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How to Extract Gold from Computer Circuit Boards?




Q. I have access to over 4 tons of old Computer Circuit Boards. I am wondering if anyone knows of a way that the gold can be extracted from these. I have heard that there is a solution you can soak the boards in and the gold will just "lift off" but I don't know what this is called and I'm not sure if it will actually work. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Mandi C [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
- Spokane Washington
2000


"E-Waste Gold"

on on Amazon



(affil links)

A. The amount of gold you will get from 4 tons of circuit boards may not be worth the effort and cost.

There are at least two ways to get the gold: (1) cut off the tabs and strip them in cyanide (2) burn the entire collection, smelt the copper and gold out of the ash, then extract the gold from the copper. Both methods are highly regulated environmentally, as well as being dangerous. I suggest you stay out of the business.

bill vins
Bill Vins
microwave & cable assemblies - Mesa (what a place-a), Arizona


A. Hello, those boards if made before 1990 should be worth a dollar per pound after you cut the gold plated material off. There are better ways of gold extraction other than cyanide. I have refined gold for many years and have never used any form of cyanide. Use a dilute Aqua-regia.

Arnold H [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
- Hamilton, Ohio




Q. I have managed to slice the gold/copper strips from the PCB eliminating the board process. I now have an average size pill bottle full of these shavings. Would it be in my best interest to now try separating the 2 or should I sell them outright not knowing what percentage of this plated scrap is gold. The boards are of 86-92 era. I also am very curious as to why these shavings are magnetic when neither gold or copper are magnetic. One answer I got was that since electrical current has flowed though them they now have a charge to them. This sounds logical to me or is it perhaps another alloy that I don't know about. I would really appreciate any light you can shine on these matters for me.

D Marshland
hobbyist - Wallingford, Connecticut
2006



Q. Hi. My husband and I have access to a large amount of really old circuit boards. We are not sure of the quickest and safest way to extract the gold from them? Here in Calgary, Alberta people will pay insane amounts for the gold.

Marie S [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
- Calgary, Alberta, Canada
2006



Q. Hi I have access to a lot of computer circuit boards brand new in fact. I want to know where can I recycle them. I heard that some people pay good money for them and I was just wondering if someone could give me their opinion on where to start even looking for a place to recycle them.

Heather B [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
- Pheba, Mississippi
2007



Q. I am metal merchant and need to find out how to extract the gold from thousands of boards I have. Please help

Matthew D [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
recycling - England
March 27, 2008



A. Hi, Marie, Heather, Matthew --

E-waste has become a curse on the planet. The first problem is that amateur recycling is a wrecking ball that scatters toxic waste everywhere. Add to it that the cost of recycling the whole item is so close to break even that the rest of the toxins become unrecoverable and buried everywhere if people do 'cherry picking' on the waste. The following video, and there are dozens like it from many major environmental organizations, explains why leaving the scrapped electronics whole is a pivotal ingredient in the world gaining control over the e-waste problem:

One convenient widget for locating green recyclers is on the Crutchfield site at www.crutchfield.com/environmental-policy/recycling.html.




Regards,

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
April 8, 2008



Q. I've been thinking about putting together a not for profit substance abuse recovery home and I'd like to understand the ins and outs of breaking down to a component level, home and business electronics and then selling them for salvage.

Do I sell circuits boards one place. Batteries another, plastic in yet another and of course our end goal is to provide some employment and fund raising.

If this won't stand on its own are there government underwriting funds available? Do you know of a guide to such grants?

Thank you,

Tod Pidgeon
recycling - Dayton, Ohio
April 17, 2008


A. Hi, Tod. There is a "green recycler's pledge", which is intended to make sure the recovery of e-waste is part of a sustainable economy.

So "green recyclers" are forbidden from using prisons or slave labor, or other tricks which would make it impossible for legitimate businesses to compete against them. It's not possible for a small real business to compete against politically-connected firms for whom the public is paying much of their bills . . . so grants violate the spirit of the green recycler's pledge. And as we see time & time again, as each particular feeding trough runs dry, the real businesses in that field have been driven out by the unfair competition, the grant mill has moved to greener pastures, and the public is left with nothing but bills and shuttered businesses. Good luck in your endeavors, but please foreswear grants.

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
April 22, 2008



Q. I have some old and new computers and just wanted to know if the processor has more than the other parts.I think the older computers have more than the newer one's but which parts have the most maybe I will just go for that part and leave the rest alone. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR TIME.

Dennis Rogers
hobbyist - Indianapolis, Indiana
August 31, 2008



"Recovery and Refining Of precious Metals"
by C.W. Ammen

on AbeBooks

or eBay or

Amazon

(affil links)

"Recovering Precious Metals"
by George E. Gee
from AbeBooks

or Amazon

(affil links)

Q. How is the last stage to recover after go through the process and end up with gold liquid and prevent it to become black during burning

Amir Hamzah Ismail
research and development - Malaysia
October 16, 2008



A. Ok curious.... I read one on here that said wouldn't be worth the time....
I broke down 5 comps.... I got 2 ounces of GOLD. from it... ok is the GOLD not going for $1000 to $1200 per ounce now?

