# gold recovery / question for the experts



## donald236 (Mar 7, 2008)

i was looking at e-bay and come acrosssome instering stuff . i saw some gold plated (24k) coins that was not selling for much at all and some plated speaker plugs i'm wondering if these type of things among other things would be good for refining for the gold ? what type of yeild would you get from these ? would the cell method be best for this type of stuff?
any info would be helpfull . thanks in advance
donald


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## lazersteve (Mar 7, 2008)

Don,

Those items are typically flash plated so don't expect much. Yields from 0.0 to 0.25 grams per pound maximum.

Unless they are free, don't waste you time and even then it's most likely a waste of time for the waste generated. Spend your time and chemicals on more productive ventures is my advice to you.

Steve


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## donald236 (Mar 7, 2008)

ok thanks for the advice . what other items would you guys suggest other than computer circuit boards could a man look at buying or getting ? (and by circuit boards i mean the pins and fingers) becausei want to look into all asspects . i know the cpus are good but the thing im after is what else can i refine besides computer things ?
thanks again for any and all advice
donald


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## calgoldrecyclers (Mar 8, 2008)

Donald,
try the following:
old pbx systems.( office telephones ca. 70's & 80's)
old phone line blocks
computer cables
24K GP christmas decorations
medical instruments( gluco meters, all electronics, etc.)
stay away from hard drives, keyboards, monitors
hope that helps a little.


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## ChucknC (Mar 8, 2008)

I dissagree about staying away from keyboards and hard drives. The keyboards can have a mylar sheet with silver etching that can be recovered and the hard drives contain gold, some palladium and in some cases platinum. Then there is the recycling of aluminum bodies and steel in the screws.

Good scrap is all around if you take the time to check out yard sales, junk shops, flea markets and the like. It takes time and you must be willing to find a market for your base metals. That's where I get the money for my chemicals.

Chuck


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## calgoldrecyclers (Mar 8, 2008)

chuck,
for all intents and purposes, there isnt nearly enough yield to be found in keyboards or hard drives to warrant any PM recycling. contrary to popular belief, hard drives do not contain pd or pt. there is a trace of ruthenium on the platter (about two microns thick) , but such a small amount, is not profitable to refine. (most keyboards actually contain Al not Ag for the key traces)


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## skyline27 (Mar 8, 2008)

Keyboards are hard to work with. The amount of time invested and waste generated to get a speck of silver is hard to justify. Many recyclers charge customers for there disposal 

Hard drives are more feasible if you dismantle alot of them fast.


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## banjags (Mar 8, 2008)

I dont regard keyboards as a waste of time at all. Yes if you look at it on a one off basis it does not seem that feasible.

The only waste I see from a keyboard is the little circuit board inside. The plastic in volume can be sold to a scrap dealer for about 10-12 cents per pound. and the mylars kept for silver. and the wire for copper scrap.I currently have like 30-40 keyboards waiting to be taken apart with access to hundreds of keyboards. 40 keyboards would yield around 1/2 ounce of silver according to lasersteves findings. That silver is good for jewellery inquartation. A keyboard takes no longer on average than 1 minute to disassemble. Speed is the key.

Hard drives the aluminium adds up fast so it is definetly worth it. again quantity is key. The platters sell well on ebay as most computer scrap does if you do not want to process for platinum. Then you also have the gold pins from the hard drives as well you will need alot of these to make it worth while to process.


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## donald236 (Mar 8, 2008)

he you guys thanks for all the advice. you guys keep saying there is silver in key boards i know about the circuit board but what the heck is a mylar? i can get lots of key boards some times.


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## skyline27 (Mar 8, 2008)

Banjags

Save the circuit boards. They're worth at least a buck a pound (or more on ebay)

Do you actually have someone that buys plastic or was your statement theoretical? I'm up to my neck in plastic and haven't found anyone to take it. I would be thrilled to get something for it.


