# Gold recovery from phone cells



## Smallville23 (May 31, 2019)

Hello to everyone.
I am new here on the forum and I decided to try to recover gold from old mobile phones 1: First, I cleaned the motherboards from all components using a 650C dryer, when the plates warmed it all flew away from them.
2: then I covered 33% hcl tiles and left it for 1 day and then took out the plates and rinsed gently with tap water and put in the new bucket I poured 2.5l tap water and I added 1l fresh hcl 38% and 100ml hydrogen peroxide 3% I started the aeration pump and I closed the bucket and so bombs it for 1.5 weeks.


As I break it all, it looks like this. 



there is a lot of gray sand on the bottom

If I have done something wrong, please let me know and advise what to do next


----------



## Lino1406 (May 31, 2019)

Cell phones are not generous with gold - unless its a kind of hobbying...


----------



## Smallville23 (May 31, 2019)

I just want to see if I can recover anything


----------



## Smallville23 (May 31, 2019)

And that's cool  such a gold rush


----------



## aft_lizard01 (May 31, 2019)

Keep us updated. I am receiving about fifty telecom boards and I'm still debating the best method. Will an HCL soak allow soldered bits to fall off? I usually deal with jewelery and am now just getting into escrap. I do it for fun, but it is nice to have that unexpected score now and then!


----------



## Smallville23 (Jun 1, 2019)

Today I see a little flakes of gold swimming.
Question to more experienced pour in more hcl?


----------



## FrugalRefiner (Jun 1, 2019)

The CuCl2 process requires patience. Think in terms of at least days, if not weeks. It sounds like it's doing what it's supposed to do. Give it time. Mix the boards around every day or so. When you don't see any change happening, then you can think about adding more acid.

You didn't need the water when you started. When all action stops, pour off most of the solution, leaving just a little. Then just add HCl. No water, and no more peroxide.

Dave


----------



## Smallville23 (Jun 12, 2019)

thank you very much for writing in my post. I poured some liquid out of the bucket, filtered it through the smallest filter and left it. In the jar there is a layer of white powder on the bottom, and under it is a dark brown powder in which I see particles full of gold, is this white powder a copper? I think to treat it with aqua regia


----------



## Smallville23 (Jun 12, 2019)

Is it a good idea?


----------



## butcher (Jun 12, 2019)

Why aqua regia?

Cold water will dissolve some of the metal salts, boiling hot water washes will help dissolve the lead chloride, HCl wash will help to convert cuprous to cupric chlorides... leaving insoluble metal salts (like silver chloride) and the gold which can easily be re-dissolved in HCl with a weaker oxidizer like H2O2 or sodium hypochlorite...


----------



## g_axelsson (Jun 13, 2019)

If the white powder is CuCl then it will dissolve with strong hydrochloric acid.

It might be tin oxides (metastannic acid) and then it will be hard to dissolve or filter.

How are the boards looking? Copper dissolving and gold flaking off?
If you have a bucket with holes in the bottom in a larger bucket you could easily pull the boards up and leave the liquid behind.

Göran


----------



## patnor1011 (Jun 13, 2019)

Give it a month or two.


----------



## Smallville23 (Jun 14, 2019)

Thank you again for your posts and hints in my topic.
As for the earlier questions, it's still the plates soak in hcl + peroxide 3%
Just like in the beginning. The liquid was very dark and when I shuddered, I could see a lot of floating gold particles, but all the tiles did not leave the gold, so I left it to soak up.

As for the filter from the jar, I filtered it with cotton wool, rinsed with boiling water several times and filtered it with cotton again. cotton wool turned dark gray as concrete and you can see gold particles on it
I decided to throw the whole wate into a bigger bottle and flooded with fresh hcl
And that's what it was created after flooding


----------



## Naresh (Jun 13, 2020)

I m working on 100 pice of cell phone bords,,,fist i clean the bords with heat,,,then i burn tha all bords,,then put them in AR solution,,,after one day i filtering,,adding urea,,,adding smb,,,but nuthing to drop,,,i putt the bords in new AR solution,,,and repet the same process,,,that time nuthing to get ,,,,,i put copper bar in second solution,,,and get black thik mud,,,i put it in AR solution,,,add urea,,add smb,,,nuthing to get ,,,,solution is brown from that mud,,,stanous test is brown ,,,,,i think this is palladinum in second solution,,,,where is my gold,,,,in first solutin,,in second solution,,,in bords,,,,,pls help me,,,,,,
Edit:-after chlorine teatment solution turn green,,,and palladinum not precipted,,nuthing to drop


----------



## butcher (Jun 13, 2020)

Naresh ,

The brown reaction in the spot plate looks like copper from the overuse of SMB (a false positive).

The devil is in the details.

There are several details that are important to learn in able to overcome your problems, these details are easy to miss and if missed it can be difficult to get gold.

