Gold and Precious Metals Reclamation for the "Average Joe"

The following are recovery, not refining systems. Recovery system capture precious metal so that it is not lost. They also concentrate it, but they do not make it pure. That is the job of refining systems. There are 2 different kinds of recovery systems presented on this web page;

1)Recovery systems for washout: These systems recover particles of precious metal that are washed down the drain when polishers, grinders and bench people wash their hands. They also recover metal from ultrasonic drain water, slop water from washing the floor and anything else that is washed or poured into the sink.

2)Recovery systems for dissolved precious metals. These systems recovered from alkaline solutions such as the cyanide waters from bombing, stripping and plating operations. Since precious metal recovery from acid solutions generally results in pure precious metal, those chemicals, machines and systems are not including on this page but are to be found on the Shor Refining Systems web page.

Technically, other systems, such as dust collectors, can be classified as recovery systems, but they will not be found on this web page. For dust collectors and other polishing systems, see Dust Collectors. The precious metals recovered using recovery systems can be refined to pure metal using the refining systems, found on the Shor Refining Systems web page.

Recover of Gold from Circuit Boards and Other Computer Parts:

Gold can be recovered from computer parts (and telephones) in four basic methods:

1. Scraping or other abrasives

2. CBX

3. StripFree

4. Aqua Regia

5. SubZero

Scraping: If you have the time and patience, you can get a lot of gold just by using ordinary window paint scrapers and similar devices to remove the gold from edge connectors, fingers and other parts. It is very effective, though time consuming.

CBX: This method is very effective and simple, but is designed to work only on the "fingers" at the edges of boards. It works by attacking and dissolving the material underneath the gold, between the gold and the board. However, it is not useful for recovering gold from other parts of the boards because it gets used up too quickly when it starts dissolving other metals on the boards.

StripFree: StripFree is good for all items that are stainless steel based and to which you can make electrical contact. A good item for this is the underplate on the bottom of CPU chips. StripFree works by electrolytic action and requires the use of a car battery charger. It can be used over and over again, as long as the solution does not become contaminated.

Aqua Regia: An excellent and effective technique to both recover and refine the gold to pure. It's major drawback is that it requires the use of strong acids (hydrochloric and nitric) and produces very corrosive fumes.

SubZero: Shor has improved significant on the aqua regia process by the development of SubZero, a non-hazardous powder that replaces nitric acid in the aqua regia process. For instructions on this process, see: Aqua Regia Refining with SubZero.

Thanks to ">Shor International Corporation for this article. Visit their site to find recovery equipment

Extractive metallurgy is the practice of extracting metal from ore, purifying it, and recycling it.

Most metals found in the Earth's crust exist as oxide and sulfide minerals. These compounds must be reduced to liberate the desired metal. There are two methods of reduction: electrolytic and chemical.

Chemical reduction can be carried out in a variety of processes, including reductive smelting - the process of heating an ore with reducing agent (often, coke or charcoal) and purifying agents to separate the pure molten metal from the waste products. Some other processes for chemical reduction include autoclave hydrogen reduction and converting. The latter though does not produce the pure metal, therefore requiring further treatment of its product.

Electrolytic reduction involves passing a large current through a molten metal oxide or an aqueous solution of the metal's salt. For example, aluminium is electrolysed from bauxite dissolved in molten /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryolite">cryolite via the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall-H%C3%A9roult_process">Hall-Héroult process.

Prior to reduction, it is often necessary to separate metal compounds to exclude co-reduction of different metals and contamination of the product. There is a great variety of separation processes: roasting, oxidative smelting, converting, amalgamation, leaching and many others.

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Electrowinning, also called electroextraction, is the electrodeposition of metals from their ores that have been put in solution or liquefied. Electrorefining uses a similar process to remove impurities from a metal. Both processes use electroplating on a large scale and are important techniques for the economical and straightforward purification of non-ferrous metals.

