# IP STB's,and such, Worth it??



## Heaven's Pavement (May 30, 2008)

Howdy, newby here.
Found this site couple day ago
This Stuff sound soo cool to me.
Urban prospecting LOL.
Anyway the place I work for is getting rid of Ip TV set top boxes.
Here is the main board, see lots of gold "dots" on the board itsself, rest copper, is that woth anything, chips, pins, ect.
will have access to several hundred for free.
has metal casing(aluminum?)
Comments?
also what about ethernet cable ends, phone/ether jacks ends.
thank you in advance for your input !


----------



## Heaven's Pavement (May 30, 2008)

He, he, only one pic per post??


----------



## Heaven's Pavement (May 30, 2008)

another...


----------



## Heaven's Pavement (May 30, 2008)

last one, thanks!


----------



## Noxx (May 30, 2008)

No, you can upload up to 5 pics per post if I remember correctly


----------



## SapunovDmitry (May 30, 2008)

Looks like it has about 70-90 ppm of gold on it.


----------



## Heaven's Pavement (May 30, 2008)

"70-90 ppm", not worth it eh?
Maybe if I had time to read more i'd be able to figure it out on my own, its just several pallets of these are goin to be "junked".
I was thinking the pins, and Maybe the 2 chips with gold at the corners.
If several hundred , and by the time they are all pulled out, around a 1000.
would be woth it.....
oh well....


----------



## Rag and Bone (May 30, 2008)

They aren't worth your time to process yourself. They would have value if you can get a half ton or so and send it to a refiner.


----------



## Heaven's Pavement (May 30, 2008)

1/2 ton of chips and stuff or boxes?
could be several tons of boxes..
will eventually refine myself when I learn..
thank you!


----------



## Rag and Bone (May 30, 2008)

No boxes. Just boards, components and anything with copper or PMs. You can only do so much yourself (cherry pick). All the rest goes to the big refiner. Most places charge you per pound, you can save money by removing excess weight (steel, transformers, plastic, anything heavy with low value). PM me your location and I might be able to recommend someone.


----------



## SapunovDmitry (May 30, 2008)

500 000 gr *0,009% = 45 gramms of Au.
500 kg* 10 % = 50 kg of copper.
8109 USD *0,05 = 405$ for copper and 1500 $ for gold. Maybe 100-200 $ for PGMs. It's the case you take pure metals from boards. But i think it should be taken to the refinery. Then the value will be divided by 2 or 3.

Actually it's just the info for simmilar boards from my assay book and it has nothing to do with real life experience at refining plants. It's very hard for me to make such estimations.  Maybe Steve, GSP, Harold or other professional refiners can make more accurate guesses.

Btw..... 
I am not sure again but each of those pins has about 0,1-0,15 mlgr of gold. :roll:


----------



## Rag and Bone (May 30, 2008)

SapunovDmitry,

Do you have any estimates on silver or Pd content in boards? My people are saying there was no significant quantity from a half ton load of boards and memory (mostly pre '97). There was a good bit of gold though. 8)


----------



## silversaddle1 (May 30, 2008)

Why even mess with trying to refine the boards? I'm sure those would pass as "high grade" boards at a scrapyard. Could be worth as much as $2.70 a pound pulled from the chassis. Call around, get some quotes, and be sure to let the buyers know you will have about 1000 of these when you are done. The more you have, the better the price will be. Keep the wire seprate as well as the steel and the power supply's. They will each have their own value. It would be well worth your time to scrap them.


----------



## Oz (May 30, 2008)

Whether he is going to refine them himself or not the best place to be in when selling is knowing what you have and what it is worth. They sure the heck won’t tell you. A scrap buyers job is to buy for as little as possible. An educated seller is as important as being an educated buyer.

This forum is the exception to the rule to be sure.


----------



## SapunovDmitry (May 30, 2008)

I am not sure these boards are high grade stuff.
High grade stuff has ALOT more details,and what is the most inportant, THE BOARD weights much less. Look at the cell phone board and that's what is a high grade stuff.