Whenever anyone mentions urea It gives me a clue that they do not understand its use in recovery or refining, or how to eliminate nitric from solution, a major source of their problems...

Most of your problems will be solved by studying what we discuss here on the forum, most of the thousands of questions asked are these same problems...

I would say you have a lot to learn to get gold, studying the forum you will help find more answer than you will from asking questions, ask questions when you do not understand what your studying, members here are very helpful, 

I see many problems from your description
Burning circuit boards.
Putting everything into solution (tin and gold and a slew of other trash).
Overuse of acids.
Not removing free nitric or nitrates from solution.
Not eliminating base metals and tin before putting gold into solution.
Using urea to attempt to remove excess nitric acid.
overusing acids, reducing agents, and chemicals.

Not having a good understanding of the processes or the reactions.


----------



## Naresh (Jun 13, 2020)

Thanks for reply
I m working on gold recovery from last 2 years,,,but cell phone recovery is not done by me,,,i see the video from a good gold recovery channel,,,and follow them,,,they also doing same process in video,,i commented on his video,,,why not remove tin first,,but there is no reply from him,,,so i continue the same process show in his video,,, that is not subject
What i m wrong
I know i m wrong
But qustion is where is gold
In solution
Or in bords
Or in filter papers
Can any body tell me 
Thanks


----------



## Naresh (Jun 13, 2020)

See the attachment


----------



## butcher (Jun 13, 2020)

If you do not know where the gold is no one can tell you where it is.

It could be on boards if there is any base metals did not fully dissolve, the gold could be reduced and plated back out of solution onto the metal as a black powder.

It could be in solution as a dissolved salt of gold, which you can test for.
the gold could be in solution as colloid of a gold metal which is a reaction of dissolving tin in solution with the dissolved gold that you cannot test for or precipitate from solution using reducing agents because the gold colloid is already a metal you cannot see.

The gold could be in filters, or something you disregarded as waste or trash.
understanding the process, having a good understanding of what happens at each stage, knowing what causes problems and where the gold can go, and we use copperas or stannous chloride to see where the gold is going or gone to we follow our gold through the processes of recovery and refining...

You are trying to recover and refine gold in one step without having a good understanding of the processes of how things actually work, or even how to properly do it, dissolving base metals and gold in one big mess without knowing where the gold is or where it can be easily lost.

You do not get gold by watching youtube videos and burning trash and dumping them into acids without knowing what you are doing or what the dangers are.
Educating yourself is the treasure map, study leads you to the treasure map, understanding is where you get gold.

I would forget what you think you know and start at the beginning, and study.
Study how to deal with waste, and study the dangers of the processes and how to protect yourself.

Burning electronic scrap is stupid and will only cause problems as well as make the area a dangerous place, polluting the air you and your children breath, polluting the soil you live in and eat from, and contaminating the water you drink.

Dissolving this mess of metals and ash in acids makes the mess more toxic, the ash mainly carbonates borates use up acids making salt of your solutions, the tin can make you lose your gold to colloids that are extremely difficult to recover your gold from (that is if you can even tell where the gold went), just a toxic mess made with the evolution of deadly gases.

Also, it would be helpful to do more study on mechanical separation, remove tin as much as possible mechanically and by leaching, leach base metals leaving the gold undissolved.

Recover your gold before putting it into a solution.

Study how to put gold into the solution and how to properly prepare the solution for precipitating the gold.

Basically forget what you think you know and study to learn so you will understand how to recover and how to refine your gold from electronic trash.


----------



## Naresh (Jun 13, 2020)

Thanks to detail reply 
I have all things
Nuthing to throw out
All bords waist
All solution waist
All filter paper waist
I know my mistaks
I will rocover my mistaks
But this time i want to recover my gold
What is the process of that
First i mix all solution in one pot
Then i burn all filter paper 
And put in bords buket
What to do nex
I never throw any solution on erth at this time
Pls help me 
What process i follow at this stage
Thanks to give me your valuable time
Plz help


----------



## butcher (Jun 13, 2020)

Good you still have your gold, and your home should be safe, and you have not poisoned the children who live around you yet, trying to get a few grams worth of gold.

If you are serious about learning this is the place, there is much more to it than watching a video and mixing acids, there are many small details and places to lose gold, there are many things about these metals you will need to learn, these skills take time to learn, it can take years to get fairly good at it, and it is something you can study the rest of your life and never have enough time to learn it all.

Patients is one of the keys to getting gold, give yourself time to get started. too many people think it is easy they try things before they are ready before they study and gain an understanding, they will mix metals and acids, burn circuit boards and make a big mess, then they spend their time learning how to recover gold from that mess, but do not spend time studying the dangers, or how to deal with waste, they then jump from one mess to another making dangerous messes, after that, they get frustrated and quit because it is too hard and they have waisted too much money chasing the gold they know nothing about.

