# Wide gold ram boards? How to refine effectively



## uglypug (Oct 11, 2015)

Hi, incredibly useful site, I've learned a lot from this forum but I have a question I haven't seen posted here before. I have 37 cards that are about 3" by 7" that look like raw stock boards that they cut computer ram from - I really have no idea what they are to be honest. They test (with my crappy test kit) 22k or higher, how reliable that is I don't know, but I was wondering if I could just burn the plastic substrate away from the gold as the heat needed to melt the higher purity gold is greater. Maybe. These are beautiful boards that I think I nearly stole from an eBay seller, they are mustard yellow with no copper backing and the gold is very thick, compared to what I'm used to at least.
I've never seen this type of board before and was wondering how to use them the most effectively. I've learned from you good people how to extract and refine somewhat decently after a long period of trial and error, but it seems to me that these could be cut into strips and just burn away the epoxy/plastic much easier, and then molded or further refined from that point on. Any comments are greatly appreciated.


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## FrugalRefiner (Oct 11, 2015)

Welcome pug. I'll try to beat everyone else to it and say some pictures would help.

Your 22k gold test is unreliable. All gold plating used on circuit boards is nearly pure, but it's just plating. It's doubtful that circuit boards would be made with solid gold traces.

Burning circuit boards is not a good idea unless you have a way of dealing with the fumes. Burning them releases all sorts of nasty toxins.

We use the methods you see recommended on this forum because they work at the scale most members use. 

Dave


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## rickbb (Oct 12, 2015)

Gold on circuit boards is almost always plated on copper. You should process them the same as all other plated electronic scrap, fingers, and so on.

The easiest method has to be CuCl2, copper II chloride, method. Slow but reliable and safer than most others.

Edit to correct spelling.


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## uglypug (Oct 13, 2015)

Thank you for responding Dave, and sorry for the lateness of my reply, there is always a crisis at work. You are right that the methods most of you use are the most effective, I've followed a lot of you and extracted some really good gold, and a lot more following your collective methods.
What I was asking is the best way of monetizing these things. I'm in the process of stripping a couple of these cards to see exactly how much gold is on each of them, weighing them before and after (they all weigh about 1.4 ounces after cleaning and before HCL and peroxide). The gold is a lot thicker than the ram strips, etc. that I typically extract, and yes there are some scratches and scuffs from storage I imagine, but again, I've never seen this exact type of board before. It seems to me that the extraction process could be much easier before refining to the near purity that I have been getting. But this is only after many, many arduous hours of extraction. I would rather put my time into the refining end of things.

I've uploaded a couple of pics (I think) and any knowledge from you guys about what they are, methods, etc. would be greatly appreciated.


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## uglypug (Oct 13, 2015)

And yes, they all test high on my crappy stone/acid test kit which I know is unreliable but it's obviously industrial gold. Do any of you know of a reliable way to test quickly without the expense? I have 37 of these bought for a little more than a c-note plus shipping. Thanks in advance


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## Anonymous (Oct 13, 2015)

If you have access to the process Rick mentioned above then I would process these boards as Rick said. I'm not sure what more testing you need because I'd go and process them and see what results I get.


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## g_axelsson (Oct 13, 2015)

If it's circuit board, use copper chloride leach to remove the copper and loosen the gold. Process as fingers or if you are in a hurry, use nitric acid to remove the copper.

Plated gold in electronics is always in the range of 99-100% pure on the surface. But it's mostly surface and testing it with a stone and kit isn't very productive since the result depends on how much of the base metal you got with it.
I've heard people using erasers or some other abrasives to get a feeling on the thickness. Personally I prefer to put a drop of nitric on the trace and after a few minutes wash it off with water and see how the plating breaks up, works in a test tube too both with pins or traces ripped off the board.

There are several online calculators out there, I've collected some on this page:
http://goldrefiningwiki.com/mediawiki/index.php/Calculators

Personally I would do as spaceships, just process and weigh, you own the material already.

Göran


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## Geo (Oct 13, 2015)

Those are bridges. It plugs into slots on apposing boards. They are used to connect two or more boards in a series. Think really long fingers. They should yield the equivalent of clean cut fingers by weight. Since the yield on average clean cut fingers is around 2 grams per pound, I would say that those connectors should yield close to the same. Weigh them before you start so you can check and see if I'm right.


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## uglypug (Oct 21, 2015)

Bridges? Thank you for that. Sometimes Google is NOT your friend, I couldn't find anything. 3 inches wide? Wow what entity are they used for, military or something? Hope this pic posts right, this is what I extracted, 5 grams+ 22K +. Might be a good turtle.

Could I add, I know how to extract and refine gold, quite well in a small environment, but sometimes I need help with specific things. Most of the people on here are very arrogant, "read Hoke, dumbass" etc. types. Some of my methods (as I'm sure yours are) are inventive and better and more efficient and earth friendly than Hoke or any of the parrots on this site. You were actually helpful, thank you very much. Regards, the ugly one


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## 4metals (Oct 21, 2015)

uglypug said:


> I know how to extract and refine gold, quite well in a small environment



If you know what you are doing that well then you really don't need us do you? I suggest you keep your comments like this;


uglypug said:


> Most of the people on here are very arrogant, "read Hoke, dumbass" etc. types. Some of my methods (as I'm sure yours are) are inventive and better and more efficient and earth friendly than Hoke or any of the parrots on this site.


to yourself or you will find yourself on the outside not looking in. Please refrain from insulting people who try to help you. You have been warned.


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## glorycloud (Oct 21, 2015)

OK, I am sorry but I did laugh out loud at the "read Hoke, dumbass" comment.

Would I get in trouble if I added that to my signature line? (Rhetorical question)

Now back to our regular programming......................

8)


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## kadriver (Oct 28, 2015)

Here is a post with a video that shows exactly how to do what your looking for;

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=22842

kadriver


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## kadriver (Oct 28, 2015)

Here is another that uses salt, vinegar and hydrogen peroxide to lift the foils, the salt, vinegar and bleach to dissolve the foils, then vitamin C to precipitate the pure gold.

The chemists on sciencemadness.org helped me produce this video with the goal of completely eliminating any of the regular harsh mineral acids - no hydrochloric, no nitric and no sulfuric acids were used!

Here is part 1 of 3. Parts 2 and 3 are posted also;

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=22967

kadriver


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