# can anyone help me out please?



## Golden98 (Oct 4, 2016)

Hi I have been exploring this avenue of gold recovery for a little while but have not got into the practical side yet. I am totally new to it all and have no experience and am hoping if any of you seasoned pro's can advise me on what to practice with and can maybe point me in the direction of a newbie tutorial of course providing I make sure to have all the correct safety measures prepared beforehand. 

Is there a specific type of easy to get material such as nails or something to 'practice' on as a newbie? I know its fairly complex and can be dangerous but I just need somewhere to start. 

Please also tell me what I would need. Thankyou.


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## FrugalRefiner (Oct 4, 2016)

Welcome to the forum! I always recommend C.M. Hoke's book to get started. She includes some acquaintance experiments that will get you started. There is a link in my signature line below. Read through the Tips for Navigating and Posting on the Forum thread. Be sure to follow all the links, especially lazersteve's Guided Tour. We've gathered some excellent threads in The Library.

That should get you started.  

I'm not sure what you mean by "nails". One of the easiest materials to start with are what we call "fingers", the card edge connectors on many computer cards. Perhaps that's it?

Dave


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## Golden98 (Oct 5, 2016)

Thanks. I meant gold plated nails. Where could one get the electronic fingers you speak of? I see them sold on sites but it would be pointless if the cost of them outweighs any small profit.


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## anachronism (Oct 5, 2016)

Golden

It's worth doing a few "zero profit" jobs to learn the basic techniques I promise you.


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## goldsilverpro (Oct 5, 2016)

No gold plated nails. Are you talking about "pins?"


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## Golden98 (Oct 5, 2016)

Yeh I meant pins excuse me.


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## anachronism (Oct 5, 2016)

Which part of the UK are you in? I might have a few bits lying around that you could practice on.


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## FrugalRefiner (Oct 5, 2016)

Golden98 said:


> Where could one get the electronic fingers you speak of? I see them sold on sites but it would be pointless if the cost of them outweighs any small profit.


You'll find fingers on just about any expansion card or memory card that plugs into a computer motherboard. Video cards, modems, sound cards, network cards, etc. all have them along the edge that plugs into a socket on the motherboard. Most memory has similar connectors. 

Dave


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## Golden98 (Oct 5, 2016)

Where am I in the UK? I am near Bromley. Are the chemicals and things needed to do this process legally available in the UK? is there any small money to be made with this also once one learns the drawn out process and perfects the art. Is there any small profit to make it worthwhile? thanks.


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## patnor1011 (Oct 5, 2016)

Golden98 said:


> Where am I in the UK? I am near Bromley. Are the chemicals and things needed to do this process legally available in the UK? is there any small money to be made with this also once one learns the drawn out process and perfects the art. Is there any small profit to make it worthwhile? thanks.



Most of the chemicals are not available to everyone. I mean you cant just walk in a shop and buy them, for most of it you will need to be registered business and meet some requirements. As to the profit question there is no correct answer to this. It all depend on what you want to do but processing electronic scrap may be least profitable venue for hobbyist who is not going to deal with volume. Some people prefer to work with jewelry as it is hard for them to come by any meaningful amounts of electronic scrap either for free or at reasonable price. 
You can try to start by learning theory and collecting stuff. No point to bother yourself too much with actual recovery or refining at this stage unless you want to satisfy your curiosity.


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## Golden98 (Oct 5, 2016)

I see Patnor thanks for the info. I think at this point I am just trying to get some simple chemicals to start working with to get something going just to practice and then if I take to it well and get better I can progress.

Do you know if there Is a list of legal chemicals available in the UK that could be legally purchased without license that could able me to refine gold from circuit boards and such?

I think at this point I am just trying to get some simple chemicals to start working with to get something going just to practice and then if I take to it well and get better I can progress.


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## patnor1011 (Oct 5, 2016)

Well I guess situation in UK is fairly the same as in Ireland so very limited. There is no list of chemicals. You should know what you do have and what process you want to use. Then you will know what chemical you need to get or what substitute may be used.
But as I said you really do not need to concern yourself much about which chemicals to buy tomorrow. You do have months of study ahead of you to be able to properly utilize chemicals and processes involved with precious metals refining. It a meantime collect as much of material as you can. 
It took me well over year of studying on forum before I moved to practical side of things and started experimenting. I do not think I missed anything. 
Gold recovery&refining is expensive hobby and many people realize that only after they try it. Most of them will try to carry on in self imposed denial and keep financing their dream. Gold fever is very real but only few people are able to make money out of it, less than 1 in 10 in my opinion and some of them do not even need any chemicals to make profit.


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