Others spend time to study and take the time needed to prepare themselves for success although it takes time and may seem slow they are well on their way to success. Learning to recover their gold and deal with waste and learn the different recovery or refining processes, they learn to work safely and learn these skills to be able to recover and refine precious metals.

My suggestion is to start your study in the safety section, in that section you will also see dealing with waste, in that section, you will read about cementing on copper, or displacing one metal in solution with another metal, such as recovering gold using copper, and recovering copper using iron, you will learn how to safely treat the solution removing the toxic metals, and converting them to hydroxides and oxides...

As you spend your time studying you find a whole new world of information to help you you did not even know existed, you will find several different methods of recovery, and different ways to dissolve gold, and the many different ways to recover the gold, you will learn what causes problems and what will work and what will not, you will learn to troubleshoot and solve problems as they rear their ugly heads.

these skills are not something you learn by asking a few questions or by watching youtube although it can be helpful at times, you learn it through years of study and practice, and the more you study and practice the better you get at it.
Note the studying comes before the practice or else all you have is another mess to learn to recover from.


----------



## Naresh (Jun 14, 2020)

This time i work on 200 pice of cell phones,,,i use ap method in this time,,,after 4 day i get good ammount of gold foils with gray slug,,i wash them with hcl,,and use AR solution to desolve gold,,i use 80 ml hcl and 1 ml nitric,,,after that i filter it,,,use urea. And smb,,,,lot of gold powder are precipted out,,,but solution colour say still gold has in solution,,so i start to heat the solution,,,boil over,,,,,varry thik gold powder are precipted,,,i boil som more,,,,than my gold has gone,,,i use smb again,,but nuthing to precipted,,,solution colour is dark coffi colour,,,i put solutin to cool down,,,nuthing precipted after cool down the solution,,,than i use ferrous sulfate methode,,,but faild again,,,sttenous test is negtive at starting,,,and negtive at last,,,pls help


----------



## patnor1011 (Jun 14, 2020)

I suspect that most of his gold went away with smoke when he first "burned" boards. It was most likely thick black smoke which carried out most of the minuscule amount of gold plated on boards as they burned.
Whatever small amount which survived this, is stuck on bits of metals as boards can contain up to 40% copper by weight. It will not be recovered unless every last bit of it will be dissolved. 

I personally think it is not worth to chase that gold - there is not enough of it left after "burning" anyway. Not to mention that majority of gold in cell phone is in components and not board itself.


----------



## bluebee (Jun 20, 2020)

hi guys,
I did second experiment on processor, I took 20 processor and put it in nitric acid and got gold is floated in water with few hrs and i rinse it with tap water and i remove other metals with magnet and try to melt it but i dont get any thing from it. I dont know why? Please experts advice me, Why it just happen?


----------



## patnor1011 (Jun 25, 2020)

What processors exactly?


----------



## Ariaana (Sep 20, 2020)

Naresh said:


> This time i work on 200 pice of cell phones,,,i use ap method in this time,,,after 4 day i get good ammount of gold foils with gray slug,,i wash them with hcl,,and use AR solution to desolve gold,,i use 80 ml hcl and 1 ml nitric,,,after that i filter it,,,use urea. And smb,,,,lot of gold powder are precipted out,,,but solution colour say still gold has in solution,,so i start to heat the solution,,,boil over,,,,,varry thik gold powder are precipted,,,i boil som more,,,,than my gold has gone,,,i use smb again,,but nuthing to precipted,,,solution colour is dark coffi colour,,,i put solutin to cool down,,,nuthing precipted after cool down the solution,,,than i use ferrous sulfate methode,,,but faild again,,,sttenous test is negtive at starting,,,and negtive at last,,,pls help


Naresh you proceed 200 pcs of cellphone boards, in 80 ml Hcl and 1 ml HNo3? 
How you did it? Is that amount of AR was enough to cover all 200 pcs?!


----------



## Martijn (Sep 30, 2020)

Foils, not cell phones.


----------



## prince (Dec 26, 2020)

yes not cell phone ,just foils


----------



## Martijn (Dec 28, 2020)

Naresh said:


> Thanks for reply
> I m working on gold recovery from last 2 years,,,but cell phone recovery is not done by me,,,i see the video from a good gold recovery channel,,,and follow them,,,they also doing same process in video,,i commented on his video,,,why not remove tin first,,but there is no reply from him,,,so i continue the same process show in his video,,, that is not subject
> What i m wrong
> I know i m wrong
> ...



Naresh, as you are calling this You-tube site a good one, look at his intro: someone that needs to paint rocks gold colored, is highly questionable imo. His goal is not to educate, but to get 'rich' on You-tube ads… 
his site: https://www.youtube.com/c/goldrecovery 
screenshot: 



Why is there no reply from him? well, maybe he is a very busy man, or maybe he does not know why? Or maybe he is not interested in eduacting us?

New Members: please forget You tube as a reliable source of info!!


----------

