# Gold recovery from gold pins



## Mark01212 (Aug 3, 2013)

I have a friend that has a very good sourse of gold pins that are recycled after being used in testing connections in very expensive(millions of dollars) engines they are a copper gold mix and i dont kniw how to seperate the gold from the copper. Going by the weight of the pins, i think that they have large percentage of gold. Does anyone have any ways they know of that would seperate the metals. I have read a little involving gold recovery but it seems like i need to use nitric acid to recover it but i dont fully understand the process or if that is the best method. If anyone has any ideas i would love to know.


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## patnor1011 (Aug 4, 2013)

It requires some time to get grip on refining. In your case and if you want to have it done fast you can either have it toll refined or sold. You can sell it on ebay or over here.

If you decide to go refining route then all you need to know is here on forum. But as I said, it will take some time to get to know basics.


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## etack (Aug 4, 2013)

I will bet that they are not a gold copper alloy. I have seen and have some Deutsch connectors for the Airbus and not a single pin is Cu/Au alloy. I also took apart some backplanes for the patriot systems and none of them were a Au/Cu alloy. They maybe by some weird blue moon freak of nature be Au/Cu alloy but not likely.

With that said all GP pins have a Cu value and a Au value so they should be separated from other forms of scrap.

Eric


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## Mark01212 (Aug 4, 2013)

Heres a picture of the pins


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## Woodworker1997 (Aug 4, 2013)

Gold plated copper.

Derek.


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## patnor1011 (Aug 4, 2013)

Flash plating, not much value.
Too much of weight.


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## Geo (Aug 4, 2013)

the gold plating on those pins are great but, the over all gold to base metal weight is going to be low because the pins are so big and bulky. good for gold recovery but not exceptional. if the pins have never been installed or soldered, they may yield 2g per pound but i would be very skeptical.

test pins are usually well plated.


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## butcher (Aug 4, 2013)

How many pounds of those pins do you have? if you have several pounds I would save them till you are ready, if you do not have several pounds, I would save them and collect some more material.
it normally takes pounds of waste to get a few grams of gold.

Recovery and refining take time to learn, it can take several years even to learn the basics well, and I believe a man could study this his whole life and never learn all there is to it. also it is a skill that can take some time to master, or at least get to the point where you can do it, and do it where you are safe with yourself and others.

We deal with very corrosive acids and many times combinations of acids that are so corrosive they will dissolve the most acid resistant metals on our planet, which also form very corrosive and toxic gases, some of these gases were used in war, and even death chambers.

We have to also learn to deal with toxic waste we generate from the metals and acids, so that we do not poison others with these poisonous metal solutions, and understand how to deal with the waste so that it does not get into the drinking water of us or other people, as if left untreated and disposed of properly these solution can also leach there way down through the earth into the drinking water deep underground, or end up in rivers or streams where whole towns get there drinking water.

Besides the toxic gases and risks of poisoning yourself or others, there is even risk of mixing up some metal and chemical that has the potential to make an explosive substance in the glass you hold in your hand looking into this glass to see the reaction inside, there are several other dangers you will need to be aware of and protect your self and others against, that is where education is the first step in gaining the understanding needed to prepare yourself for that protection.

Like many skills a man may wish to learn it can take a lifetime trying to improve his skills in this art, even after he has come to the point where he has mastered the recovery and refining processes in general, each material and combinations of metals may take somewhat different processes, and many times even the simplest of scrap may take learning several different processes to be able to recover and refine the metal, on top of that sometimes there can even be different processes one could use or choose to use to recover that metal, this is why it can be hard to come up with or write a specific process of how to recover and refine the circumstance can be different even when recovering or refining two different batches of the same type of metal scrap, and you may have to adjust the process accordingly.

To recover and refine metals, you will be dealing with the chemistry of metals, each metal reacts somewhat differently in acids and bases, which can give us a way to separate these metals using that chemistry, recovery and refining is also a skilled art, that takes some time to master, you do not have to understand the chemistry in great detail to learn this art, but you do need to learn enough of its chemistry to be able to understand how these metals react to chemically in differing conditions, and the better you understand that chemistry the better you will be at this art, the more you understand of chemistry the more you will also understand in how the reactions occur and why.

