Yeah, I am a hobbiest, but so are you
That is quite the accusation considering you have been a member of this forum for a whooping 4 days & therefore have no real clue who I am (though you may have been lurking for awhile) - but even then you clearly have not read much of anything I have posted over the last 13 years I have been a member of this forum (4043 posts under my current user name & a few hundred more under my old user name)
So let me clue you in - I spent a couple years before finding this forum as a hobby/learning (refining/recovery) thing - so been at this for about 15 years --- & I also spent "a number" of years in Northern California involved in both hard rock mining & placer mining before getting into the refining part of this
Of that 15 years (refining/recovery - so not including the mining) I spent "about"
10 years doing this for a living - full time - I am now retired from that
I used to handle "on average" 2 - 3 tons of CBs per month & on occasion as much as 5 tons - the vast majority of "run of the mill" consumer boards I just sold off to LARGE board buyers - or -
sent them in to a smelter that was only a couple hours from where I lived - BUT - I also had an actual "lab" set up for processing (recovering/refining) the VERY HIGH grade stuff I took in (pics included as an "example" of the kind of VERY HIGH grade I "processed") along with my "small smelting operation
So hardly just a hobby !!!
Yeah, I am a hobbiest, but so are you as well as 99.99% here.
Per the bold print (above quote) it may be true that the VAST majority of our something like 50,000 members are hobby refiners - BUT - we also have &/or had "a good MANY " members that own & or run from small to VERY LARGE world class refineries - you know - actual businesses !!!
Just a FEW examples ---------
Lou - he currently runs 3 VERY LARGE "world class" refineries (it may even be 4 refineries) there is no one that knows more about PGMs then Lou
4metals - he has spent his entire life setting up LARGE refineries &/or consulting for LARGE refineries
"all over the world" - he is now retired from spending a life time at this
nickvc - has spent most if not all of life ether running &/or owning small/large scale refineries
GSP - spent his life owning &/or running large scale refineries - he is now passed away
Harold_V - spent his life owning his own large scale refinery
Deano - spent his life as a lead refiner for VERY LARGE mines in Australia
Jon - like me (only on a MUCH larger scale) deals (currently) mainly in CBs - he sends CBs to Mitsubishi in Japan for smelting -
by the 40 ton shipping container full - like me he also has his own lab for processing the VERY HIGH grade stuff he takes in
And that is just a
FEW of such members that we have &/or have had on this forum
As well - as a result of the information provided on/by this forum we have probably seen (plus/minus) 100 small to large scale refineries developed - in other words actual refining businesses started up through this forum
So I recommend (& again -
not trying to be rude here) that as a new member - you take some time to learn & figure out who & what this form is really about - before you go opening you mouth talking
"at" us as if we are nothing but a bunch of back yard you tube hobby hack refiners --- & speaking of hobby refiners - some of our hobby refiners
are every bit as good at refining as those of us that do &/or did it for a living
Kurt