# green processors(fiber)



## arthur kierski (Mar 7, 2009)

how much gold per kilo?


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## g_opolis (Mar 7, 2009)

I've seen recent posts claiming 5-6 grams per kilo on just the black part, Seems a bit high to me, but......?


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## meng2k7 (Mar 8, 2009)

hi arthur

well its not a processor, its a series of Ball Grid Array chip IC, i got 5-6 grams of gold per kilogram.

thank you.


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## arthur kierski (Mar 9, 2009)

thanks meng for the information--i have many of these ball grid array ics


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## hfywc (Aug 20, 2010)

meng2k7 said:


> hi arthur
> 
> well its not a processor, its a series of Ball Grid Array chip IC, i got 5-6 grams of gold per kilogram.
> 
> thank you.



how did you process them? thanks. alan


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## samuel-a (Aug 20, 2010)

crush and mill to 200 mesh.
treat with HCL for a few days
water wash .
leach gold with AR


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## Claudie (Aug 20, 2010)

I have been reading posts about these chips & I am a little confused about which part contains the most gold. Is it the ceramic top or the fiber bottom?


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## patnor1011 (Aug 21, 2010)

some of those have plastic top and fiber bottom  I couldn't find anything in top part. I have about 180 smaller ones and 80 bigger ones sitting in HCl for about a week now. When I was removing top i applied little heat and then it was easier to separate them. I do not think that anything is inside those black top parts.


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## Claudie (Aug 22, 2010)

This post: http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=5072 (if it is are talking about the same chips) claims that the wires run inside of the ceramic.


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## patnor1011 (Aug 22, 2010)

Claudie said:


> This post: http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=5072 (if it is are talking about the same chips) claims that the wires run inside of the ceramic.



We are talking about chips pictured here. You are talking about chips from some other thread. Post some pictures of what you mean.


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## Anonymous (Aug 22, 2010)

> i got 5-6 grams of gold per kilogram


I would like to see that.
No offense but I am pretty sure I have never recovered more than 1 gram of gold per pound of those.After processing over 10 pounds,I chose to sell them instead.


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## samuel-a (Aug 22, 2010)

mic said:


> > i got 5-6 grams of gold per kilogram
> 
> 
> I would like to see that.
> No offense but I am pretty sure I have never recovered more than 1 gram of gold per pound of those.After processing over 10 pounds,I chose to sell them instead.




mic, if you don't crush them to powder you will never get all of the gold.
there are tiny gold wires encapsulated in the ceramics.


but hey... if you don't want to process them i can buy them.


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## edwardbeard (Aug 22, 2010)

Can I do these with AP? And if so do I need to add heat?


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## Claudie (Aug 22, 2010)

samuel-a said:


> mic said:
> 
> 
> > > i got 5-6 grams of gold per kilogram
> ...




"Tiny gold wires encapsulated in the ceramics", that is what I wanted to know!
Thanks.


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## lazersteve (Aug 22, 2010)

Claudie said:


> "Tiny gold wires encapsulated in the ceramics", that is what I wanted to know!
> Thanks.



Not all ceramic cpus or integrated circuit housings contain gold wires. Be sure to do small scale testing before you spend a lot of valuable time harvesting and processing the worthless type.

Steve


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## Claudie (Aug 22, 2010)

Thanks for the advice.
I am referring to chips like the ones in the picture at the beginning of this post.
I am also saving up some "flat packs" & older ceramic DIP chips to experiment with later on. If I get rich with those I will be sure to let you all know.


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## Anonymous (Aug 22, 2010)

> mic, if you don't crush them to powder you will never get all of the gold.
> there are tiny gold wires encapsulated in the ceramics.


That was after crushing them.I have been doing this long enough to know that.


> but hey... if you don't want to process them i can buy them.


I have about 3-4 pounds of them right now if you are interested,make me an offer per pound,and we'll see.But do it on a PM.


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## patnor1011 (Aug 22, 2010)

If we are talking about BGA what are on first picture in this thread or like on my picture I do not think that they are ceramic. Black material on top (already removed on first pic) looks more like plastic. If removed carefully f.e. with application of heat there is nothing inside (that black part) and it is called mold compound and it is there to protect wiring and die in fiber part of BGA chip.

There might be good yield from those it depend if we talk about their weight with solder or not. I prefer to cut that bottom part with knife and then I have less solder to deal with in solution.

a bit of reading about them:
http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/pkginfo/ch_14.pdf


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## patnor1011 (Aug 22, 2010)

And another thing to consider is that there are thousands different types of BGA chips:
http://www.google.ie/images?hl=en&q=BGA%20chips&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=617

The ones Arthur is asking about can very well be in range of 5g per kilogram.


