# Sim card processing



## Bakerman (Aug 30, 2017)

Hi guys!

I just found this forum and I am compeletely new on this kind of "hobby".
I have access to loads (tens of thousands) of old sim cards used in mobile phones and old mobile phones for free, and I was thinking is worth it to start extracting gold from them? 
What is required to get the gold off them? I prefer not using alot of dangerous chemicals because my lungs cant handle that much fumes (had to go to hospital because I painted my walls lol).
I don't really mind working "alot" to get the gold from them, if there is a safe way.

Thankyou for your replies! :G


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## Topher_osAUrus (Aug 30, 2017)

Hello, and welcome. Response in-line




Bakerman said:


> I was thinking is worth it to start extracting gold from them?
> Define worth it...if you get them for free, and already have all the labware and chems, sure it probably is. Until you have to pay for waste treatment
> What is required to get the gold off them? I prefer not using alot of dangerous chemicals because my lungs cant handle that much fumes (had to go to hospital because I painted my walls lol).
> I don't really mind working "alot" to get the gold from them, if there is a safe way.
> ...



Not to discourage you, as gold refining is one of the best things Ive ever done in my life, but, it is pretty disheartening to put in tons and tons of work and get half a gram a gold out of something that looks like a gold mine. -that pretty much sums up 98% of escrap.

Stay awhile, read through the subforums, read our bible and our handbooks. Get a feel for it, who knows, you may end up wanting to do it anyways, just to say you can.
The journey is a reward in and of itself.

Best of luck


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## 4metals (Aug 30, 2017)

First thing you should do is get some numbers as to how many kilograms of sim cards and used mobile phones you can get on a routine basis and compare what you can earn from simply shipping to someone like boardsort to your setup costs to do it yourself. 

Mobile phone disassembly can be a pain stripping it down to the circuit boards but sim cards could be as simple as pyrolysis, screen, smelt, and electrolytic copper to isolate the PM's. Same for boards in phones...... after they are out of the phone. 

But the only way to know what can be in it for you is to start with solid numbers. If you come back with real numbers of what you can get and how often, and maybe some pictures, this can be an informative thread as we go through the process of seeing what is the most cost effective.

Just looked up sim cards in the library and there seems to be a consensus that they yield about 1.84 grams per kilogram and a kilogram is about 2650 cards. So at $1300 gold that's about $76 per kilogram. Not that Boardsort will pay you that, but that is what members historically have recovered.


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## Topher_osAUrus (Aug 30, 2017)

Some are substantially less than that.

I remember a member mentioning a $10,000 learning lesson from banking on those figures.

The ones I ran were closer to 1g a kilo
But, Im sure (like most things), variances are abound.

Depending on the plating thickness, the substrate type/weight, sim card type (mini, micro, macro, et al), wear on the plating, the price of tea in china, and many other things the value can and will differ.


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## 4metals (Aug 30, 2017)

Palladium and Lasersteve both came up with similar numbers on the thread in the library. Perhaps their sorting method was good enough to separate the different grades. But whatever grades Boardsort accepts them as, be assured they are paying on the low end of the possible content and with those numbers some assumptions can be made, regardless of the price of tea in China!


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## Topher_osAUrus (Aug 30, 2017)

http://goldrefiningforum.com/~goldrefi/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=22373

(Sorry to dredge up the past Eric!)

That is one of the yield posts I was referring to.

I remember reading on here somewhere, that boardsort can/does pay break even (or small loss) prices on some small things, just to rope in your business on the bigger ticket ($$) items (like telecom boards).

I dont know that for sure though.

However, I can attest, that the cards I ran were not true "sim cards" but arcade game membership cards (looked identical to the sims though), so their lower yield could be attributed to wear.


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## anachronism (Aug 30, 2017)

Judging by the prices that boardsort pays I would doubt they lose on anything Topher


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## Bakerman (Aug 31, 2017)

Thanks for replies guys!

