Non-Chemical Cell phone ribbons

[bswartzwelder]

On eBay, right now, there is a person selling "Cell phone ribbons for scrap gold recovery". I think he says there is 938 grams. In the opinion of the people on the forum, what would be the best method of recovering the PM's from these things? I have some, although a far cry from his amount, but some of the connector ends are gold plated foils and others have actual connectors with gold on the contact points. Would Acid/Chlorox work? Or should you do a heated HCl to get rid of other unwanted stuff? I'm afraid the acids may turn the ribbon part into a gooey mess, but have no way of knowing without experimenting. Answers, anyone? THANKS!

 

[Lino1406]

As you said try on one ribbon

 

[pwalker9641]

I tried it with AR after cutting all the ribbons into small pieces ,including the "button ribbons" (not sure if you were referring to those as well) where all the button contacts are, and seemed to work fairly well. I'm not sure if that is the best way but it did work. The only problem i had was a film of what i assume to be glue, which held the button contacts together, stuck to the side of my beaker. the ribbons themselves did not turn into a goopy mess at the bottom tho.

Hope this helps you.
Phill