C.M. Hokes book will help you understand the chemistry, but this book does not teach you the chemistry, but introduces you to it, the author Calm Morrison Hoke in her book she speaks in layman's terms to teach enough of the reactions of how these metals react chemically, to help jewelers learn how to recover metals from their waste, although she was a chemist she does not go into the chemistry of these metals in any great depth, but does a great job of introducing you to the basics principles of the metals chemistry, to help you to understand how to separate these metals from each other chemically from each other, by doing the getting acquainted experiments in her book, it helps you get the hands on experience you need to recognize the reactions and how many of these metals react differently with the different acids, how some metals would become problems if they were in solutions with certain acids or even with our gold in the same solution.


The forum is a huge library a collection of most anything related to this field, this library here on the forum may be the biggest and best collection of material in the world on this subject. The knowledge help and shared among members here on this forum has been kept secret from man, since man began finding and recovering precious metals through out history, as these metals often meant wealth and power throughout history, many times these skills were kept secret or surrounded in mystery or magic to keep others from learning the skills, Here on the forum we have been lucky enough to have some professionals in this art to share many of those secrets with us, and also share from there lifetime of work in the skills of this art. The forum is like a university, most likely the best university in the world to learn this art.

If you asked me how to get the gold off of those pins I would say you dissolve the different metals with acids and precipitate them back out of solution. but if you wish to learn how to do it, you will need to be willing to spend quite a bit of time studying, which in itself is actually where most of the fun is in this field of work.

Welcome to the forum I hope this helps you get an understanding of where you need to begin to learn to get the gold off of those pins.


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## Mark01212 (Aug 4, 2013)

Thanks for the advice, i can get five vials a month and each vial is around 10 grams so i think if i collect for a little while i might have some value, does anyone know if theres a way of melting it that would seperate the metals?


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## element47.5 (Aug 4, 2013)

"does anyone know if theres a way of melting it that would seperate the metals?"

No, instead, we know that there is NO WAY of melting that separates the metals. Melting does NOT separate metals. And, if performed under uncontrolled conditions, creates impurities, most often oxides, but others as well, which are generally less than friendly when it comes to refining. I suppose it is possible that with a roomful of sophisticated lab gear (and a ton of support equipment) one might be able to fractionally distill metals...but the costs of the equipment, not to mention the energy inputs needed would be staggering. 

There is no person on this forum who has not wished there were simpler ways to refine PMs. It would be GREAT if we could avoid the use of nitric acid. It would be GREAT if we could avoid generating seriously toxic fumes and by-products. If any of those processes worked reliably, we would use them. We are not gluttons for punishment. The folks who do this work regularly, in large quantities (whatever "large" means to you) are, despite the hundreds of times they have done these processes, NOT looking for "new ways" to conduct the work. Instead, there is an adherence to known procedures, painstaking though they might be. Why is that? Because....if the end result is the desire to obtain gold or silver or other values, then trying unproven methods risks those very values you are trying to isolate. As well as the time, effort, and chemicals needed to pursue that/those alternate route(s). 

Ponder the context. You don't have X-ray or magic vision: There is no shortage of people who see gold in those pins you have, or on PC board connectors or on chips. There is no shortage of desire to own gold. There is no shortage of imagination starting with the phrase "if only I could [melt these pins, dissolve these pins, get the gold out of these pins, wave a magic wand.....] The end result is that the folks who learn and adhere to procedures, which you can learn on this forum (but it will take a serious amount of concentrated effort because they flat-out are not easy) can ultimately recover and refine small amounts of precious metals AND retain their eyesight and not have to spend weeks in a hospital bed wondering if their lungs will ever recover their capacity to breathe. 

If there were simpler ways, the veterans on this forum would cheerfully switch to using them and wholeheatedly advocate for them. This is the simple, simple, simple concept that beginners simply cannot understand.


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## Mark01212 (Aug 4, 2013)

I also snipped one of the pins in half to see if it was just a coat of gold on the outside and it wasnt, its a solid gold color all the way through is that a good thing?


