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jadedragon
Administrator
Canada
3788 Posts |
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PennySaved
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1720 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2009 : 04:45:26
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| It looks kind of complicated; is the amount of gold you recover worth the time and effort? |
SELLING COPPER PENNIES 1.4X FACE SHIPPED......“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principles of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale” Thomas Jefferson |
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silversaddle1
Penny Pincher Member
USA
103 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2009 : 06:49:30
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| Well I have been recycling computers for about 10 years now. Granted, most of the stuff I do is large, mainframe type stuff, but yes, if you are willing to do the work, you can make money at this. #1 rule is it's not a get rich quick type of thing. If you can get a good steady supply of old computers and tear them down in your spare time, $5-10,000.00 a year is not out of the question. I have a friend in Omaha who I taught how to recycle computers. He is a full time plumber so he does this in his spare time. Desktop type computers only. Without refining any of the gold himself, he is still making around 10 grand a year at it. And that's selling all the sorted components to our local scrap yard. |
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cuppoor
Penny Sorter Member
USA
49 Posts |
Posted - 02/26/2010 : 21:45:58
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| I don't know if anyone watches these old threads but that article is kinda goofy. Aqua Regina??!?? |
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coppertone
Penny Sorter Member
Canada
63 Posts |
Posted - 02/26/2010 : 23:09:11
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| Looks simple enough. Could use a 12V battery charger as a power source. Aqua Regina should be Aqua Regia. |
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Market Harmony
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1274 Posts |
 Posted - 02/26/2010 : 23:52:46
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The process in the article seems overly complicated to me.
If you've got a large enough container, why not dump the gold-containing processors into the container with aqua regia? Once the gold is dissolved then you filter out the non-metal. Rinse and discard the non-metal waste, and keep the liquid, as it will contain dissolved gold. Then drop the gold from solution with sodium metabisulfite. Filter the sponge, and melt... you should have 99.5% gold. A second aqua regia & sodium metabisulfite treatment will bring the purity to .999+ |
goto the new and improved realcent: http://realcent.org |
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cuppoor
Penny Sorter Member
USA
49 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2010 : 09:30:52
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MH, wouldn't you want to break open the processors to expose the gold chip to frame wire bonds too? Those are either gold or aluminum. I'm thinking minimizing the amount of junk in the acid solution would make things less muddy. Have you or anyone else actually done this and won some gold? I know it would be easier to just sell the stuff on ebay but the geek in me makes me want to try it.
And what do you guys think about Amalgamite 982 and cupellation? |
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Market Harmony
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1274 Posts |
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cuppoor
Penny Sorter Member
USA
49 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2010 : 12:09:03
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MH on second thought, the potential gold in the chip wire bonds is probably so little compared to the connector pins that it doesn't warrant breaking the chips open. Just dip the whole thing in aqua regia until the gold is off and get it out of there. No I've never done this but I have done electroplating copper. I design circuit boards and I'm at a loss as to where there is silver used in a recoverable amount. I know palladium is used on tantalum capacitors but you would need truckloads of them. Nice video. They left out the step where you precipitate the gold powder out of the acid. Funny how they got the fish and chips reference in there. You could probably teach me a lot more than I could you. I have checked out your website a few times and can't figure out where exactly you're located. How big is your operation?
Here is the ebay listing for amalgamite:
You must be logged in to see this link.
And for cupellation from a somewhat dubious source:
You must be logged in to see this link. |
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Market Harmony
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1274 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2010 : 12:32:27
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quote:
Originally posted by cuppoor
...I have checked out your website a few times and can't figure out where exactly you're located. How big is your operation?
Here is the ebay listing for amalgamite:
You must be logged in to see this link.
And for cupellation from a somewhat dubious source:
You must be logged in to see this link.
My business is located in Western Pennsylvania. And the size of it is somewhere between a jewelers shop and the Royal Canadian Mint 
If amalgamation was so easy, I would assume that it would be industry standard practice. Instead, most refineries will use the aqua regia method and mining operations will use the cyanide leaching method. |
goto the new and improved realcent: http://realcent.org |
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Gold recovery from electronics
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