Estimation of yields per ton of boards

[4metals]

One thing that impresses me about a lot of our members is how you realize how much gold every little circuit is worth. Usually from experience having processed some material and weighing the result.

I, on the other hand, have worked with larger operators processing 1 to 5 tons a day of computer scrap, which generally yields 300 ish pounds of circuit boards per ton. This material is incinerated or pyrolyzed depending on what part of the world I am in. Then the meltable fraction is smelted and run in a copper cell. Generally speaking, going on averages over many years, I see circuit boards with plug in components yield anywhere between 3 and 8 ounces of Gold per ton of circuits and between 15-20 oz of silver per ton. There is also a small quantity of Platinum and Palladium.

When I get involved setting up an operation I am not there from start to finish of a copper cells life so some of these yields are taken from what the owner tells me and also from assays of copper based bullion after smelting. Usually when I visit a shop I set up after it is operating and producing I try to get information about yields per ton and more times than not, the conversation shifts to where do you want to go for lunch or dinner........in other words they don't want to discuss that stuff!

I was thinking it would be interesting for some of our members to comment on the accuracy of the yields I mentioned above. Or we can just talk about dinner!

 

[Swissgoldrefiner]

Our last batch of computer scrap board, which was very rich, gives:
- 220 gr of Au
- 925 gr of Ag
- 31 gr of Pd
- 219 kg of Cu

Usually, for normal board, it should be around your numbers: 100 gr to 150 gr max... (not 8oz, but could be)

 

[Thomacus]

Our last batch of computer scrap board, which was very rich, gives:
- 220 gr of Au
- 925 gr of Ag
- 31 gr of Pd
- 219 kg of Cu

Usually, for normal board, it should be around your numbers: 100 gr to 150 gr max... (not 8oz, but could be)

was this from one ton ? if so your only what 20 g off

 

[4metals]

Our last batch of computer scrap board, which was very rich, gives:
- 220 gr of Au
- 925 gr of Ag
- 31 gr of Pd
- 219 kg of Cu

Usually, for normal board, it should be around your numbers: 100 gr to 150 gr max... (not 8oz, but could be)

The yields I referred to were from computers and phones and electronics that were stripped of steel, aluminum and fans and cases and just the boards are processed. Very little, if any, cherry picking was involved.

They just have sorting tables with power screw drivers hanging above with every type of driver head they need and the electronics are stripped down and steel goes in one gaylord, fans in another, aluminum in a third, and circuit boards in another. Brain less disassembly and surely little to no selectivity. Word is the good workers can disassemble a ton of computers in a day. From what I'm told the collecting and delivering of all the scrap to the refinery is the challenge.

 

[snoman701]

Now you just peel off the excess plastic and run the whole thing through the shredder.

Taking the computers apart is the easy part. Making it worthwhile is the hard part. If I break a computer down to sell in individual parts, I can make an extra 30% on average, than if I just put that computer on a pallet and let the buyer run it through a shredder. But when you figure that a ton of computers is going to cost you wholesale about $4-600, and that that 30% only equates to you getting paid an extra hundred bucks, and you tear the crap out of your hands, as well as have to source as well as dispose of all the stuff....it's hardly worthwhile.

I won't take apart computers with small sockets. It's just not worth my time.

 

[4metals]

I won't take apart computers with small sockets. It's just not worth my time.

That is why the companies I worked for were in Mexico and Asia where labor is cheap.

One owner told me, in a weak moment after a few Tequila's, he pays his collectors for the copper he recovers which he said averages 300 pounds per ton. (At today’s value that is $1200). But he gets to keep all of the PM’s.

 

[orvi]

Now you just peel off the excess plastic and run the whole thing through the shredder.

Taking the computers apart is the easy part. Making it worthwhile is the hard part. If I break a computer down to sell in individual parts, I can make an extra 30% on average, than if I just put that computer on a pallet and let the buyer run it through a shredder. But when you figure that a ton of computers is going to cost you wholesale about $4-600, and that that 30% only equates to you getting paid an extra hundred bucks, and you tear the crap out of your hands, as well as have to source as well as dispose of all the stuff....it's hardly worthwhile.

I won't take apart computers with small sockets. It's just not worth my time.

Yup. This is very true.