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## Claudie (Aug 22, 2010)

Okay guys, looks like I have made yet another mistake. I didn't look closely enough at the first picture, I have the chips like are shown in the picture that patnor1011 posted. I am learning.


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## Barren Realms 007 (Aug 22, 2010)

They should be pretty much the same.


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## patnor1011 (Aug 22, 2010)

Claudie said:


> Okay guys, looks like I have made yet another mistake. I didn't look closely enough at the first picture, I have the chips like are shown in the picture that patnor1011 posted. I am learning.



You didn't they are pretty much the same as Barren said.


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## dtectr (Sep 25, 2010)

of 7 of these that i cracked open at random, ALL had the very fine gold wires pictured here, but they are difficult to spot - 
i had to use my OptiVisor knock-off with highest magnification to verify, but here's the proof.

EDITTED 05 OCT: After conferring with lazersteve, I realized that what I was calling "ceramic" & what he was calling "epoxy" are actually closer to what he was describing - namely, thermoset plastic. These tops & the gold bonding wires they contain are NOT from ceramic CPUs or lids, but from plastic ones.


I didn't want to be responsible for sending anyone on a wild goose chase.
jordan


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## lazersteve (Sep 25, 2010)

I have found that the epoxy encapsulated integrated circuits and cpus are the ones most likely to have the solid gold wires, whereas the ceramic style typically don't. Of course there are always exceptions.

Steve


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## Geld Konig (Nov 6, 2010)

Edwardbeard

I think AP process is NOT for this ICs. Try AR ( acqua regia- 4 HCl + 1 HNO3) after mill very well those ICs. You can try NaCN 0,2% with some H2O2 3 %. Or use HCl + sodium hipoclorite( clorox) 2%. Each process have his precipitated agents and way to do this.


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## patnor1011 (Apr 3, 2011)

Geld Konig said:


> Edwardbeard
> 
> I think AP process is NOT for this ICs. Try AR ( acqua regia- 4 HCl + 1 HNO3) after mill very well those ICs. You can try NaCN 0,2% with some H2O2 3 %. Or use HCl + sodium hipoclorite( clorox) 2%. Each process have his precipitated agents and way to do this.



I suggested AP for bottom - green part. Black part need to be crushed then AR.


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## shyknee (Apr 3, 2011)

so does any one have a good average on these BGAs, That is not a guess ?


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## dtectr (Apr 3, 2011)

shyknee said:


> so does any one have a good average on these BGAs, That is not a guess ?



Nope.


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## samuel-a (Apr 4, 2011)

actually, i do have yield data and posted them before.

Thing is, i didn't kept record of weights so it turns out kinda tricky, here goes;
When i did them last time, i scraped the gold leads (and corner) from the fiber part and added them to the plastic part and grind them together to powder.

Of this powder mass, my yield was 1% which was very surprising and nice.

I have another batch waiting for my attention, this time i will surely keep records more tightly and update when have results.


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## gold4mike (Apr 5, 2011)

Samuel,

What method are you using to grind them?


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## samuel-a (Apr 5, 2011)

Incineration, then Ball Mill.


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## Anonymous (Apr 5, 2011)

patnor1011 said:


> I suggested AP for bottom - green part. Black part need to be crushed then AR.


I wouldn't suggest using AR on the top parts.It reacts with the nitric and swells up.I have had pretty good success smelting small amounts.I won't know until next week if it will be feasible to small large amounts.


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## Anonymous (Jun 21, 2011)

I know this is an older subject,but I am going to grind some various BGA's and process them with a chlorine leach.
I will start a new contest with the winner picking a prize out of some chips,that will be posted before hand.I will stipulate the rules before hand and let everyone guesstimate a yield like before.


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## samuel-a (Jun 21, 2011)

mic said:


> I know this is an older subject,but I am going to grind some various BGA's and process them with a chlorine leach.
> I will start a new contest with the winner picking a prize out of some chips,that will be posted before hand.I will stipulate the rules before hand and let everyone guesstimate a yield like before.



Hi Mic.

I really think you'd be better off using dilute AR rather then Cl leach.
I don't know what parts of the BGA exactly are you gonna put there, but leaching those with Cl may prove very time/materials consuming.

If you include the fiber part, probably 2-3 AR leaches will be needed, if only the tops and the visible gold from the bottom fiber (as i suggested earlier in this post) you will do fine with 1 AR leach.


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