Chuck C [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
scrap - Knoxville Tennessee
December 14, 2008



Hi, Chuck. I doubt that your recovered gold is anywhere near pure yet, because it sounds improbable that a computer would have $500 to $600 of gold in it and sell for $399 complete :-) Please let us know how big the check actually is after you actually get it! Don't rely on extravagant claims as evidence that you will recover valuable amounts of gold -- we sometimes see people post glorious tales about how much money they recovered from scrap, only to find the same person selling scrap on eBay . . . and it becomes obvious that they made that claim to try to inflate the value of the junk they were hawking :-)

Good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
December 17, 2008


A. Well here goes. I know it is very possible to profit off of old pc boards because the price of gold was a lot lower then say in the nineties gold may have been 600.00 hundred per ounce compared to now 975.00 per ounce so yes it can be profitable to dissect old boards for gold silver platinum and copper just be careful of health hazards. I will be honest, most people don't want you to know $$$$ in them there computers

Michael Renforth
recycle - Weirton, West Virginia
March 14, 2009



Q. Was gold ever used in welding joints in old cars, can it be reclaimed?

mark green
hobbyist - Amarillo, Texas
April 23, 2009


A. This strikes me as highly improbable, Mark, but if you can provide a reference I'd certainly love to look at it.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
April 25, 2009



Q. I came across some electrical contacts from heavy duty connections and was told they were platinum or silver. They are soft enough to scratch and are harder than lead, I'm trying to find out if precious metals were used in high voltage connections.These pieces are about 50 years old, and I believe came from an old steel mill. Also the dime size pieces are quite heavy 4 of them weigh almost 1 ounce.Thank you...Any info would be helpful.

Jim passione
hobby - valencia Pennsylvania
May 17, 2009


May 19, 2009

"Hands-on" learning is fun, maybe try a ...
Precision Electronic Scale

on eBay or

Amazon

(affil links)

A. Hi, Jim. If they truly are dime sized (0.0207 in3) and four of them weigh 1 ounce, then their density is 12 oz per cubic inch, i.e., .75 pounds/in3, which is much heavier than silver or lead, a little heavier than gold, and about the weight of platinum.

For this to have any validity, though, you need to weigh them, not guess, and you need to carefully measure that they are dime-sized, not eyeball it. If they are rounded or odd shaped so that you can't easily calculate their volume, look up what Archimedes exclaimed "Eureka!" about -- if you drop them in water they will displace an equal volume of water.

If they are as heavy as you say, they are worth taking to a jeweler or gold dealer to be checked, as only precious metals or tungsten would be this heavy.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey


A. In reference to the platinum in computers. i.e hard drives. there is only a very thin layer of in located on the disks themselves and even the amount in that is based on the age of the hard drive. the process involved in recovering that involves a lye solution which can be EXTREMELY dangerous using if all safety precautions are not followed.

robert godsey
- alhambra, Illinois
May 20, 2009


July 21, 2009

A. Your circuit boards are worth Serious money if you have "tons" of them.

Average Circuit Board Values range from 25 Cents per pound for low grade power supply boards to over $4 per pound for main frame computer boards.

There has not been any computer related product with any solid gold since the early 70's and that was some main switch gear from at&t.

Everything else is gold plate from 10,000th's of an inch for standard computer products to 30,000th's of an inch for military specs.

An average pc (personal computer) has a mother board, and a few riser boards. Current market value for these mother boards is $2 per pound, and $2.50 per pound for the riser boards---better known as "finger" boards ---because of the gold plate edge connector plate.

Processor Chips which we refer to as "high-grade" can be worth $25 to as much as $100 per pound.

Hope that helps everybody---don't get "snowed"

Dollar Bill Norcutt
- Richardson, Texas



Q. MY HUSBAND TOLD ME ABOUT THE GOLD IN THE COMPUTERS, SO I THOUGHT WHAT THE HECK I SAT FOR HOURS AND PULLED ALL THE PINS OFF THE PROCESSORS, IT WAS MORE THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE. 15 CHIPS WAS 8.5 GRAMS, BUT I'VE TAKEN IT TO SEVERAL LOCAL CASH FOR GOLD PLACES AND MAILED IT IN EVEN AND NOBODY WILL ACCEPT IT. THEY ALL SAY IT PASSES THE ACID TEST BUT IT WILL STICK TO A MAGNET. WHAT DO I DO WITH IT NOW? I WAS EXCITED JUST TO PULL THE CRAP NOW I'M SO IRRITATED I COULD SCREAM. HELP IF YOU CAN! THANKS, PATTI

Patti L [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
first timer - Stockton, California
October 1, 2009



A. To Patti L: Your pins off the chips are most likely gold-ruthenium alloy, still valuable. Ru is paramagnetic so it will stick to a magnet. The gold passes the acid test, and Ru tests magnetic.

Laszlo Seres
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
October 14, 2010




Q. Hello all,
I learned about the problems with E-waste in a college class just yesterday, and I was wondering how much of an entire computer is actually recyclable and how much isn't. can anyone give me a precise breakdown?

-john

John O'Brien
- Newport News, Virginia
December 1, 2009



Hi, John. You pose an interesting question, but it isn't answerable until it is rigorously defined.

Actually, 100% of anything is recyclable. But if you need to spend 2 pounds of chemicals and a lot of energy to recover 1 pound of product, do we call it recyclable or not? It's surely not worthwhile to create 2 pounds of waste to recover a pound of sand. But how about to recover a pound of gold?

Environmentalists often consider business an enemy, so it's probably hard to say this in your college classes, but a good way we can answer your question is by considering something recyclable if it is economically viable to recycle it. I think that since it costs you money to recycle a computer, rather than paying you money, computers are presently "not recyclable". When we reach the point where people pay you for scrap computers rather than you having to pay them for responsible disposal, that's the point at which they can be considered "recyclable".

Regards,

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
December 1, 2009



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