There is little profit to be made by this very tedious and "hand-wrecking" work. On scale we are talking about. This is why most companies outsource this dissassembly process into third world countries, where human labor costs few dollars. Guys shipping the stuff to equator Africa or India/Pakistan/Bangladesh in big containers to be disassembled, depopulated, and depopulated chips and rest of the stuff are processed domestically. It is hard to believe that one can make profit even after paying for the shipping, but guys apparently do.

 

[kurtak]

I was thinking it would be interesting for some of our members to comment on the accuracy of the yields I mentioned above

I have been VERY busy lately which is why I have not been posting much recently here on the forum

That said - when I was doing this for a living the vast majority of the CBs I handled I sold directly to a board buyer like "boardsort" --- this company ------------

https://thinkdynamic.com/

The price they paid for "sorted" CBs was very much the same as boardsort prices (a "little" higher on some boards & a "little" lower on some boards so on "average" about the same per ton) I used them because they were only about a 2 hour drive away & because I was handling 1 - 3 tons of boards per month it was "much" cheaper for me to haul a load to them then to "ship" a load to boardsort

However - that said - there was also a "small" smelter that was also only about 2 1/2 - 3 hours from me - this company -------------

https://www.enviro-chemmn.com/


So on occasion I would take a load of CBs to them - the reason I would take CBs to them for smelting was because at the time I was doing this for a living I was taking in other materials which Dynamic did not buy - material such as X-ray film & SMALL contact points (contact points to small to be worth desoldering from their buss bars) as well as dore metal from my own smelting so when I had 1 - 3 gaylords of X-ray film &/or a barrel full of the SMALL contact points &/or my own dore metal from my own smelting to haul to Enviro-Chem I would include whatever CBs I had at the time in the haul to Enviro-Chem

When I shut my operations down & made my move from Wisconsin to Oregon not all my records came with me in that move however some of them managed to make it in the move

So here are some of the numbers I have in the records that happened to make it with me in my move to Oregon

These numbers are based on assay of the copper dore after smelt & I made notes on the payout receipts of the gold per ton yields of CBs - (I did not make notes of per ton yields on the other metals - so you will have to do the math on the per ton yields of the other metals)

Batch #1 --- 1,632 pounds CBs
gold = 5.217 ozt = 6.39 ozt per ton
silver = 9.184 ozt
palladium = 1.012 ozt
copper = 114.3 pounds

Batch #2 --- 1,040 pounds CBs
gold = 2.537 ozt = 4.874 ozt per ton
silver = 7.807 ozt
palladium = 0.624 ozt
copper = 84.3 pounds

Batch #3 --- 602 pounds CBs
gold = 1.263 ozt = 4.196 ozt pr ton
silver = 4.575 ozt
palladium =0.241 ozt
copper = 43.4 pounds

Batch #4 --- 948 pounds CBs
gold = 2.293 ozt = 4.83 ozt per ton
silver = 6.914 ozt
palladium = 0.491 ozt
copper = 60.9 pounds

Batch #5 --- 415 pounds CBs
gold = 1.986 ozt = 9.54 ozt per ton
silver = 3.157 ozt
palladium = 0.194 ozt
copper =28.8 pounds

As you can see on this last batch yield was much higher (per ton) so this must have been a gaylord of "higher" grade boards such as server boards &/or telecom boards & not a mix of run of the mill "computer" boards

For what it is worth

Kurt

 

[Darkthirty]

I have been VERY busy lately which is why I have not been posting much recently here on the forum

That said - when I was doing this for a living the vast majority of the CBs I handled I sold directly to a board buyer like "boardsort" --- this company ------------

https://thinkdynamic.com/

The price they paid for "sorted" CBs was very much the same as boardsort prices (a "little" higher on some boards & a "little" lower on some boards so on "average" about the same per ton) I used them because they were only about a 2 hour drive away & because I was handling 1 - 3 tons of boards per month it was "much" cheaper for me to haul a load to them then to "ship" a load to boardsort

