is, is it worth anything? Thanks.
Dawn Heim- Bainbridge New york
April 2, 2012
A. Sorry, Dawn, not much. The exact same is available on Craigslist for $30, and a larger size of a different brand is on eBay for under $80 including shipping.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
April 3, 2012
A. The connectors at the end of the copper pieces are made of silver but it is very hard to find a buyer for them after they are removed. I've been buying them for about a year and trying new ways of purifying the silver. I have finally found a place to sell them; I sold 4 pounds at 20 dollars an ounce. Not bad but you have to watch the cost of doing all this; if not careful you may lose money.
ronald ballew- bessemercity, North Carolina usa
May 21, 2012
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