# New to all of this



## M-G-P (May 16, 2007)

I am a long time Gold Prospector and PC tech.
I am getting a lot of PC boards that have gold in/on them. looking for as much info as possible on how to go about recovering the gold from circuit boards and other Micro plated items.

I need info from start to finish in lam'mens terms thanks


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/M_G_P/


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## firedan525 (May 16, 2007)

Hello M-G-P and welcome and congrates on discovering this great forum. Your question is quite broad but I can give you a starting point. There are many different ways to recover gold from many different types of scrap. There is aqua regia (AR) which is a combination Nitric acid & Hydrochloric acid. This acid combination has the ability to not just dissolve metal but to dissolve gold into gold chloride which can be percipitated into a very pure state if followed correctly. More methods include HCL in a crockpot, Acid peroxide method, electolytle cell stripping, the list goes on. All of these techniques are in this forum. All you need to do search and you will find. You still may ask questions all you want, there are many experienced individuals more than willing to share their years of knowledge and expertise. One important thing to know is that all of these refining techniques produce some level of hazardous byproducts. Your health is more important than any amount of gold. This hobby is great as long as you know the chemicals and hazards your dealing with. Thanks for joining us and have fun, ask questions, and most important BE SAFE. DAN


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## M-G-P (May 16, 2007)

I am look for the safest way to go about this I live in a mobile home park and limited on what I can get away with doing. I would like to find a system that well not take up a lot of room yet be efficient in recovery. 

I am assuming I would have to crush the boards down to a powder before I did any thing else.? right. then get the metals out of the glass dust.
from there if I am right this far I would not have a clue what to do. or where to start. :?: :?: :?: :?: I really love the idea of reclaiming gold & other P-M's instead of selling off all my boards to some one on E-bay as I have been doing.
 

I will start reading over this information here and I am sure I will be asking a lot of Questions.

thanks for the info talk with you again soon I am sure!


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## lazersteve (May 16, 2007)

M-G-P,

Welcome to the forum. 

Your idea to crush the boards first may sound like a quick and easy way to get all the precious metals out , but there are a lot of factors you may not realize at first glance. Since you mentioned space concerns and curious neighbors here's my opinion on you situation:

Crushing will be very noisy and produce a large amount of waste in the end. The amount of chemicals required to process the large volume of the crushed boards will be costly compared to the small amounts required if you spend the extra time processing the boards down into the various 'grades' of scrap. Here's a link to a post containing the overall approach I use.

Click here for board processing help.

Read thru all the posts in the thread and you will get a good idea of how to handle this type of scrap.

Have Fun!

Steve


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## toadiesop (May 16, 2007)

To all the pros,

I hate to put this burden on you but you do know ALL the threads. :wink: 

There seems to be many "noobs" as it's called.... I read this WHOLE forum THREE times in one night when I first joined and it was very informative. 

Now, unless you know where to look, it just seems "cluttered".

Everyone is coming here and asking questions that are easily answered elsewhere if they'd only get past the general chat thread. And don't get me wrong, I understand the more people the better... I just don't think the new people joining realize what a wealth of information this place is. You just have to find it. 

But if Noxx could stickie something and utililize the Steve, Harold, Goldsilverpro trifecta as the great encyclopedia on all things gold, AND this forum, we could cut down on the repetitive threads and maybe even get rid of some that went nowhere or are "outdated" so to speak. 

It's just a thought and I know it will take hours out of your real life which I don't have much of myself. I've stated my idea about putting all the important info into PDF and someone (Steve???) said they were doing the same thing. I don't think that's a good idea anymore. The poop I see on ebay now is STOLEN (no other word for it) from here. 

So I say... Just stickie a "newbies guide" with links to the threads that deal with the basics, and I mean BASIC!! Kind of like a "start here and read these 5 threads before you ask a question" thread.