However - that said - there was also a "small" smelter that was also only about 2 1/2 - 3 hours from me - this company -------------

https://www.enviro-chemmn.com/


So on occasion I would take a load of CBs to them - the reason I would take CBs to them for smelting was because at the time I was doing this for a living I was taking in other materials which Dynamic did not buy - material such as X-ray film & SMALL contact points (contact points to small to be worth desoldering from their buss bars) as well as dore metal from my own smelting so when I had 1 - 3 gaylords of X-ray film &/or a barrel full of the SMALL contact points &/or my own dore metal from my own smelting to haul to Enviro-Chem I would include whatever CBs I had at the time in the haul to Enviro-Chem

When I shut my operations down & made my move from Wisconsin to Oregon not all my records came with me in that move however some of them managed to make it in the move

So here are some of the numbers I have in the records that happened to make it with me in my move to Oregon

These numbers are based on assay of the copper dore after smelt & I made notes on the payout receipts of the gold per ton yields of CBs - (I did not make notes of per ton yields on the other metals - so you will have to do the math on the per ton yields of the other metals)

Batch #1 --- 1,632 pounds CBs
gold = 5.217 ozt = 6.39 ozt per ton
silver = 9.184 ozt
palladium = 1.012 ozt
copper = 114.3 pounds

Batch #2 --- 1,040 pounds CBs
gold = 2.537 ozt = 4.874 ozt per ton
silver = 7.807 ozt
palladium = 0.624 ozt
copper = 84.3 pounds

Batch #3 --- 602 pounds CBs
gold = 1.263 ozt = 4.196 ozt pr ton
silver = 4.575 ozt
palladium =0.241 ozt
copper = 43.4 pounds

Batch #4 --- 948 pounds CBs
gold = 2.293 ozt = 4.83 ozt per ton
silver = 6.914 ozt
palladium = 0.491 ozt
copper = 60.9 pounds

Batch #5 --- 415 pounds CBs
gold = 1.986 ozt = 9.54 ozt per ton
silver = 3.157 ozt
palladium = 0.194 ozt
copper =28.8 pounds

As you can see on this last batch yield was much higher (per ton) so this must have been a gaylord of "higher" grade boards such as server boards &/or telecom boards & not a mix of run of the mill "computer" boards

For what it is worth

Kurt

Do you have an idea of what year these yields are from?

 

[anachronism]

Yields depend enormously upon the type of board and generation of board. Whether it be a PC board, laptop board, server board or telecommunication board. The era of manufacture and generation of processors used on these boards also has a large impact. It's extremely hard to determine the results in advance from a blend of all the above types even though you would be accurate in suggesting that these have a higher content than many consumer type boards on the market.

One point of interest is that newer generation PC boards have hardly any gold at all.

Copper percentages range from 15% on PC boards through to 38% on some of the higher grade telecoms backplanes.

 

[kurtak]

Do you have an idea of what year these yields are from?

one of the loads is dated 12/03/2012

the rest of the loads were all done in 2013

Kurt

 

[offtrailhiker]

I have been VERY busy lately which is why I have not been posting much recently here on the forum

That said - when I was doing this for a living the vast majority of the CBs I handled I sold directly to a board buyer like "boardsort" --- this company ------------

https://thinkdynamic.com/

The price they paid for "sorted" CBs was very much the same as boardsort prices (a "little" higher on some boards & a "little" lower on some boards so on "average" about the same per ton) I used them because they were only about a 2 hour drive away & because I was handling 1 - 3 tons of boards per month it was "much" cheaper for me to haul a load to them then to "ship" a load to boardsort

However - that said - there was also a "small" smelter that was also only about 2 1/2 - 3 hours from me - this company -------------

https://www.enviro-chemmn.com/


So on occasion I would take a load of CBs to them - the reason I would take CBs to them for smelting was because at the time I was doing this for a living I was taking in other materials which Dynamic did not buy - material such as X-ray film & SMALL contact points (contact points to small to be worth desoldering from their buss bars) as well as dore metal from my own smelting so when I had 1 - 3 gaylords of X-ray film &/or a barrel full of the SMALL contact points &/or my own dore metal from my own smelting to haul to Enviro-Chem I would include whatever CBs I had at the time in the haul to Enviro-Chem

When I shut my operations down & made my move from Wisconsin to Oregon not all my records came with me in that move however some of them managed to make it in the move

So here are some of the numbers I have in the records that happened to make it with me in my move to Oregon

