# Question about refiners



## powerbuy (Dec 14, 2009)

This may not be the correct category for this question, but i wasn't sure exactly where to post....

Has anyone had any experience with Windfield Alloy for refining of large amounts of PC scrap? I currently have about 4,000 pounds of clean (steel and ferrous removed) PC boards, including motherboards, miscellaneous cards, and backplanes. I also considered saving up 1,000 or so more pounds and using Specialty Metals.

Any suggestions or advice? I am a little nervous on trusting refineries, but I have way to much to even consider processing myself. Also, do these refineries have the option to return recognized bullion as payment? (silver or gold eagles, engelhard or similar bars?)

Just looking for a little advice from anyone with experience!

Thank you,
Dylan LeFevre


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## EDI Refining (Dec 14, 2009)

I think your better off selling the boards "as is"
On a 5000 lb lot, specialty metals terms are $3750 for net weight processing fee & $350 lot fee, plus the risk they cheat on assay.


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## netseeker (Dec 14, 2009)

You may also want to think about using ECS Refining located in Terrell, TX just east of Dallas. It's a lot closer then Windfield Alloy is and they have a large operation there. I've only sold circuit board scrap there so far - I wanted to check out the operation - but you have enough scrap to make refining a good option so see what kind of terms they offer for refining and then make the decision. They have a large precious metals refinery on site so you could probably arrange a tour of the place. This is what I'm planning to do myself very soon since I also want to have some refining done. They have a very detailed web site so you can find info there too.

Robert


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## Juan Manuel Arcos Frank (Dec 15, 2009)

Dylan:

Gold in PC is in the microprocessor, pins and fingers...the rest do not have any gold.

Talking about microprocessors you need 30 of them just to get some grams of gold so you need 30 PC.If you want to get into the bussines just buy microprocessors,pins and fingers except you get the PC for free.

Keyboards have some silver inside them but you need 2000 to get 1 kilogram of silver (depending on model,of course).

Regards

Manuel


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## powerbuy (Dec 15, 2009)

Thank you for the advice.... I will be looking into the refinery in Texas to see what their process is. If possible I would love to actually watch the process, even if i had to stay a few days. 

As to the last post, I do realize that most of the gold is in the CPUs and fingers, but I have to respectfully disagree that all gold is in these items. The backplanes and boards that I have are mostly from military sources (old military servers and systems). I also have quite a few 80s and 90s motherboards and scrap (early pentium and 386 boards), as well as Cisco mainframe backplanes. There is visible gold plating ALL OVER the scrap, as well as numerous ICs and onboard chips, most of which if I understand correctly contain gold traces. I have also clipped and included just the very end parts of gold plated cable connectors, including USB, serial, and DVI scrap cable ends. I estimate that most of what I have would be considered high grade scrap, with a little mid-grade mixed in. I will try to upload pictures of the full tri-walls in the next couple of days.

I also have the mylars from literally thousands of keyboards (figured out a method for very easy removal with two guys working.... can process 2-3 keyboards a minute). The mylars completely fill several 40-gallon barrels and have a significant accumulated weight. I would like to be able to process these for silver at the same time as the boards.... I wonder if refiners will take them?

My business is a four-man operation and I make my profits from parting out systems and testing and selling working replacement parts online. The recycling scrap is just extra, but could be a significant payday eventually. 

Thank you everyone for your input. If anyone has any positive (or negative) experience with any other refiners, please let me know. I would like to have several options to compare. Thank you!!

Thank you,
Dylan LeFevre


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## butcher (Dec 16, 2009)

you are both right about where the gold is,and I think if manuel seen your material he can give you some great advice of how to get your values, he is one of our right-on answer men, check out some of his great posts, manuel was talking about computer boards, and giving advice to where to get the bulk of the value's easily. as most hobby refiners do not deal in volume.and can waste time and money easily chasing them, 
electronic circuit boards can have many valueble metals, that a hobbyiest cannot reclaim cost effectively, so we normally go after the high value and let the big guy get the rest, as they have the means to do so.
sounds like you have some good material, are you planning on recovery yourself, or are you sorting and selling? 
either way on this forum if you read through it you will find so much information it can make your headspin, and you will surely profit from studying what has been written,
there is only one gold refining forum, and these guys are the cats meow when you are talking about valuble metal recovery.


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## powerbuy (Dec 16, 2009)

I definitely appreciate everyone's response. I have been a "lurker" on this forum for the last couple of years and have gleaned much information. In case my last post seemed disrespectful I apologize, and I thank Manuel for his input. I definitely still consider myself a "newbie", and value all input from more experienced writers in this forum.Most of what I know has been gleaned over the last couple years by reading almost every post in this forum (hours of reading.... I have a hunger for knowledge! LOL)

I definitely do not have the time to process myself, although eventually I would love to. I spend almost every day parting items out for online resale, and the entire process including overseeing hundreds of shipments a week drains most available time. I am looking really only to recover as much PMs as possible from the 2+ tons of scrap that I currently have in my facility. I have heard good things about Specialty metals on this forum in the past, and I will soon give ECS refining in Texas a call, thanks to the advice of Robert above.

Currently I DO clip fingers and pull CPUs whenever I can, but I don't have the time to harvest pins from the multitude of scrap boards that I have. I used to throw all of this stuff away several years ago before I was tipped off and found this forum!

Thank you for all input and I will try to post photos soon!

Thank you,
Dylan LeFevre


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## Juan Manuel Arcos Frank (Dec 16, 2009)

Dylan:

In this Forum there are not "lurkers"...I am glad that you have already posted a post...keep going!!!!!...this is exactly what this Forum is for.

Have a nice day.

Manuel


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## ILikeBoats (Dec 16, 2009)

I talked to a guy at Windfield today, his prices seemed low, not sure if he was lowballing me, feeling me out, or just didn't want to commit without seeing some pictures of what I had. He offered e.g. $4/lb for Pentium Pros (when we know you can get $8-10 or more apiece for them easily), for instance; and gave a wide range of $1.50 to $2 per lb for motherboards . I would suggest proceeding with caution, though I admit I was a little non-committal myself.

In contrast the guy I talked to at ECS seemed a little "sales-y", maybe not a lot of in-depth knowledge but he said that $2.40 or so per lb. for motherboards would probably be doable, though we didn't discuss freight issues in any detail.


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## Anonymous (Jan 9, 2010)

Hello .
When I lived in Mi.I took all my computer scrap to 
S I P I Metals in Chicago Ill.

That was about 5 years ago and was very happy with the results each time.

Thanks 
Poorman


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## dick b (Jan 9, 2010)

Poorman:

Can you pm me a more detailed contact information about SIPI Metals.
Name, Address and Phone maybe?

That would be close for me.

Thanks in advance.

dickb


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## goldsilverpro (Jan 10, 2010)

http://www.yellowpages.com/


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## dick b (Jan 10, 2010)

GSP:

I tried the link you posted but found a blank page for Athens IL down by Springfield, IL I added SIPI Metals to it and it returned no match.
Thanks for helping.
dickb


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## goldsilverpro (Jan 10, 2010)

http://www.sipimetals.com/contactus/


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## dick b (Jan 10, 2010)

GPS:

Thanks a lot. I have it now and its a lot closer to me than St Louis.
I saved a note in my file of their website. 

dickb


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