In the case of electrowinning, a current is passed from an inert anode through a liquid leach solution containing the metal so that the metal is extracted as it is deposited in an electroplating process onto the cathode. In electrorefining, the anodes consist of unrefined impure metal, and as the current passes through the acidic electrolyte the anodes are corroded into the solution so that the electroplating process deposits refined pure metal onto the cathodes.

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On this lens is a lot of information on separating gold and silver scrap and where to find it, but there are some very important questions that we need some answers for. Sorry! But there are some things that I just have not been able to find on the internet and if anyone knows, they don't want to share.

If you can help us out please visit the guest book and share your knowledge with us. Or, if you don't want to leave a comment how about emailing me? I'll do a section with your info and give you credit for the help.

Here are some questions we need answers to:

1. Do you know of any refineries that take small amounts of computer scrap or electrical contacts?

2. Are those imbeded lines that run through computer boards (between the solder joints) gold or copper?

3. Some say that computers have platinum in them. Where is this platinum found and how can you tell platinum from silver or some other metal?

I'll be adding more questions later but would like to see some answers for these first.

Thanks for the help! Most who visit this site will appreciate it.

By the way! Please take a second and click on the fifth star at top of page for rating this site. The more ratings we get, the higher up we'll get in the listings and the easier it will be for others interested in reclaiming metals to find us. The more who find us, the more there are to share info!

There is quite a bit of silver used in electric power transmission substations. I'm still doing some research on this, but a friend of mine was a supervisor with a power company until he retired and he used to bid on the scrap metal from these substations.

Apparently, they shut down substations once in a while after building new and better stations. They then put the old substations up for sale as an auction. My friend (Dave) won the bid on one of these. He then had a certain amount ot time to pull down the station and remove everything.

I was at his place one day and he showed me this pile of "rods" that were stacked at the back of his garage. These rods were approx. one and a half foot long and approx. two inches in diameter. The pile was about two foot high and six foot long.

What amazed me was that these "rods" were solid copper with a heavy coating of silver! Dave was asking if I knew of a way to seperate the silver from the copper?

As the coating of silver was a real thick, we ended up shaving it off with a metal lathe. In this case that worked rather well.

I guess these "rods" came from transformers at the substation but as I didn't see them being removed, I don't know this for sure but I'm doing some research on it.

A precious metal is a rare metallic chemical element of high economic value. Chemically, the precious metals are less reactive than most elements, have high luster, are softer or more ductile, and have higher melting points than other metals. Historically, precious metals were important as currency, but are now regarded mainly as investment and industrial commodities. Gold, silver, platinum and palladium each have an ISO 4217 currency code.

The best-known precious metals are gold and silver. While both have industrial uses, they are better known for their uses in art, jewellery and coinage. Other precious metals include the platinum group metals: ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium and platinum, of which platinum is the most widely traded. Rhenium is a precious metal that is not part of the platinum group or one of the traditional precious metals.

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Melting points of precious metals:
°F °C
Gold 24k ******* 1945 1063
Gold 18k ******* 1700 927
Gold 14k ******* 1615 879
Gold 10k ******* 1665 907
Silver Pure **** 1761 961
Sterling Silver** 1640 893
Coin Silver ***** 1615 879
Platinum ******** 3224 1773
Palladium ******* 2831 1555

The troy ounce (ozt) is 480 grains, somewhat heavier than an avoirdupois ounce (437.5 grains). A grain is exactly 64.798 91 mg; hence one troy ounce is exactly 31.1034768 g, about 10 percent more than the avoirdupois ounce, which is exactly 28.349523125 g. The troy ounce is the only ounce used in the pricing of precious metals, gold, platinum, and silver. The grain, which is identical in both the troy and avoirdupois systems, is used to measure arrow and arrowhead weights in archery and bullets and powder weights in ballistics. Grains were long used in medicine but have been largely replaced by milligrams.

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Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from the Latin aurum, meaning shining dawn) and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal which, for many centuries, has been used as money, a store of value and in jewelry. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, underground "veins" and in alluvial deposits. It is one of the coinage metals. Gold is dense, soft, shiny and the most malleable and ductile of the known metals. Pure gold has a bright yellow color traditionally considered attractive.

