On Sat, 17 Oct 2020 23:12:08 -0500, Sqwertz
wrote:
So I was curious and youtubed it....This guy got $1,900 worth (about
an ounce) of .99% gold from 6 pounds of clipped OLDER PCB
connectors.
That's a very good yield from older PCB edge connectors, which were
plated with 50 microns gold plating. These days, the commercial stuff
is more like 5 microns. (1 micron = 1µm = 1 millionth of a meter).
Therefore, the yield is much less. I have a small forge that I use
mostly for aluminum and brass casting, but has been used to melt gold.
Also, part of my house once looked like a chemistry lab, but that's
long gone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3cqZ5kqEB4
Nice video. He points out and demonstrates some of the common
problems with gold recovery. In terms of gross profit and time burn,
I've found it best to just sell the scrap gold and let someone else
deal with the chemicals and gold brokers.
I just emptied my safe deposit box so here is a photo of some gold
extraction that I did about 40 years ago.
http://www.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/drivel/index.html#Gold-01.jpg
At about $1,900/oz (spot price), they should be worth $2,470. However,
it's not so simple. The two blobs are not pure 24K gold. I don't
recall exactly, but I think they're only about 90%. I need to refine
them to at least 99% before I can sell them as 24K. Then, I have to
have them assayed by a certified lab for about $135. I don't know how
much dealer will take, but I'm sure it's too much.
https://santacruzgold.biz
However, I may have done something dumb. I couldn't find anyone to
buy my collection of old PCB's (printed circuit boards). It was quite
a pile that filled the back of my Subaru. I failed to find anyone who
wanted to buy it all. 1.5 months of office rent was about equal to
what I might obtain from the sale or from gold extraction. So, I
donated the entire mess to a local charity run recycler:
https://www.greybears.org/our-programs/recycle/electronics-recycling/
I would have dragged everything home and stored it until I had time to
do another gold extraction, but there was no time and no storage
space.
I suspect getting chemistry glass and HCL delivered to the Santa
Cruz mountains may be difficult and raise some eyebrows.
Not a problem. I've had a chemistry lab of sorts in my house for
years without incident. Over the years, we've also had various meth
labs and recreational chemical factories operating nearby. The
glassware and chemicals are not much of a problem. Disposing of the
waste and cleaning up the mess after the chemists move out, are very
real problems.
Or used
to. It's kinda pointless to manufacture domestic meth anymore since
it's so cheap from Mexico, so they may have deregulated that stuff.
I prefer not to explain, but if I can contrive a believable and
documented reason for purchasing chemicals, it's not a problem.
Food for thought...
Thanks, but I don't think that eating the stuff is a good idea.
--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060
http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558