Ceramic chips. Opinion needed

[tek4g63]

I have been collecting these chips for a long time. I mostly get my scrap from friends, family and co-workers, so it is slow going and they all are about tapped dry. So what I was hoping to find out is, would I be able to get any measureable gold from this small of a lot? I know that it would just be an educated guess from you all, but you guys are the pros. I'm also eager to try the poor mans AR process. I'm just afraid that if the amount of gold is too low that I will have a very difficult time recovering it.

If secussfull I plan on taking the gold powder from this batch and adding it to my stock pile of foils that I have been recovering using the AP method. Then use the HCL/CL process to refine it all at once.

All of the chips pictured are ceramic, but not all of them have gold leads. I also have another one of the medium square motorola chips and 2 surface mount processers(purple ceramic with gold lettering) that didn't make it into the picture.

I'm not looking for some magical data that tells me exactly how much gold there is in these. I know better than that. I'm just looking for opinions. Thank you for taking the time to read this!

 

[Acid_Bath76]

without a closer look, it's gonna be hard to tell. It's all here on the site though. With that amount you have posted, I would wait until you have more. You can do what you want, but I wouldn't mix materials either. CPU's with CPU's.

 

[gold4mike]

I would expect a yield of between 0.3 grams and 0.5 grams for that lot of material, depending upon your methods.

If you're wanting the experience, go for it.

If you want a profit above your cost of chemicals and other supplies, it would probably be better to keep accumulating more material.

 

[tek4g63]

Thank you for your quick replies.

I'm just doing this as a hobby, proffit is not my main goal. Sounds like I would be better off waiting till I have more though. It took me over a year to collect even this small lot. I don't have the connections that a lot of you do, wish I did though.

Thank you again.

 

[Acid_Bath76]

There are other sources of material that might be worth looking into if you're having a hard time gathering computer scrap. If you live in an apartment complex, talk to the handyman. The guy around here is always bringing by stuff. A lot of this stuff is usually being slated for the dump, so find a way to somehow wedge yourself in the pipeline. When I first looked into this, I got to know a small local computer repair shop. He gave me a box of broken material. I brought lunch by one day between classes, and we've been friends since. Then again, if you're not interested in making a profit... there's always ebay. The cost of material is somewhat inflated, but you can get what you want.

 

[tek4g63]

Thank you for the tips. I'm fortunate enough to livein a home out in the country. The down side of that is I don't have neighabors to ask for scrap. The up side is, I have all the space I need to refine out doors, away from other people.

I will probably ask at my local junk yard th next time I drop a load of copper off. They don't deal in scraping elecrtonics, but ocasionaly people dump some off there to avoid the fee at the dump.

I did say that profit was not my main goal, but going broke isn't a goal either. :lol: I have a hard enough time convincing my wife to let me spend a few bucks on chemicals. Thanks again!

*So sorry for all the spelling errors that I'm sure all my posts have. Spelling was never my strong suit and I can't figgure out how to get this phone to spell check*