I gave a link to Aflac's document couple of days ago. It has some silver and PGM estimations.
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=559&start=30&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=
I think it is VERY useful.


----------



## Heaven's Pavement (May 30, 2008)

Thanks for the responses!
What I was thinking was grap the pins and at least the 2 chips that have the "gold tab".
the eqiptment would be of no cost to me.
the case is some kind of metal, not positve what.
I can process the boards out very quickly,which is good becouse the meatl cases would need to go rather quickly(space hog) while the boards I would "play with" longer.
I've got lots to learn and I know it.
Found this site "by accident" as I come from "playing in the dirt" prospecting, and a green horn at that, but I am getting color, LOL.
Live in the far North USA btw.
Thanks agian.


----------



## Oz (May 31, 2008)

It sounds like you are going to try your hand at processing these. A suggestion… do a couple of batches of only 10 boards each first. Then you can learn the process as well as see yields and if it is worth your time and chemicals to process them vs selling them on crazybay. I would be interested in hearing what you find in yields.

Oz


----------



## Rag and Bone (May 31, 2008)

Those pins and chips won't yield more than a gram or two per pound. See how long it takes to get to a pound.


----------



## Heaven's Pavement (May 31, 2008)

The thing is , it is take it all or nothing deal.
Yea the pins are not plated all the way down, LOL.
Question, besides the 2 chips with the gold "flag" corner, what about others?
might be able to get tossed cell phones.
Now I need to talk to our IT dept for dead PC parts.


----------



## Oz (May 31, 2008)

Hey Rag and Bone,

It sure doesn’t hurt anything learning on pins and chips, it’s what I started out on. It sounds like he is already looking to other sources and it wouldn’t be a bad idea him getting a few blisters on his fingers before he has karat gold and no experience. 

So have your blisters turned into calluses yet? I’m still waiting on mine.


----------



## Rag and Bone (May 31, 2008)

Oz said:


> Hey Rag and Bone,
> 
> It sure doesn’t hurt anything learning on pins and chips, it’s what I started out on. It sounds like he is already looking to other sources and it wouldn’t be a bad idea him getting a few blisters on his fingers before he has karat gold and no experience.
> 
> So have your blisters turned into calluses yet? I’m still waiting on mine.



I don't mean to discourage him. Snap that loot up and dive in. Take it all! There's good value there, depending on how you approach it. It's easy to work money OUT of your pocket, assuming your time has value. 

Yeah I still got blisters on my fingers, from tree planting though. Worse yet I got all cut-up dumpster diving without my gloves


----------



## Oz (May 31, 2008)

Yea, I’ve processed my fair share of gold for about a penny an hour as I was learning. But it was well worth the time for what I learned.


----------



## Heaven's Pavement (May 31, 2008)

"depending on how you approach it."
Could you please expand on this, as I will be on a budjet(starting from scratch and all),
safety being my first consern,
gettin gthe most out of what I got the second.
Thank you for your honest input.


----------



## Platdigger (May 31, 2008)

silversaddle, are you sure these boards could be called "high grade"?

I wouldn't think they could be worth much more than a dollor per pound...the best ones.

If you could get up to 2.70 for these, I would like to know your buyer.

please!....
Randy


----------



## silversaddle1 (May 31, 2008)

Well they would have enough gold on them to make the grade around here. I would throw them right in with all our other mother boards, cards, etc. Our local buyer here is Alters trading and they would buy them as high grade boards. If you would like, I can send you a name and #, if your willing to ship from Washington.

