Processing old computer/phone parts/electronics for gold!!!

[Newbie]

It is amazing the amount of gold being put in to land fill with computer/ silcon chips. Hard rubbish collections could be the easiest prospecting that you could ever do. All you need to do is take your trailer and pick up all tv's and computers and extract the gold. Most common method of extracting is incinerating the unwanted bits but keep inmind that this is extremely toxic the burning silcon is certainly not great for your health or the enviroment. But I have heard fiqures of upto 2kg per ton of computer chips (not bad considering mines are only pulling out 5 to 6 g/ton on good ore bodies) not bad little venture.

Only thing it is illegal to pick up from hard rubbish if you get caught fines could be issused however my question is would be miners right give you the abilty to pick it up as the nature strip is considered public land.

 

[JKhoury]

Gold is used in high end HDMI cables these days, other than fiber optics their transfer rate is much faster than copper

 

[garnethawkins]

I know this was posted a while back and its possible you have also thought of this already, it is also possible that the laws are different in Victoria, but have you considered checking the tips in smaller regional areas? I have found the smaller the town the more likely you can collect things, or maybe apply for a scroungers right.

 

[Ramjet]

I saw an article stating there is more gold in a tonne of computers then in 17 tonne of ore.

 

[dryhorrors]

hi there guys, just thought i would start this topic up, there is alot of gold getting around in old mobile phones, computer parts
yes they are only gold plated but this is the solution to turn it back into 24k bullion ignots, here is the link from a clip on youtube
i have done this myself and is dangerous not my video just thought i would show

[video=480,360]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCmXLXrAtto[/video]

the acid mixture they use for refining the gold from copper etc is called aqua regia
hope you find this interesting
cheers DH

 

[blayke]

ive also attempted this, working at a certain very large retailer that takes ink/toner cartridges and computer eectronics for recycling i see literally thousands of chips every month so i decided to get some....problem i occured was in the second wash it seemed to eat the gold flakes aswell....so i have put it on the backburner for now but completed one batch and it definately works just takes time that i really dont have at the moment but very simple chemistry

 

[charlie123]

This sounds interesting, how many phones would it take to get a gram roughly?

 

[dryhorrors]

This sounds interesting, how many phones would it take to get a gram roughly?

Alot...haha new phones dont have much in them so about half a kilo

 

[dryhorrors]

Just a lil way to keep the fever at bay its what I do when I cant get out
For a swing

 

[charlie123]

The process seems fast when you think of the complexity of it all, separation. Would it be how much harder to seperate nickel from a structure, or iron, gold is the most valuable but it just seems to be also the easiest to extract, or even pan out of a creek

 

[Beagleboy]

Check this link. Be careful as it is very dirty and dangerous business.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2830

 

[Ramjet]

Interesting topic. Here's a couple of similar topics.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2180

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2830

 

[rc62burke]

Hi All
Yes this is possible, yes it is dangerous, yes it is something I would like to have in my skill set!!
Be careful & be informed have a look at this refining forum for the info you require, this is posted here for the safety of all as youtube can be a dangerous resource to learn a skill, stay safe & learn.
http://goldrefiningforum.com/~goldrefi/phpBB3/index.php?sid=2528067e334e34a54f31e68d25d77e54

cheers
Lee

 

[Guest]

Aqua regia doesn't "eat" your gold blayke it put sit into solution so you then have to recover it from that solution. A word of advice. Aqua regia is a dangerous mix of chemicals and you should use extreme caution. It is a mix of both Nitric and hydrochloric acids both dangerous on their own and even more so when mixed. If you are not sure what you are doing don't touch it.

 

[blayke]

yeh no I know that. I'm using a slightly different process using HCL and H2O2 to extract the copper so that the gold flakes remain. then using aqua regia to to create from memory auric chloride. then sodium bisulphate in the solution to solidify pure gold. As nitric is not easily accessible this is the more convenient way but some of the gold is disappearing in the first step I believe because it is from cheaper chips that contain less gold so what looks like a good flake is then actually eaten down to a speck because of the copper content

 

[blayke]

sorry correction I don't use aqua regia it's HCL and sodium hypochlorite to create auric chloride. shocking memory haha has been a while.
And yeh I use extreme precautions I have a rated gas mask pvc gloves and always out back in open space. I've seen what acid can do when not respected

 

[YellowFever]

My father was extracting gold from electronics years ago. Can be fun but not really feasible unless you have several hundred kilos of motherboards etc

 

[charlie123]

What happens to the acid bases once used?

 

[dryhorrors]

need to nuetralize to dispose of or store for another batch, just need to add a bit more nitric to get the juice flowing again

 

[charlie123]

fair enough