# Leaching CATs question



## kurt (Jun 27, 2012)

I was talking with the owner of a scrap yard I do business with today & she told me that their CAT buyer recently told her to watch out when buying CATs because there are people leaching the PGMs out of them first & then turning around & selling them to the scrap yards as good CATs.

Is this possible? --- I mean wouldn’t the sheet metal housing be destroyed in the leaching process?

I could see leaching the combs & having intact combs that could be sold to the unsuspecting buyer --- but whole CATs?

Kurt


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## jimdoc (Jun 27, 2012)

kurt said:


> I was talking with the owner of a scrap yard I do business with today & she told me that their CAT buyer recently told her to watch out when buying CATs because there are people leaching the PGMs out of them first & then turning around & selling them to the scrap yards as good CATs.
> 
> Is this possible? --- I mean wouldn’t the sheet metal housing be destroyed in the leaching process?
> 
> ...




http://www.catscams.com/


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## zito (Aug 12, 2012)

In 2007-ish, I bought one of C.W. Ammen's books off of Ebay. Upon receiving it, I noticed that the publisher was in a city only 3 hours away from me. As I was interested in seeing if some of his other books were available, I called the publisher to inquire about them. The publisher turned out to actually be a chemist/platinum refiner, who personally knew Ammen and had printed a run of his book as a favour to him, as I guess Ammen had apparently fallen on somewhat hard times (this is all hearsay, just what I was told). In any case, no other books were available, sadly.

However, we got to talking. I was interested in learning more about refining the converters, as at the time, I worked at an auto wrecking yard that mainly did scrap, not selling of parts, and part of my responsibilities had been handling the scrap "valuables" off cars, such as the converters, alum rims, etc. The refiner told me that he would be able to harvest the converters without destroying them, to the point where I wouldn't be able to tell they weren't virgin. He mentioned something about a gas process, but didn't really offer any specifics. My refining/chemistry knowledge at the time was basically nil, so not too much stuck with me. However, if anyone is really interested, get the latest edition of Ammen's "Recovery and Refining of Precious Metals", and it will have the name of the publisher, located in Edmonton AB Canada. Give them a call, you -may- get some help, possibly not, I don't know. My book is still packed away after moving, but if anyone doesn't have Ammen's book and wants the publisher's name, I can dig it up for them.

Anyways, another part of the story. After said wrecking yard closed in 2008 after scrap tanked, I went to work for the catalytic converter buyer who had been buying the cats until then. In 2009/2010, there were a batch of stripped converters sold in Vancouver to one of my boss's competitors (he has a buying location in Vancouver as well). I never saw one myself, but my boss told me that the housings looked freshly rusted. You know, when a piece of steel rusts and it still hasn't been wiped off, so when you pick it up you get rust all over your hands and clothes? Not like after the same piece of metal has been handled/moved or whatever, and when you pick it up it's just a chunk of dark metal with no rust transfer. For example, cut a rusty cat out of a car that was just in an accident after being regularly driven, and your hands won't get rusty. As well, the steel was "splotchy" in places, with light patches. However helpful that is, /shrug. I wish some pics were available, but my boss never thought to take any. As well, the honeycomb was very light/bleached looking in colour, and my boss said he noticed the couple cats he handled had no carbon buildup inside them. The no carbon may or may not be part of that process, as you get some cats in with no carbon inside, but it's really rare. I guess the load had been shipped by the competitor to the refiner/de-canner, who promptly shipped them back.

So yes, it is possible, but sorry I don't know how it's done.


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