What type of electronics have gold in them

We are an electronics recycler near you — as close as your phone. We process gold, silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium from jewelry scrap, electronic scrap, catalytic converters, platinum thermocouple wire and more. Clark St. Old camcorders — the bigger the better.

Old stereo components including amplifiers and receivers. Early game consoles from Nintendo and Atari. Got Those Items? Learn more. However, with the right knowledge, experience and tools, you can remove valuable gold from computer parts, other discarded electronics. Methyl Hydrate is Funnel filter I used a drip coffee filter 2 large glass containers I like coffee pots for chemical heat. Blow Torch hot enough to hard solder.

Borax Clay bowls just about anything that has a melting point o above the melting point of gold will do. Measuring cup anything you can use to make a mix will do. Although no special skills are needed one should follow all chemical and heat safety procedures. Collect any gold-containing metal scraps to which you have access, including jewelry, computer processors, old telephone wiring or gold tooth crowns.

Keep in mind that outdated electronics are likelier to produce parts with a high enough level of gold to make the procedure worthwhile.

This is the gold I collected in a bucket over three months. Sort the gold into circuits that need cleaning, gold plated parts, gold plated pins, gold fingers, and solid gold large and small. Use a magnet to separate all gold plated steel this needs a different process than I am demonstrating. Apply all safety gear correctly before working with chemicals and do this outside as the fumes are nasty.

Put the gold fingers and clean circuit boards in the coffee pot, in another container mix two parts muriatic acid and one part hydrogen peroxide and add to the coffee pot until it just covers the gold fingers and wait a week giving it a stir daily.

Since I have a week I will move on to processing my solid low grade gold parts. Setup the scale remembering to zero it by adjusting the screw on the left.

Cupellation is a process where ores or alloyed metals are treated under high temperatures and controlled operations to separate noble metals, like gold and silver, from base metals like led, copper, zinc, and others present in the ore or alloyed metal. The process is based on the principle that precious metals do not oxidize or react chemically, like the base metals; so when they are heated at high temperatures, the precious metals remain apart and the others react forming slags or other compounds.

Cupellation is simple weigh the solid pieces of low grade gold, burn the crap out of it until you get no more slag and it becomes a nice bright yellow bead, and then you weigh it after it cools. My solid low grade gold parts with garbage attached went from grains to A week has passed and it is time to collect your gold flakes and dust from your cleaned fingers and circuit boards, after a week the acid darkens and with a stir the flakes of gold can be seen floating around in the pot.

Pouring the acid into a coffee filter the acid passes through the filter leaving the gold behind, save the acid do not dump it down the drain. Next dump the remaining fingers and circuit boards into a deep plastic tray and add water, sort out the cleaned of gold parts, put the cleaned parts in the waist and save the un-cleaned parts for re-dipping. After you have sorted the circuit board parts pour the water off through the coffee filter and flush with methyl hydrate to clean.

Since the methyl hydrate is There are basically two methods of melting gold flakes and dust to recover gold available to the average person, the mercury method called Gold-Mercury Amalgam with its obviously toxic by-products and the Borax Method.

I do not recommend the mercury method it works but it is extremely toxic for generations. For example, base metals coated in a thin layer of gold can offer a way to cut down on the total use of gold in electronics. Other metals, like palladium, platinum, and silver are commonly used as actual substitutes for gold, as they have similar properties to it. However, these metals are generally also rare and expensive. One of the most cost and time efficient ways of extracting gold from electronics is by using chemicals.

However, this should only be attempted by people who are knowledgeable in chemistry and have the right safety apparatus to do so. Using chemicals on electronics components will often release very toxic fumes, and should only be done with the right personal protective equipment PPE and ventilation. For this reason, you might be wondering if there is a way of doing it without relying on chemicals? But before you completely rule-out using chemicals, some researchers found an interesting method using weak acids, like vinegar, to get the job done.

You could also consider reverse electroplating too. Alternatively, you could simply ship your bits to a specialized precious metal reclamation company , have them do all the work, and get paid a proportion of the proceeds.

This will not be as cost-effective, but you chould still yield a profit without getting your hands dirty. It might also be worth checking how much money electronic components are worth as is, rather than focusing on the gold content alone. But, if you are determined to do it yourself, you have two main options: using heat or using brute force. The former tends to be very expensive in fuel and apparatus, plus is pretty dangerous if you don't know what you are doing.

The latter is; however, relatively safer but more labor-intensive. For this method, the first stage is to make a collection of spare electronic gubbins. Computer chips and boards, and other parts from other electronics like cellphones like the SIM card , are all likely candidates for finding a decent amount of gold.

The next stage is to strip out any circuit boards, and other bits, you've managed to scrounge together. You will need to do this by hand if you don't want to use potentially dangerous chemicals like hydrogen peroxide and aqua regia. You could just cut off the gold-rich parts, like contacts, CPUs, etc, and save the rest of the bits for later.

They also have precious metals, like silver, that you can reclaim later. For some parts, you can use a magnet to separate out all gold-plated steel parts. Next, collect all the gold flakes and bits and pieces together and melt them down. You'll need specialist equipment such as a clay bowl and blowtorch to do this, and sufficient protective gear like flame-resistant clothing, boots, and googles.

For best results, you'll likely want to add some borax, as this enables the gold to melt at lower temperatures. If using this method, when the borax begins to soften, add the gold flakes. Heat until the flakes melt into a bead. Let it cool, and chip the gold out of the re-solidified borax. Rinse and repeat for any old electronics you find. And that's a wrap. So, next time you are considering chucking out those old electronics, think twice. They might be little gold mines in disguise!

By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. By Christopher McFadden.