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## Mark01212 (Aug 4, 2013)

Here is a picture of a pin filed down


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## jimdoc (Aug 4, 2013)

They are just gold plated.

Jim


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## Geo (Aug 4, 2013)

gold plated brass (copper/zinc alloy).


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## goldsilverpro (Aug 6, 2013)

To make money, think in terms of buckets or drums of those pins. 50 grams will net you a few dollars if you're lucky. You can estimate the value as to the surface area of gold plating. One square inch of gold plating is worth about 40 cents, at most. Pins made from solid gold alloys don't exist. Everything is very thinly plated. I started in this business in 1966. It was the same back then. Everything was plated. No exceptions.

This is the straight poop. Anything you hear different is BS.


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## Pantherlikher (Aug 6, 2013)

goldsilverpro said:


> To make money, think in terms of buckets or drums of those pins. 50 grams will net you a few dollars if you're lucky. You can estimate the value as to the surface area of gold plating. One square inch of gold plating is worth about 40 cents, at most. Pins made from solid gold alloys don't exist. Everything is very thinly plated. I started in this business in 1966. It was the same back then. Everything was plated. No exceptions.
> 
> This is the straight poop. Anything you hear different is BS.



Hmm... I hear my initials being used in vain.... Ha ha...

The answers given here should be given to any new person asking this question. I've read early posts and these kinds of answers were given and made me second guess what I wanted to do and was doing. Although, there needs to be links to the beginning of this journey. Like for Hoke's book/ our bible. 

Quick answer would be: no, you cannot melt the pins into a mess and hope to get gold. No, you will not get rich with those pins. Yes, if you dedicate yourself to this university and study long and hard on safety and proper procedures, you will one day be able to use the pin supply to build a nest egg of "bling".
Good luck and hopefully, you stay a while to find what you wish.

B.S.
...Mankind has always searched the materials to find happyness...
...Look to your inside, through all the wants and see the happyness hidden from site...


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## Indego77 (Aug 13, 2013)

goldsilverpro said:


> To make money, think in terms of buckets or drums of those pins. 50 grams will net you a few dollars if you're lucky. You can estimate the value as to the surface area of gold plating. One square inch of gold plating is worth about 40 cents, at most. Pins made from solid gold alloys don't exist. Everything is very thinly plated. I started in this business in 1966. It was the same back then. Everything was plated. No exceptions.
> 
> This is the straight poop. Anything you hear different is BS.




Referencing your statements regarding the estimated amount expected to collect from those pins , my question is is that the same for the gold plated pins for processor boards in computers? And what would be in your expert opinion , the highest yielding material to refine with the best results?


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## solar_plasma (Aug 13, 2013)

CPU pins have more goldplated area per weight. Just calculate your pins goldplated area, guess the thickness and purity and you have your estimated yield. Guess low, if you don't want to have a bad wake-up from a nice dream.

edit: but goldsilverpro already gave the answer


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## etack (Aug 13, 2013)

Indego77 said:


> goldsilverpro said:
> 
> 
> > To make money, think in terms of buckets or drums of those pins. 50 grams will net you a few dollars if you're lucky. You can estimate the value as to the surface area of gold plating. One square inch of gold plating is worth about 40 cents, at most. Pins made from solid gold alloys don't exist. Everything is very thinly plated. I started in this business in 1966. It was the same back then. Everything was plated. No exceptions.
> ...



Karat gold this is the easiest. I like slip rings too and grass sensors for brain waves. the ones I get are gold over silver no Nickel layer. pins are good if you have volume. fingers are good to start with too.

Eric


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## Mark01212 (Aug 20, 2013)

Okay, i put tge pins in a dilluted nitric acid mixture abd it seemed to do the job leaving me with very thin flakes of gold. I then melted them and recovered about 3/4 of a gram from 200 pins so its not very profitable but i will probably save them up for a few years and might have a nice nugget. Thanks for all the help
Below is the bead i got


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## Harold_V (Aug 21, 2013)

Mark01212 said:


> Thanks for the advice, i can get five vials a month and each vial is around 10 grams so i think if i collect for a little while i might have some value, does anyone know if theres a way of melting it that would seperate the metals?