No offence at all to M-G-P, but the question you asked, which is asked almost daily it seems, is easily answered with a little browsing. Maybe not as easy as you'd like, but then again..... learning is half the fun and this IS a complex and very specific hobby. The problem is a lot of these broad and general questions have been "flooding" here.

Trust me, just read, you'll find things you never even knew were possible.

::end rant:: 8)


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## Daniel (May 16, 2007)

Well... I am new here as well. I have been reading the threads as fast as I can digest the information, and re reading... etc

I find that I am not able to narrow my searches very well. Most of the key words are used in 40-50 threads regardless of the combination I use. I am trying to be careful about not asking redundant questions, but in the end, I will... no doubt about it.

I am feeling the urge to disolve something... soon! If I understand correctly, HCL will eat most everything except the gold. I have a handfull of awesome pins from a first generation arcade game. I think I will chop these into 1/2" pieces (they are completely plated) and cook 'em in a crockpot with HCL. I plan to neutralize the resulting solution and discard it.
I'll wash the gold and save it for further refinement on down the road. Does this sound like I know what I'm doing?

I use nitric to burn mercury off gold I find in the streams around the old mines here in N. Carolina. That is the extent of my "hands on" knowledge with this stuff. All the rest is book smarts and recollection of high school chemistry. (when I wasn't thinking about girls, cars, or getting money... so I don't remember much)

Thanks!


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## champ110 (May 16, 2007)

what was the game that the pins came from


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## Noxx (May 16, 2007)

Good idea toadiesop. Most new rookies ask where to start, etc. I will think about it...


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## Daniel (May 16, 2007)

> what was the game that the pins came from



good question, its in poor condition so im not exactly sure. It was some kind of tank game part of the title is "ambush" it was a 2 player game with gun mounts for the player to aim and a button in the gun to fire. In fact, the button is the only player input as the guns are both eye candy.

There were a few ribbons inside and each plug has prolly 40 pins close to an inch long, the pins are about 3/32" square and maybe an alloy since I am unable to see any color dif when I cut them. I also stripped all the gold plated "chip holders" as well.


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## champ110 (May 16, 2007)

so it was one of those big stand up units. i originally thought you were talkin about an old nintendo or something.


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## Daniel (May 16, 2007)

> so it was one of those big stand up units.


It was...




> I have a handfull of awesome pins from a first generation arcade game. I think I will chop these into 1/2" pieces (they are completely plated) and cook 'em in a crockpot with HCL. I plan to neutralize the resulting solution and discard it.
> I'll wash the gold and save it for further refinement on down the road. Does this sound like I know what I'm doing?


I guess I'm asking if it sounds like a good first step. I just want to do something and have this stuff available. I'm talking about 20 grams of pins so it's not much.


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## lazersteve (May 16, 2007)

Daniel said:


> good question, its in poor condition so im not exactly sure. It was some kind of tank game part of the title is "ambush"




It's a shame you scrapped a sacred game like Battle Zone (the 2 player head to head version was called Tank Ambush if I remember correctly). One of my all time favorites. I have seven ancient arcade machines I refuse to scrap.

Steve


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## Daniel (May 16, 2007)

Nah, it's a wreck bro...

The extierior of the game is in aweful shape having been stored for years in a barn, on the ground, against the outside wall. It wasn't worth repairing. I have held on to it for longer than I should have for the same nostalgia feelings you describe.

I gotta move it so I can get my cars in and out of the shop.


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## M-G-P (May 17, 2007)

I manly posted this string . to intro myself and get a feel for the group of witch I am now sure I will be talking to alot. as I said I am new to this concept of gold recovery. and I must say by far this is the best site and information that I have come acrosse in regards to recovering scrap gold. the vidios I just watched {steve's I think} are awsome. I will be getting in to the site as much as I can with out getting my self shot<<<LOL>>> by trhe love of my life! also can not let this get in the way of my school work witch is in the Network admin field.

untill next time may your Pans be golden :wink: 

Ross A. aka M-G-P


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