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## calgoldrecyclers (Mar 8, 2008)

donald,
the mylar is the plasic sheet under the actual keys in the keyboard. they register to the circuit board underneath. hope that helps.

also, who keeps saying there is pt content on the platters? there is no pt content. it is aluminum or iron oxide ( brown platters) the newer platters are a glass composite coated with cobalt and sometimes a micron or two of ruthenium.


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## donald236 (Mar 8, 2008)

ok i've seen the mylar's you guys are talking about . now i have a tough 
question(lol) would a person refine these in ap or what type of process would be best for this?


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## donald236 (Mar 8, 2008)

and cgr i think they are getting the pt part from steve's videos


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## scrapman1077 (Mar 8, 2008)

http://www.platinum.matthey.com/applications/harddisk.html
Check this out


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## skyline27 (Mar 8, 2008)

That makes modern machines a little tastier to scrap. Diminishing returns


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## calgoldrecyclers (Mar 9, 2008)

i just e-mailed Johnson Mathey for proof of data to back up their claim. their claims do not not match my research into the matter at all. unless of course they count the two micron layer of ruthenium as platinum? but, that still would'nt explain the 35% platinum claim they are going on. i have read websites like storagereview.com, which they state what a hard drive is comprised of. there would be no reason for them to embellish. on the other and, J/M would make money with a statement like 35% pt value on platters.


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## calgoldrecyclers (Mar 9, 2008)

Oh, and about the dissolution of mylar plastic?
i dont have the answer for that one. lazersteve (for lack of memory of all the knowledgeable fellers and screen names out there), would probably be able to help you along with that. although, i would'nt go down that acid dissolving road. petroleum products and acid dont mix too terribly well.
good luck.


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## lazersteve (Mar 9, 2008)

Cal,

Would you believe an internal engineering document from Fujitsu Corporation detailing the construction of hard drives include the listing of Pt as an ingredient of hard drive platter construction?

Read this:

Fujitsu HDD Document

I agree the amount is minuscule, and the effort far outweighs the yields, but the fact remains there is Pt in *some* hard drive platters. The above document includes the percentages and the date codes of drives which contain the Pt.

Steve


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## calgoldrecyclers (Mar 9, 2008)

Thanks Lazersteve,
I'm gonna go check that out now.


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## calgoldrecyclers (Mar 9, 2008)

Wow!
that was a very informative read. i stand corrected. there is platinum in hard drives. well, it may be such a trace amount that, we, as refiners would never be able to fathom, but the large refiners probably are able to capture a noticeable amount from, say ten thousand platters.
there are many metals to be recovered from platters, apparently. but, you would be hard pressed to be able to recover any. the pt content, is something like 15 NM. (nano meters- one billionth of a meter) imagine trying to see the head of a pin on the moon, while standing in your backyard!
so much processing would be involved, i wouldnt wish that on anyone.
so, there you have it.
i think, i will stick with what i can see!
good luck all! may your filters be heavily laden.


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## donald236 (Mar 9, 2008)

hey steve or any body who might be able to answer . how about that original question how would a man go about processing those mylars?
thanks again you guys every body here is very helpfull . you guys rock.
donald


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## lazersteve (Mar 9, 2008)

Don,

Read this thread and let me know if you have any more questions. Please post your questions at the end of that thread instead of this one.

Keyboard Mylars

Thanks,

Steve


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## donald236 (Mar 9, 2008)

thanks steve that helps a lot


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## Anonymous (Mar 25, 2008)

Calgoldrecycler wrote contrary to popular belief hard drives contain no platinum.
Maybe you should tell that to the company that buys my platters for platinum recovery.


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## starzfan0211 (Mar 25, 2008)

What company buys your platters? Can you give out that info for the rest of us?


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## istari9 (Mar 25, 2008)

Another aspect not mentioned in this thread is the Mylar in a hard drive. Several I have taken apart Not sure of the brand. But I have noticed many of the several hundred have gold on and I would think in the Mylar on the drives. I am surprised no one mentioned this before. 

