# Newbie Looking for LOCAL help Refining fingers



## megasurplus (Dec 13, 2007)

Hello All!
I have about 4+ 55 gallon barrels of gold fingers and other misc industrial gold (connectors, pins, etc) that I'd like to refine. Would anyone be able to help me or recommend someone in the area to help? I own 3 business's and am just to busy to do all the research I think should be done to start this project. I can supply the site, labor, funding, and material to be refined I just need the brains. (maybe all my teachers were right,LOL) 

Please feel free to call or email me thanks, 

Cliff 
636-946-8920 
[email protected]


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## megasurplus (Dec 13, 2007)

I should add that all scrap is 10 plus years old and all from the telco industry.


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## lazersteve (Dec 13, 2007)

Welcome to the forum,

Do you have any photos of this scrap?

If it's a random mix of items it may need some preliminary sorting before it gets processed.

Steve


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## Never_Evil (Dec 14, 2007)

Im sure you will interview the people well you are planning on having refine for you. Temptation is an evil entity and with that much gold, there could be some untrustworthy people out there. If I were closer, I would offer my services, but Im about a 12 hour drive from you in Wisconsin. I wish you luck and welcome to the forum.

Dennis


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## Lino1406 (Dec 14, 2007)

If so, consider the following:
1)Do I have an airtight, against smoke
and smell, place
2)Do I have a heavy duty crusher
3)Do I have a firing ability


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## goldsilverpro (Dec 14, 2007)

> I have about 4+ 55 gallon barrels of gold fingers and other misc industrial gold (connectors, pins, etc) that I'd like to refine. Would anyone be able to help me or recommend someone in the area to help? I own 3 business's and am just to busy to do all the research I think should be done to start this project. I can supply the site, labor, funding, and material to be refined I just need the brains. (maybe all my teachers were right,LOL)



Cliff,

What is the net weight of the 4 drums? Before weighing, make sure there is no rain or snow water in the drums. If there is, use a pick and punch a couple of holes very near the bottom of the drums and let them drain. Can you put several fairly large representative samples of the material (maybe 10# each) on the floor and take good separate photos with some close ups? 

Depending on the bulk density of the material, I would guess the total weight to be between 600# and 2500#. Depending on the types of material involved, I would guess the gold content to be between $3,000 and $50,000. Don't assume the higher value!!!

You have several options:

(1) You can take the material to a refiner. There should be some refiners in St. Louis that could handle your material. This can be dangerous because of the way that you have mixed the material. It sounds like the mix is very non-homogeneous. This produces a very large gray area in the value of your material and, if the refiner wants to cheat you, he very easily could, since you have no idea of the value. A way around this is to hire a rep to accompany the material at the refinery and live with it until representative samples can be taken. I have performed this rep function many times in the past.

(2) Sort the material into like types and small lots and sell it outright. You have an Ebay business and this might be the best place to sell it. 

(3) Set up to refine it in your facilities. The processes that have been covered in this forum are inadequate, I feel, to handle such a large amount of material. In fact, I would advise against any acid system. There would be lots of waste and it would take many days or weeks. Fume control would be a very big problem. 

A large refinery would simply burn it, melt it, sample and assay the bars, and ship them to a large primary smelter. The whole thing would take about 2 days. For you to set up to do this legally, it would be very costly. Also, the quantity you have is way too small to economically set up to do this.

Were I to refine this material, I would definitely use cyanide/peroxide to strip the gold selectively from the base metals. I am assuming the gold is visible and not encapsulated. This might sound scary, but it is more safe than acids in the right hands. There are essentially no fumes and it would only be a 3 or 4 day deal, for the 4 drums. I used cyanide for this purpose, for at least 20 years, with no mishaps. It basically would require a cement mixer surrounded by a berm, a few plastic drums and buckets, and maybe $500-$1000 in chemicals. There would be some acid work at the end that would require some fume control. There are some problems in obtaining cyanide and having the waste hauled off, but I think they could be easily solved, legally.

Maybe, (2) above is your best bet. Of course, you still don't know if you're getting true value.

If you want to discuss this further, email or PM me. I received your 1st email but, since it was a duplicate of your 2 posts, I decided to post my response on the forum.


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## megasurplus (Dec 14, 2007)

Hello all, after taking a closer look today I need to revise my estimate of the fingers. I only have 1.5 to 1.75 barrels of already cut fingers. 


Here are links to some of the gold I have.

1.5 to 1.75 barrels of already cut fingers.
http://mega.whsites.net/photos/gold/a.JPG
1 barrel of misc. connectors
http://mega.whsites.net/photos/gold/b.JPG
1 pallet high grade circuit boards
http://mega.whsites.net/photos/gold/c.JPG
1 pallet low grade circuit boards (need fingers cut)
http://mega.whsites.net/photos/gold/d.JPG
2 lbs 12 oz mixed very clean terminals connectors and pins
http://mega.whsites.net/photos/gold/e.JPG
9.5 lbs total pins 
http://mega.whsites.net/photos/gold/f.JPG
7 lbs of the 9 lbs total are bare pins 
http://mega.whsites.net/photos/gold/f1.JPG
2.5 lbs of the 9 lbs have ends and were weighed with wrapping
http://mega.whsites.net/photos/gold/f2.JPG
6 lbs connectors/terminals on strips
http://mega.whsites.net/photos/gold/g.JPG
http://mega.whsites.net/photos/gold/g1.JPG
26 lbs 6 oz pin connectors (white)
http://mega.whsites.net/photos/gold/h.JPG
http://mega.whsites.net/photos/gold/h1.JPG
12 lbs Mixed pin connectors 
http://mega.whsites.net/photos/gold/i.JPG


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## Noxx (Dec 14, 2007)

ohhh so niiice 
I wish I could get that stuff...