I can get my hands on about 10 000-20 000 sim cards per month and about 500-1000kg of electronic circuit boards from mobile phones, televisions, computers, microwaves etc. Sorry if my english is bad, hope you guys understand it though :lol: 

My wife will jerk my head off if I start playing with dangerous chemicals in our house, so that is the reason why I was looking for different methods to get that gold off those  

What about salt+vinegar+hydrogen peroxide?
Scraping with some kind of tool and melting after that to burn the plastic etc. off?


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## jason_recliner (Aug 31, 2017)

Your English is just fine.
And your wife is right. Do not do this in your home. Ever. Or anywhere you have anything metal you want to keep, such as your garage, for the vapours will rust everything.

Take it outside, and leave it outside.
No difference if you switch the HCl for vinegar, don't do it your home.


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## Bakerman (Aug 31, 2017)

jason_recliner said:


> Your English is just fine.
> And your wife is right. Do not do this in your home. Ever. Or anywhere you have anything metal you want to keep, such as your garage, for the vapours will rust everything.
> 
> Take it outside, and leave it outside.
> No difference if you switch the HCl for vinegar, don't do it your home.



If I make a little canopy-like thing to my backyard to protect everything from rain and snow is it enough? And outside it gets like -30celcius (-22fahrenheit), so I probably cant do it outside either, thats why I would love to switch chemicals to some kind of mechanical way.


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## jason_recliner (Aug 31, 2017)

That's cold enough to turn your HCl into a brick!
A canopy or lean-to is probably ok. I do everything under the cover of a porch. But I am not subject to the extreme low temperatures that you experience. I am "freezing" tonight in my temperate zone (It'll be 3°C here), so I'll bet it's a nice warm autumnal day for you.
So if you're doing this as a hobby, you even may find you have on and off workable seasons; obviously it's no help when your acid is a solid. Professionals will of course have a dedicated refinery, but that's neither of us.


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## Bakerman (Aug 31, 2017)

jason_recliner said:


> That's cold enough to turn your HCl into a brick!
> A canopy or lean-to is probably ok. I do everything under the cover of a porch. But I am not subject to the extreme low temperatures that you experience. I am "freezing" tonight in my temperate zone (It'll be 3°C here), so I'll bet it's a nice warm autumnal day for you.
> So if you're doing this as a hobby, you even may find you have on and off workable seasons; obviously it's no help when your acid is a solid. Professionals will of course have a dedicated refinery, but that's neither of us.



Winter is coming, its summer still technically but it was 4celcius at night and 10celcius at day so yeah  Yea I have a "gold fever" and I cant go to lapland to mine gold every day because it takes 8 hours to get to the mining outpost so I thought of this as a hobby and maybe a future investment for my baby boy, thought of collecting 18 years of gold and maybe buy him a car when he turns 18  I found a method to get gold off ram sticks with soldering tool, but it still requires acid to get the copper out of gold flakes :/


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## kurtak (Aug 31, 2017)

4metals said:


> Just looked up sim cards in the library and there seems to be a consensus that they yield about 1.84 grams per kilogram and a kilogram is about 2650 cards. So at $1300 gold that's about $76 per kilogram. Not that Boardsort will pay you that, but that is what members historically have recovered.




4metals

I believe the .83 - .84 yield per pound reported by palladium, lazersteve & Samuel-a is per pound of processing chip "only" (chip removed from the card like in pic.)

:arrow: http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=85&t=22378#p234132

Yield per pound of "whole" cards is going to be much less & is going to very "more or less" based on size/type card

I have never had enough sims to process by them selves so I simply throw them in with my filters & anode bags - which are then incinerated - followed by smelting with silver cement used as my collector

If I was ever to do a large batch of sims I would most certainly incinerate (the whole cards) then smelt & I would use the larger "copper" legs/wires sifted out of IC ash as my collector --- the result would be not only the gold from the sims in the copper dore - but as well Ag & Pd that is plated on the IC copper legs/wire as well as any gold that "may" have hitch hiked along with the copper legs/wire during sifting

Kurt


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## stingray (Aug 31, 2017)

Terve Bakerman 
käsittelen pieniä määriä omassa vaatimattomassa laboratoriossani.
Jos haluat ottaa yhteyttä, lähetä PM:ää
Hello Bakerman
I have treated little quantities in my humble laboratory. If you are interested, send me PM.
Jouni


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## kurtak (Aug 31, 2017)

Bakerman said:


> thats why I would love to switch chemicals to some kind of mechanical way.



