gold extraction from electronics. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: aqarwaen
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2017, 08:04:09 pm
content: why you dont make video,how to extract gold from old electronics.i mean you get lots electronics,what you could scrap for gold.

author: mrpackethead
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2017, 08:07:17 pm
content: This may have been practical some time ago, but not so much now, the gold content in electronics is minimal, and the cost of extracting it far exceeds the return.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2017, 08:36:39 pm
content: See Cody'sLab for some videos actually demonstrating the process.

author: Inflex
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2017, 08:42:45 pm
content: Cody's Lab did it for interest -

author: retrolefty
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2017, 08:43:05 pm
content: I haven't seen such a video either. But I have seen a Youtube video on gold value of older (80s to ?) ICs, there does seem to be some kind of market if the gold content is justified.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 03, 2017, 08:46:12 pm
content: There is no point doing it. You're lucky if recovered gold covers the cost of chemicals. Then you need to work with those dangerous chemicals, a lot of time wasted for nothing. In the end you end up with a little bit of gold and a lot of dangerous chemicals you need to dispose. Those who buy electronic scrap for gold recovery on ebay are idiots. In the end, unless you do it at industrial scale, there is no point. All you do is waste your time, put your health in danger and pollute environment.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2017, 09:22:06 pm
content: If you have enough scrap gold parts,take them to somewhere that is already set up to do it.It appears that there are chips, presumably exotic military stuff, that are 0.89% gold by weight :https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/fs-uk-synchros-resolvers-115v-26v-size-11/msg1104513/#msg1104513Run-of-the mill recent stuff isn't going to have enough value to be economically recoverable

author: Kleinstein
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2017, 09:27:29 pm
content: There is a working industrial recycling for copper, gold and other precious metals from old electronics. So there is really no way to compete with this at home - especially without massive pollution.Just find a place where you a reasonable price for the scraps. With modern electronics there may be more value in the copper than gold.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 04, 2017, 01:07:28 am
content: It didn't take much looking to see that gold recovery from these sources was just not worth the effort. The chemicals used are enough to put you off - and then there's the issue of disposing of them.I would suggest you'd be better off targeting copper wire. Strip off any insulation and dump the copper in a tub. Clean copper scrap will get you a decent price - without the nasty chemicals. Someone on this forum was doing just that and posted about it in the last few months.

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2017, 01:28:11 am
content: Funny this thread came up. Just watched this yesterday. Seem like a lot of work, materials, resources and knowledge for very little yield

author: mrpackethead
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2017, 03:56:27 am
content: When i worked for Unisys as they still did mainframes, the mainframe engineers would "melt" down old stuff with terrible chemicals and process's. there was a lot more Gold in the machiens back then. They got enough year to fund a very good christmas party.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2017, 05:20:08 am
content: We put some numbers on it last spring - its just not worth it for modern boards & connectors, and the old stuff is probably worth more as rare parts!https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/scrap-gold-recovery/

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2017, 09:15:33 pm
content: Yeah a lot of old ICs are quite valuable if they are in working condition. Some are collectible even non-working if they are rare and/or historically significant. I shudder to think how much cool old stuff has been melted down for raw materials.