Modern industrial uses include dentistry and electronics, where gold has traditionally found use because of its good resistance to oxidative corrosion.

Chemically, gold is a trivalent and univalent transition metal. Gold does not react with most chemicals, but is attacked by chlorine, fluorine, aqua regia and cyanide. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but does not react with it. Gold is insoluble in nitric acid, which will dissolve silver and base metals, and this is the basis of the gold refining technique known as "inquartation and parting". Nitric acid has long been used to confirm the presence of gold in items, and this is the origin of the colloquial term "acid test," referring to a gold standard test for genuine value.

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Platinum is a chemical element with the atomic symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. It is in group 10 of the Periodic Table of Elements. A heavy, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal, platinum is resistant to corrosion and occurs in some nickel and copper ores along with some native deposits. Platinum is used in jewellery, laboratory equipment, electrical contacts, dentistry, and automobile emissions control devices. Platinum bullion has the ISO currency code of XPT.

When pure, the metal appears greyish-white and firm. The metal is corrosion-resistant. The catalytic properties of the six platinum family metals are outstanding. For this catalytic property, platinum is used in catalytic converters, incorporated in automobile exhaust systems, as well as tips of spark plugs.

Platinum's wear- and tarnish-resistance characteristics are well suited for making fine jewelry. Platinum is more precious than gold. The price of platinum changes along with its availability, but its price is normally slightly less than 150% of the price of gold. In the 18th century, platinum's rarity made King Louis XV of France declare it the only metal fit for a king.

Platinum possesses high resistance to chemical attack, excellent high-temperature characteristics, and stable electrical properties. All these properties have been exploited for industrial applications. Platinum does not oxidize in air at any temperature, but can be corroded by cyanides, halogens, sulfur, and caustic alkalis. This metal is insoluble in hydrochloric and nitric acid, but does dissolve in the mixture known as aqua regia (forming chloroplatinic acid).

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Silver has been known since antiquity, and it is used as a currency metal. It has long been valued as a precious metal used in ornaments and jewellery and in high-value tableware and utensils (hence the term silverware).

Today, it is used in photographic film, electrical contacts and conductors, and mirrors. Elemental silver is also used to catalyze chemical reactions. Silver is antimicrobial, and dilute solutions of silver nitrate and other silver compounds are used as disinfectants. Although silver has largely been supplanted by other treatments, the antiseptic properties of silver are still a useful tool in the prevention and treatment of sepsis and infections caused by antibiotic-resistant microorganisms such as MRSA.

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Because of the softness of pure (24k) gold, it is usually alloyed with base metals for use in jewelry, altering its hardness and ductility, melting point, color and other properties. Alloys with lower "k", typically 22k, 18k, 14k or 10k, contain higher percentages of copper, silver or other base metals in the alloy. Copper is the most commonly used base metal, yielding a redder metal. Eighteen carat gold containing 25% copper is found in antique and Russian jewelry and has a distinct, though not dominant, copper cast, creating rose gold. Fourteen carat gold-copper alloy is nearly identical in color to certain bronze alloys, and both may be used to produce police and other badges. Blue gold can be made by alloying with iron and purple gold can be made by alloying with aluminum, although rarely done except in specialized jewelry. Blue gold is more brittle and therefore more difficult to work with when making jewelry. Fourteen and eighteen carat gold alloys with silver alone appear greenish-yellow and are referred to as green gold. White gold alloys can be made with palladium or nickel. White 18 carat gold containing 17.3% nickel, 5.5% zinc and 2.2% copper is silver in appearance. Nickel is toxic, however, and its release from nickel white gold is controlled by legislation in Europe. Alternative white gold alloys are available based on palladium, silver and other white metals (World Gold Council), but the palladium alloys are more expensive than those using nickel. High-carat white gold alloys are far more resistant to corrosion than are either pure silver or sterling silver.