Ray


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## skyline27 (Mar 26, 2008)

mariannalice

Can you sell the platter whole or do you need to strip it down to the foil?


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## meng2k7 (Mar 26, 2008)

these platters was from fujitsu, seagate,maxtor and ibm, all of these was manufactured from 2002-2007.

i would like to sell it,can i know the buyer of your platters?
i dont know how to process pt.

thanks!


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## calgoldrecyclers (Mar 26, 2008)

meng2k7,
are you speaking of laptop hard drives, or desk top hard drives?
i have broken apart both for research, and found no mylar of any kind.
there are AU traces on the PCB's and in the reader heads, but that was about all i found. as far as refineries buying platters, johnson mathey claims to buy platters, though i dont know the minimum quantity. try johnsonmathey.com


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## lazersteve (Mar 26, 2008)

Cal,

I think he's talking about the ribbon connection that sends the control/data signals to the motor and head assemblies. They are usually located inside the drive housing or at the spindle motor contact points.

STeve


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## calgoldrecyclers (Mar 26, 2008)

Steve,
ahhh. now that makes sense. i was thinking of actual mylar, like what you might find under a key board or number pad. i thought i was missing something! i reckon if you collected a number of them, it might be profitable to render the material, but you would want alot of them, otherwise you are just wasting good material. ( wasting expensive materials for five cents worth of return)
steve, on an unrelated ( somewhat) note, 
have you ever looked into one of those old compaq 386 portable computers? i wonder what is inside, but would rather sell to a collector, as it seems to be a collectors item. 
Thanks,
Cal


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## lazersteve (Mar 26, 2008)

Cal,

I've got several boxes full of old laptop boards and parts. 

I've disassembled several of the really old laptops and they look good for gold inside. I found several of the boards to be plated all the way across the copper cladding (even under the solder mask) with thick gold in several of the power supply modules.

Like you said in another post, the older the better. :wink: 

Steve


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## starzfan0211 (Mar 26, 2008)

Steve, 

Since you brought that up, I have a quick question for you. We have a lot of mobos that at first looked to have a lot of gold plating. They are older boards, late 90's. My son and I saw a "how Is It Made" episode where they were showing amp boards being made and showed them with copper plating across most of the board. After looking more closely, I am thinking they may be copper and not gold. I do not have the model here, but I can get it this evening. 

What have you found? More copper plating or gold?


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## Gotrek (Mar 26, 2008)

Even newer(early pentiums) laptops are gold heavy. I took apart some old compaq laptops and the entire ground plane on the CPU card was gold plated and thick too because it took me a while to file through it. I didn't look at the rest of the boards (I was going after parts at the time) But I recall putting the CPU aside it had a large 1" ground place all the way around the edge and really shined


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## starzfan0211 (Mar 26, 2008)

Sorry. I should have specified. These are from towers, not laptops. I did pull a newer Dell laptop apart and it is definitely heavy with gold. But I probably have 50-100 of the tower boards that I am trying to decide. I did look up the make and model on google search and found some info, but no specs to see what it is.


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## Gotrek (Mar 26, 2008)

A lot of old boards had gold coloured solder mask. Scrape it off. Gold and copper are easy to tell apart once you remove the solder mask


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## lazersteve (Mar 26, 2008)

Starz,

Following this link:

Solder Mask

Steve


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## starzfan0211 (Mar 26, 2008)

Thanks Steve. That is exactly what it is. You are definitely the man of many answers!


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## meng2k7 (Mar 27, 2008)

lazersteve said:


> Cal,
> 
> I think he's talking about the ribbon connection that sends the control/data signals to the motor and head assemblies. They are usually located inside the drive housing or at the spindle motor contact points.
> 
> STeve



steve

That was so called Actuator assembly part.
thanks.


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