You would be well served to pay attention to what you've been told thus far. 

I'm puzzled why you think melting is a solution. It displays your total lack of understanding. You'll come to understand that if you start reading as you've been advised. 

So you know---most metals will readily alloy. Once combined, they are separated only with difficulty, and plated pins are no exception. Further, to melt them would be a monumental mistake, as the gold is now so finely divided that it is troublesome to handle. 

There are other means to recover the gold. None of that information will do you any good at this juncture, as you know nothing about the refining processes involved. To put this in perspective, you want to perform a piano recital, but you have never seen a piano. Does that make sense to you? If not, can you understand the concept of learning to walk before you attempt to run? 

Read Hoke's book. Read it until you understand what she teaches. Only then should you begin asking questions in pursuit of processing precious metals. 

Harold


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## Harold_V (Aug 21, 2013)

Mark01212 said:


> I also snipped one of the pins in half to see if it was just a coat of gold on the outside and it wasnt, its a solid gold color all the way through is that a good thing?


Sigh!
No, it's not a good thing, and if you understood how pins are made you'd then understand why. 

They are uniform in color because they are NOT copper inside, but brass, an alloy of copper and zinc. It very closely matches the color of gold, plus, gold being very soft, it streaks when you cut through the pin, so you see a blend of gold and brass. 

Beneath the gold plating you will discover there's a layer of nickel. It is so thin you won't see it by snipping or filing. You may enjoy success rubbing a pin with a pencil eraser until you expose the nickel layer, as the layer of gold is very thin, measured in tenth's of a thousandth. 

Did I mention you should read Hoke's book? 

You really should. Please refrain from asking questions until you have. 

Harold


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## besi (Oct 18, 2013)

hi I'm from Albania and I am trying to get gold from computer boards with royal water is not I can not. and i do not know where is the error I can not eject from Aqua Regia out a white powder in the bottom of the glass and not the gold can you tell me where I was wrong please that became tiring month can not get here . and is there any way to get easy as golg from board computers .. i see in you tube but is in tailandese language and can understand please return an answer someone


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## solar_plasma (Oct 18, 2013)

besi said:


> hi I'm from Albania and I am trying to get gold from computer boards with royal water is not I can not. and i do not know where is the error I can not eject from Aqua Regia out a white powder in the bottom of the glass and not the gold can you tell me where I was wrong please that became tiring month can not get here . and is there any way to get easy as golg from board computers .. i see in you tube but is in tailandese language and can understand please return an answer someone



Start here:
http://goldrefiningforum.com/~goldrefi/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=19074

Download and read Hoke's books:
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=17706
and here: http://goldrefiningforum.com/~goldrefi/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=16555

then go on here:
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=6873#6873

before handling chemicals read this:
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=47

and finally a great help for finding the right terms:
http://www.dict.cc
http://www.wikipedia.org/


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## butcher (Oct 18, 2013)

besi,

Forget what you seen on you tube, it is nonsense, you do not get gold from electronic scrap with aqua regia (royal water), that will only make a toxic mess, and at this point you could kill yourself or others with this toxic waste, the gases formed are also deadly.

If you wish to learn, put away the acids, you first need an education, it will take time to learn before you will be ready to get the gold, start with the safety section and dealing with waste.
Read the forum taking the guided tour found in general chat.

Most of all read Hoke book a free download provided in the book section.

Wait until you understand what you have studied before using acids on metals, do so before you learn is very dangerous to you and others, and doing so will only cost you gold, as until you get an education you will just dissolve the gold and lose it.

This is the help you need, to begin learning, but let me tell you you will have a lot of work to do to be able to learn to recover and refine gold, you tube make it look easy it is not. you have to learn the basics, there is a lot to learn, but if you wish to spend the time to learn you have found the best place in the world to learn it from, welcome to the gold refining forum.


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## danieldavies (Oct 19, 2013)

a neodymium magnet is a good tool for testing if something is gold plated. the nickel plating is slightly magnetic. 99% of the time there will be nickel plating under the gold plating.