Scott


----------



## SapunovDmitry (Jun 1, 2008)

Hey Heaven's Pavement, the gold content of pins can be determined very easily. Just count the surface and multiply it by 30 or 50 microinches to get optimitstic value. Then weight 10 or 20 of them to be more precise and try to find out the weight of one. Then divide the gold mass by full mass.
After that, find out the gold content of pound of these or maybe of a kilogram.
Then throw everything in AR, use urea or vapourization, filter, drop with SMB,filter,then smelt the stuff you've got.You will get a nugget,not very pure nugget, but still a nugget.
Then refine it second time as it was shown in Hoke's book. (You better ask for advice of professionals here if you want to get something reeeally pure.Try asking Harol,Noxx,Steve,GSP or others for help after the first refining).
If everything will be OK you will be able to post your first nugget. 8)


----------



## Rag and Bone (Jun 1, 2008)

AR on low grade pins? Overkill.


----------



## SapunovDmitry (Jun 1, 2008)

It's the easiest way for the starting guy.
You almost automaticly get gold with this method cause it's the easiest and fastest for the first time.


----------



## Rag and Bone (Jun 1, 2008)

You have easy access to nitric. It's expensive and hard to find in some places, like the U.S. Even using poormans AR adds additional steps that are unnecesary. 

AP for recovery and AC for refining foils is another option for those interested in the "guerilla warfare" approach.


----------



## SapunovDmitry (Jun 1, 2008)

Yeah,that's true. We have good nitric source here 8) , but it is very hard to find sulfuric and muratic.  

In this case AP is better.


----------



## Oz (Jun 1, 2008)

SapunovDmitry,

I have even run into limited difficulty in getting sulfuric here in the US as they are using sealed batteries for cars and trucks now so are not carrying it. But alternative energy is big now and home systems are using large lead acid batteries such as used in fork lifts. It may be worth trying companies that deal with these in your location as well.

Oz


----------



## SapunovDmitry (Jun 1, 2008)

Selling sulfuric and muratic to non-companies is restricted in Russia. Thanks to Drain cleaners  we get our sulfuric, but you cannot find sulfuric drain cleaners in every store. And muratic is sold off trucks in one of our heavens for radioamateurs (kind of open air market in the outskirts of Moscow )  .


----------



## goldsilverpro (Jun 1, 2008)

I agree. They look nowhere near hi-grade to me. Of course, I've been out of touch for awhile


----------



## Heaven's Pavement (Jun 1, 2008)

Pins, LOL even being a greenhorn, I'd say low grade for sure, the boxes are RCA brand.
At any rate just snipping the pins down to where the gold ends gives almost 4 grams, plus there are 2 flatpacks with gold corners, so lets say4 grams total..
More Questions...


1)besides the 2 gold corner chips, any others???

2)also other contacts that are not gold are silver in color, with out chem testing any guesses??? just aluminum, maybe silver(looks the same on the ribbon cable "fingers")
3)the main weight on these is the metal casing(not much plastic)like on metal casing vcrs, ect, what could this be, we are taking hundreds of pounds here.
Thanks eveyone for taking the time..
BYW I'm enjoying the videos that(I forget who) is linked to(need password to get into)
some of the vids need auser and password, any info on that??
I love learning....


----------



## lazersteve (Jun 1, 2008)

The videos above the letter S alphabetically were still locked until 5 minutes ago.. 

Sorry, I just fixed that. They all work now.

The housings are most likely galvanized steel or aluminum. Check them with a magnet. 

The silvery pins are likely just solder coated, but possibly Pd plated. You'll need chemicals to test them.

Steve


----------



## Heaven's Pavement (Jun 2, 2008)

Ah yes "Lazersteve" its your site  
Thank you sooo much for your work, MUCH appreciated.
I just love seeing this stuff in action.
I almost went over my gig limit for the month watching them, LOL.
Well chit chatting the the warehouse guy , the first batch is batch is spoken for, but there are about 800 units to still get phased out.
The metal casing is magnetic(galv.steel).
Any value there, scrape yard?
Do not know what to do with the plastic, although not much.
I do not think there are any facilities to handle plastic, need to check on this.
Thanks for everyones help.
HP.


----------

