LCD controller and inverter boards--thoughts?

Hello everyone,

I've been in the ITAD industry for about 5 years. ITAD is IT Asset Disposition. Basically, these companies help large corporations retire of outdated or surplus computer equipment. We wipe the hard drives of data, resell, or recycle equipment.

While I have always sold circuit boards, crushed hard drives, just as whole units, I am starting to realize the vlaue of recovering precious metals. Especially with gold headed upwards of $2,000 per oz in the close future, silver $100+, etc.

Currently, we have about 4,000 LCD tv displays and below are some controller boards and inverter boards pulled from the TVs. We have thousands and thousands of these cards you see below. The more square, small board in the upper left has double plating on the ends, so thats good. But I'm looking for trained eyes....

Do you professionals see value in these boards in terms of precious metals?

I look forward to participating here often. Thanks for your help

--


[img:800:600]http://lh4.ggpht.com/misesrothbard/SNZgSx8KFII/AAAAAAAAANE/Uk55n2ag0yk/s800/IMG_1331.jpg[/img]

[img:800:600]http://lh6.ggpht.com/misesrothbard/SNZgU6ZYvjI/AAAAAAAAANM/lL9q3ahna4s/s800/IMG_1332.jpg[/img]

[img:800:600]http://lh6.ggpht.com/misesrothbard/SNZgWpYNRFI/AAAAAAAAANU/Q856gL8Yq0o/s800/IMG_1333.jpg[/img]

[img:800:600]http://lh6.ggpht.com/misesrothbard/SNZgYQAuI5I/AAAAAAAAANc/6OVijI31FJE/s800/IMG_1334.jpg[/img]

[img:800:600]http://lh5.ggpht.com/misesrothbard/SNZgaFKSsYI/AAAAAAAAANk/skdNwlrCKl8/s800/IMG_1335.jpg[/img]

[img:800:600]http://lh4.ggpht.com/misesrothbard/SNZgeCXp2-I/AAAAAAAAAN0/o90ib_bffaA/s800/IMG_1337.jpg[/img]

[img:800:600]http://lh5.ggpht.com/misesrothbard/SNZggPp6g7I/AAAAAAAAAN8/i3O5q3p9Fl4/s800/IMG_1338.jpg[/img]


[img:800:600]http://lh4.ggpht.com/misesrothbard/SNZgh2-SXHI/AAAAAAAAAOE/jHjrdKFZ7HU/s800/IMG_1339.jpg[/img]

[img:800:600]http://lh3.ggpht.com/misesrothbard/SNZgj-ERrQI/AAAAAAAAAOM/xsaHjjauh3A/s800/IMG_1340.jpg[/img]

[img:800:600]http://lh5.ggpht.com/misesrothbard/SNZglpVU63I/AAAAAAAAAOU/93Ex-HpfG-E/s800/IMG_1341.jpg[/img]

[img:800:600]http://lh4.ggpht.com/misesrothbard/SNZgntyHLKI/AAAAAAAAAOc/vD0XJmzlmMM/s800/IMG_1342.jpg[/img]

[img:800:600]http://lh3.ggpht.com/misesrothbard/SNZgqwGxLyI/AAAAAAAAAOw/-hbqWwHryt8/s800/IMG_1344.jpg[/img]

I should mention that the LCD tvs are completely trashed and probably do not have any high residual value.

Mises,

Welcome to the forum.

It's hard to judge the boards quality or yields from a few photos. I would recommend a few tests to better determine what you are actually dealing with.

A quick scratch under the solder mask on the board with the gold corners will tell you if the entire board is gold plated or just the exposed lands. It's likely just the pads, but you never know.

The next step would be to determine the thickness of the gold plating. Mix up a 20-30 mL of AP and scrub one of the boards for a few minutes using an old toothbrush. If the plating removes easily after a 10 minute soak then, scrubbing, the plating is very thin and likely not worth the effort processing unless you send off large quantities to a re cycler who processes boards. Even then the gold yields will be quite low. If the plating comes off in a thin foil, then it's a much better sign.

The solder likely contains silver and any surface mounted capacitors (monolithics) may contain palladium.

Obliviously the traces and coils contain copper.

Your best bet for these will likely be to find a refiner who deals with circuit boards and get them to assay a portion of the lot for some concrete yield data.

Steve

Steve

Thank you for your response. Not only do we have the LCD panels with those boards, but we also have a 220,000 sq ft warehouse full of old computer equipment. With this volume, I think i halfway serious gold recovery process is justified. This is going to be a challange to get up and running....

I think an intelligent sorting, organization, and evaluation of the material is sorely needed, followed up by a scheme for having the material sold or refined. As far as a profitable gold recovery setup is concerned, I doubt if you have enough material to justify the cost, unless you have very special material. Can you provide photos?

Thanks for the input. We do have a process for tearing apart computers and seperating out the different parts by commodity type.

Let me clarify volume; we have semi loads of computer equipment coming in every single day. These LCD tvs are an anomoly. We mostly receive computers, laptops, and monitors from large corporations. Also, tons of printers and misc. equipment.

That' sounds like a real good place to work to pick up some Pentium Pros and 486's chips. to bring home to refine.