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## solar_plasma (Oct 19, 2013)

danieldavies said:


> a neodymium magnet is a good tool for testing if something is gold plated. the nickel plating is slightly magnetic. 99% of the time there will be nickel plating under the gold plating.




Brass isn't magnetic in most cases. Another option is logical thinking: If any device for any given application C A N be made without PMs or with only thin plating, it W I L L be.

edit: :lol: from now on called "the canwill theorem" 8)


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## Mark01212 (Oct 30, 2013)

Thanks for the advice guys, i have been collecting them for a while now andi have about 400 grams of these pins and have removed the brass and recovered about 3 grams of gold so maby in a year or so i can get a 1 oz bar out of it


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## patnor1011 (Oct 31, 2013)

Please refine further (at least twice) your 3g of foils. I find it hard to believe 400g of pictured pins run 3g of Au.


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## niteliteone (Oct 31, 2013)

Wish I could find some pins like these.
Every time I run "High yield pins" I recover between 0.1 to 0.5 percent of starting weight, usually the lower :shock: 
I have never seen a pin that returns that much, not even military grade, which run at the higher of my average.


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## GOLDbuyerCA (Nov 1, 2013)

i recognize the pins, by the colour coding on them. they are of good plate, but, my returns, of this size, is usually 4 / tenths of 1 percent by weight. which would be 1.6 grams, at 85 percent recovery efficiency. these fine pins, 
are better sold on ebay, than processed. of this size to fit an Amphenol socket / connector. a male and female combination, with the socket itself, usually nets a dollar a pin. " which is good i think " there are some 4 piners, 
which of 40 pin of one polarization only sell for 5 to 8 dollars. so selling the pins is the best option " imo " i have often stripped, mixed pins of this type with a weak solution, and a .4 of 1 percent is tough to beat. " imo " .


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## mehbubrashid (Nov 3, 2013)

hi

I want to know the gold recovery possess with actual measurement of chemical 
if some one help me i would very glade to him 
thanks 

mehbubrashid


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## solar_plasma (Nov 3, 2013)

mehbubrashid said:


> hi
> 
> I want to know the gold recovery possess with actual measurement of chemical
> if some one help me i would very glade to him
> ...




To _possess _means to own something, but you wanted to ask for a _process_.

Since I some days ago saw a documentary about how people in Bangladesh are "working" with highly dangerous chemicals, children playing between those chemicals, if not they are working literally IN them, toxical (edit: toxic) waste just being tossed into the streets and the rivers, - I am not motivated to provide ANY help to you until you have posted some images, which show your laboratory and that you act more responsibly than what I saw in this documentary.


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## Pantherlikher (Nov 3, 2013)

Hi and welcome to the forum.
As Solar stated, we need to make sure you are responsibly safe in diving into this pool.
HapHazzard slapping dangerous chemicals together will cause death as well as long term problems for living things as well as the envirenment.

How about you beging to learn by reading the welcome posts followed by forum rules.
That will guide you to your answers.
Good luck

B.S.


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## bswartzwelder (Nov 3, 2013)

Nothing is ever truly free. Even on this forum, the information is all there and there is no charge for it, but you must provide the motivation to learn. If the information is important enough for you to want/need it, then you have to pay the admission price. In this case, the cost of learning is study. No one here will spoon feed it to you. The chemicals you need are all listed here. The proper ratios needed are listed here. The equipment you will need is listed here. BUT, the most important information is the safety information. Guess what. It's listed here.

Many of the chemicals used are dangerous. Some, when mixed create explosive mixtures. Others create fumes which are toxic (not toxical). The vapors of many are heavier than the air you breathe and will linger in your work area long after you have mixed them. Some of the chemicals will cause chemical burns which may take years to heal. These things ARE NOT what you want to learn from your own experience. They are the things the members here have studied for many years and know the best methods for dealing with them. 

When you read the forum rules, Hoke's book, and the many posts dealing with what you want to do, then you will know what questions to ask. If you need clarification on a particular point, we will be happy to help you. But, you have to show you are willing to take the first step. Welcome to the forum.


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