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## aflacglobal (Dec 14, 2007)

You have an ebay account. I would sell it there and double or better yet triple some of my money. If you don't really need the money right away i would sell what i could there and then deal with the rest. Just a thought.


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## Noxx (Dec 14, 2007)

Same toughs.


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## lazersteve (Dec 14, 2007)

Cliff,

Nice looking stuff. I wish I lived in your area, I would really enjoy helping you process the stuff.


PM me if you want to sell some of the stuff outright.

Steve


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## megasurplus (Dec 17, 2007)

So you two think I would make more net profit from just selling it outright on ebay than refining it myself? Is your recommendation due to set up costs of refining, (material cost and disposal & learning curve) and low rate of return from electronic gold scrap versus ebay sale?

I am surprised, I thought that refining would net me much more?

Please anyone else want to chime on on this? We could do a poll,lol.
Merry Christmas

MEGA


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## Irons (Dec 17, 2007)

People are paying ridiculous prices for electronic scrap on Ebay.

It used to be a bridge in Brooklyn, now it's CPU's on Ebay.


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## Harold_V (Dec 17, 2007)

megasurplus said:


> I am surprised, I thought that refining would net me much more?
> 
> Please anyone else want to chime on on this? We could do a poll,lol.
> Merry Christmas
> ...



For the most part, people are not driven by gold, but by the thoughts of getting rich with gold. Said another way, how many of the readers refine to store the gold, instead of selling it? 

I had refined and saved gold for well over ten years before I ever sold any. I was driven by gold ownership, not profit. The value of the gold was of little concern. Only when I had no other source of income did I start selling gold. 

What makes up your mind should be your objective, and you must be honest with yourself. My opinion, or that of anyone else, doesn't matter. 

Why did you start saving electronic scrap? 

If you had an interest on recovering the values for the sake of owning them, then refining should be your goal. 

If, on the other hand, each piece you tossed in a barrel represented dollar signs, you will be far better served to sell the material. There's a fool born every minute-----so there is no shortage of people that don't understand that you can't buy gold for $1,000/ounce and make money. 

The world is overflowing with people that place no value on their time, and are willing to spend hours breaking down such scrap in order to recover the traces of values. I avoided such material when I started refining for profit----it simply is too labor intensive to make it a viable source of material to process, especially when there was so much high grade scrap available. That, of course, has nothing to do with your situation. You already have the scrap. YMMV.

Harold


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## heirloomreplacement (Dec 17, 2007)

Just posting my two cents worth>

I tend to agree with the others in this matter> If you in for the fast buck then sell what you can on EBay>

every day, I watch people on EBay pay Over Spot price for scrap Gold> especially in scrap fingers, Cpu's and Kt Gold.

Time v Money and the currrant trend on EBay make it more cost effective to just sell it. without a doubt you would make more money in the long run.

If you want the experiance and think you will enjoy refining it then do it yourself>
I will say it's quite a joy to see that bright gold bead form ( Smile)

But I'm in with Harold> I am still sitting on a Hord I started years ago and only sell when I want something bad enough> 
I got into refining to increase my Hord> what I consider a retirement fund.

One thing for sure it's hard to trace Precious metals and very easy to sell when the time is right> You learn this lesson well if you go through a divorce ( smile)
anyone can put a lien on your real estate But try to lien that foot locker burried in the back yard.

Just My two cents on the subject!


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## Harold_V (Dec 17, 2007)

heirloomreplacement said:


> Just My two cents on the subject!



Don't sell yourself short. 2¢ won't buy that kind of wisdom. 

Harold


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## scrapman1077 (Dec 17, 2007)

I have heard from a few sellers on ebay the getting paid has been an issue lately.


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## megasurplus (Dec 18, 2007)

getting paid on ebay is NEVER A PROBLEM!

I have been selling on ebay as my only source of income to support my family for 6 years now.

I have just posted a few auctions for pins and fingers on ebay, please no comments on starting price, I fully understand that it is above what many would pay.

MEGA


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## Noxx (Dec 18, 2007)

Only source of income ?
That's great ! Are you only selling scrap material ?


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## megasurplus (Dec 18, 2007)

telco surplus, take a look.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmega-surplusQQhtZ-1


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## aflacglobal (Dec 18, 2007)

> please no comments on starting price, I fully understand that it is above what many would pay.




Hey, P.T. Barnum all the way :!:


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## aflacglobal (Dec 18, 2007)

:idea: 


Post a link in your online material saying you can show them how to refine it for free if they have trouble and direct the link here. Your ebay feed back looks good. :wink:


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## Noxx (Dec 18, 2007)

Lol 75$ for 8oz. of gold plated pins 
I like it that way.

But still, you could make a link to this forum, it costs nothing lol.


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## aflacglobal (Dec 18, 2007)

> I like it that way.



    

Which brings up a point. Would you believe that i receive hate mail. :shock: :shock: :shock: 
All free---All the time baby. I don't think ebay likes me. :twisted: 

Oh, and i have been off stalking Megan again. I post under some different names on other boards and i am fixing to lay into her here soon. Dam ain't i mean. 

I warned her. 8)


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## megasurplus (Dec 18, 2007)

I will certainly consider posting a link to this site, although there was something said by W.C Fields on the subject of educating a customer/bidder...

FYI, got my first biddder on 2 oz of fingers.

thanks again for all the help.

MEGA


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## Noxx (Dec 18, 2007)

You're right, it's sad but it goes like that... Uneducated customer is more subject to overpay lol... Maybe you give the link after they buy it :lol: And I delete this post :lol:


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## Irons (Dec 19, 2007)

My wife has been nagging me to clear the old computers out of the barn. Of ta Ebay wi ye.


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