Where the
world gathers for metal finishing
Q&As since 1989


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Reclaiming gold from computers

 

I would like info on re claiming gold from computers. Exact instructions is what I need and more on what parts to salvage.

Lee Branca
- West Jordan, Utah

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Gold can be recovered from seawater also--the practical problem being that the concentration of gold in seawater is not enough to make the enterprise worthwhile. Which is my way of saying that if you have a source for 40-50 year old electronic components, I think you may have something. But if you're collecting today's components, where the gold is 20 times thinner, maybe as little as 10-15 microinches, you may be doing the equivalent of collecting tires--accumulating stuff that the town will not let you get rid of for free for too much longer :-)

But we have many other letters about gold recovery on-line here if you think my assessment is pessimistic and you want to review them.

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

How do I find the gold on computer parts? I want to scrap it, but I'm not sure where to start.

A Teal
- Cambridge, New York, USA
2006

I find myself curious. I have about 10 older systems (92-96) and was wondering if I could get any of the gold off of them, or enough to make it worthwhile.

Ryan King
- Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand
2007

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November 21, 2008

You can use a hot-plate somehow and when the motherboard or circuit board is hot enough you pick it up with pliers and other protection (safety first)and bash it into a controlled area where after heating and bashing has done several skids of computers you clean up and separate the gold.

Your first step is to get on a government auction house and bid on skids of computers until you get a tractor trailer load full.

Then you separate all the parts hard drives, optical drives, expansion cards, ram, cpus, etc., catalog what your're keeping.

Under these circumstances you might consider in the back of your mind that it might be feasible to reclaim the gold, but not likely.

Laynard Lvlerritt
- Bellaire, Ohio