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Extractive metallurgy is the practice of extracting metal from ore, purifying it, and recycling it.

Most metals found in the Earth's crust exist as oxide and sulfide minerals. These compounds must be reduced to liberate the desired metal. There are two methods of reduction: electrolytic and chemical.

Chemical reduction can be carried out in a variety of processes, including reductive smelting - the process of heating an ore with reducing agent (often, coke or charcoal) and purifying agents to separate the pure molten metal from the waste products. Some other processes for chemical reduction include autoclave hydrogen reduction and converting. The latter though does not produce the pure metal, therefore requiring further treatment of its product.

Electrolytic reduction involves passing a large current through a molten metal oxide or an aqueous solution of the metal's salt. For example, aluminium is electrolysed from bauxite dissolved in molten cryolite via the Hall-Héroult process.

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Gold extraction or recovery from its ores may require a combination of comminution, mineral processing, hydrometallurgical, and pyrometallurgical processes to be performed on the ore. Gold mining from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alluvium">alluvium ores was once achieved by techniques associated with placer mining such as simple gold panning and sluicing, resulting in direct recovery of small gold nuggets and flakes. Placer mining techniques in the present day are generally the practice of artisan miners. Hard rock ores form the basis of the majority of commercial gold recovery operations, and are mined using open pit or sub-surface mining techniques.

Once the ore is mined it can be treated as a whole ore using a dump leaching or heap leaching processes. This is typical of low-grade, oxide deposits. Normally, the ore is crushed and agglomerated prior to heap leaching. High grade ores and ores resistant to cyanide leaching at coarse particle sizes, require further processing in order to recover the gold values. The processing techniques can include grinding, concentration, roasting, and pressure oxidation prior to cyanidation.

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Junk silver is an informal term used in the United States and Canada for any silver coin which is in only fair condition and has no collectible value above the bullion value of the silver it contains. Such coins are popular amongst those seeking to invest in silver, particularly in small amounts. The word "junk" refers only to the value of the coins as a numismatic collectible and not to the actual condition of the coins; junk silver is not necessarily scrap silver.

The most commonly collected U.S. junk silver pieces are Mercury and Roosevelt dimes, Washington quarters, and Franklin and Kennedy half dollars, minted in or before 1964. These coins have a 90% silver composition ("coin silver"), and when minted contained 0.7234 troy ounces of silver per dollar of face value. In practice, the content is usually assumed to be 0.715 ounces because of wear. Less common as junk silver are Kennedy half dollars from 1965 to 1970, which contained 40% silver. Peace Dollars may also be collected for their silver value, but are also less common.

Canadian dimes and quarters contained 80% silver (0.600 troy ounces per dollar of face value) until 1966. In 1967, they were minted in both 80% and 50% varieties, while in 1968 all contained 50% silver. Dollars and half dollars were minted in 80% silver until 1967.

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If you've made it this far, I'd appreciate it if you would check out Dene's Place to see if there's anything that you might like for yourself or as a gift. It helps me pay the bills!

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out my other lenses when you have time.

Much of the information used here has been researched from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

Trying to find info on recovering precious metals at from circuit boards, chips, cell phones, etc. is next to impossible when it comes down to the real nitty gritty. Strong acids are used commercially and are no longer readily available to the general public due to the terrorism threat and possibly the control of the market. Many people do not realize that individual possession of gold in certain larger quantities is now illegal!!!! How interesting is that?
This brings us to our next issue of home reclamation, namely, what to do with the smaller amounts after they are refined.A pawn shop may purchase it at a seriously discounted rate, or the option of sending it in the mail to one of several nationally advertised purchasers makes fish in Denmark smell like spring roses.
Everyone loves Gold. As far back as man has recorded history there has been a romance with gold. Being such a valuable commodity and now more than ever with the increasing production of electronics, it would seem that recycling of the gold element should be near priority #1.
So why the big secret?
I do not know, but my gold and platinum plated circuit boards await reclamation while thousands of old computer chips, phones and the like are hurled at landfills.