You may want consider looking into setting up for smelting

:arrow: http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=85&t=25592#p272232

You can then ether set up a parting cell ( copper or silver depending on what you use as a collector)

Or you can sell the PM (Precious Metal) copper &/or silver dore to a refiner

Whether you go with chemical processing or smelting (which is mechanical) it is going to require an "investment" to get the ball rolling

Kurt


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## jason_recliner (Aug 31, 2017)

Bakerman said:


> Yea I have a "gold fever"





Bakerman said:


> I thought of this as a hobby and maybe a future investment for my baby boy, thought of collecting 18 years of gold and maybe buy him a car when he turns 18


Good. But the greatest gift you can give your boy is to be there.
This time last year I made a friend here, who stepped up and bought nitric acid. I have not heard from him again.
Do not let your gold fever take your life.


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## Bakerman (Aug 31, 2017)

jason_recliner said:



> Bakerman said:
> 
> 
> > Yea I have a "gold fever"
> ...




And this is the reason I am not willing to touch chemicals, because I value my life over gold :mrgreen: 
I've gotten many PM's about other methods and I think I will find a way to get those delicious gold flakes out safely! Thankyou all for replies, keep em coming if you have suggestions :wink:


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## jason_recliner (Aug 31, 2017)

I am not a fan of PM suggestions. All processing suggestions should be open to scrutiny.


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## stingray (Aug 31, 2017)

Yes I agree Jason. Just wanted to know if we are living nearby . Besides i use wet prosesses. So i dont have much to add.


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## Bakerman (Aug 31, 2017)

jason_recliner said:


> I am not a fan of PM suggestions. All processing suggestions should be open to scrutiny.



Yeah there was no weird thing going on with stingray, we are from same country so we can talk in our own language via pm, would be stupid to start talking in finnish in the thread while nobody couldn't understand what we are talking about haha! Many people want to buy my circuits, so I will tell everyone in public, I am not selling to anyone at the moment :mrgreen:


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## etack (Aug 31, 2017)

Topher_osAUrus said:


> http://goldrefiningforum.com/~goldrefi/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=22373
> 
> (Sorry to dredge up the past Eric!)
> 
> ...



Its cool man it taught me the importance of the assay. Mine were whole cards and a mix of sizes.

Eric


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## Bakerman (Aug 31, 2017)

This kind of stuff I get shipped straight to my home, already dissassembled mobile phones, batteries and screens included. Is there any precious metals in those screens or batteries? How about car batteries? I have thousands of them sitting in the corner :lol:

edit: forgot picture lol


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## anachronism (Sep 1, 2017)

Those phone batteries sell for good money. 8) 8)


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## Bakerman (Sep 2, 2017)

anachronism said:


> Those phone batteries sell for good money. 8) 8)



Haven't found anyone who is willing to buy them :roll:


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## anachronism (Sep 2, 2017)

anachronism said:


> Those phone batteries sell for good money. 8) 8)



The spelling was intentional 4metals. Hey ho. 

Bakerman - those batteries honestly do sell to certain people for high prices by weight and in some cases per unit. I have two buyers in the UK, I'll ask them the best price for you.


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## stingray (Sep 3, 2017)

If you really have thousands of car batteries, you have a good source of sulfuric acid for your sulfuric cell. :wink:


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## g_axelsson (Sep 3, 2017)

Bakerman said:


> How about car batteries? I have thousands of them sitting in the corner :lol:


Not a lot of precious metals in those. Check with the local scrap yards and pick the one that pays you the most.
Lead acid batteries are a favorite scrap of mine, doesn't pay so much per kilo but adds up fast, takes small space to store and easy to transfer. Cleaning out old UPS installations can give some fast money.

Göran


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