These numbers are based on assay of the copper dore after smelt & I made notes on the payout receipts of the gold per ton yields of CBs - (I did not make notes of per ton yields on the other metals - so you will have to do the math on the per ton yields of the other metals)

Batch #1 --- 1,632 pounds CBs
gold = 5.217 ozt = 6.39 ozt per ton
silver = 9.184 ozt
palladium = 1.012 ozt
copper = 114.3 pounds

Batch #2 --- 1,040 pounds CBs
gold = 2.537 ozt = 4.874 ozt per ton
silver = 7.807 ozt
palladium = 0.624 ozt
copper = 84.3 pounds

Batch #3 --- 602 pounds CBs
gold = 1.263 ozt = 4.196 ozt pr ton
silver = 4.575 ozt
palladium =0.241 ozt
copper = 43.4 pounds

Batch #4 --- 948 pounds CBs
gold = 2.293 ozt = 4.83 ozt per ton
silver = 6.914 ozt
palladium = 0.491 ozt
copper = 60.9 pounds

Batch #5 --- 415 pounds CBs
gold = 1.986 ozt = 9.54 ozt per ton
silver = 3.157 ozt
palladium = 0.194 ozt
copper =28.8 pounds

As you can see on this last batch yield was much higher (per ton) so this must have been a gaylord of "higher" grade boards such as server boards &/or telecom boards & not a mix of run of the mill "computer" boards

For what it is worth

Kurt

What impresses me here is the Cu yields relative to 15% Cu yield 4metals has reported. I've done little CB processing since experience has shown the by-products are quite toxic. Still, base metals are much easier to recover, so estimating CB value based on Cu has been my go-to lately. Note 4metals mentioned above that a processor managed to pay his labor from the Cu recovery! Anyway, to what do you attribute the yield disparity?

 

[Yggdrasil]

What impresses me here is the Cu yields relative to 15% Cu yield 4metals has reported. I've done little CB processing since experience has shown the by-products are quite toxic. Still, base metals are much easier to recover, so estimating CB value based on Cu has been my go-to lately. Note 4metals mentioned above that a processor managed to pay his labor from the Cu recovery! Anyway, to what do you attribute the yield disparity?

My guess would be age and CB quality.

 

[kurtak]

Word is the good workers can disassemble a ton of computers in a day.

That sounds about right (when talking about actual computer towers) once you get "good" at tearing towers down you should be able to tear down right close to a ton in an 8 hour day

On average it takes "about" 65 - 70 towers to make up a ton

When I was doing this for a living both the guy I hired & I could (each) tear down right close to a ton of towers in a day

When I was doing this for a living I had 3 scrap yards I was buying "whole" electronic scrap from by the ton

on average I would pick up 5 - 7 tons per month from "each" scrap yard - then every once in awhile I would get a load from one or two of them that was 10 tons - 15 tons - even 20 tons --- I think the biggest load I ever got was like 25 or 30 tons

When I got some of those bigger loads I would hire another guy - he could only tear down about 3/4 ton in a day

Bottom line here is that in order to make money (as in make a "living") at this you need to process this stuff in HIGH volume

Kurt

 

[Zebidiah Habaneros]

That sounds about right (when talking about actual computer towers) once you get "good" at tearing towers down you should be able to tear down right close to a ton in an 8 hour day

On average it takes "about" 65 - 70 towers to make up a ton

When I was doing this for a living both the guy I hired & I could (each) tear down right close to a ton of towers in a day

When I was doing this for a living I had 3 scrap yards I was buying "whole" electronic scrap from by the ton

on average I would pick up 5 - 7 tons per month from "each" scrap yard - then every once in awhile I would get a load from one or two of them that was 10 tons - 15 tons - even 20 tons --- I think the biggest load I ever got was like 25 or 30 tons

When I got some of those bigger loads I would hire another guy - he could only tear down about 3/4 ton in a day

Bottom line here is that in order to make money (as in make a "living") at this you need to process this stuff in HIGH volume

Kurt

Just the thought of the growth and work load you experience in your business made the shackles on my spine rise....eeee-gadsssss

 

[snoman701]

Bottom line here is that in order to make money (as in make a "living") at this you need to process this stuff in HIGH volume

It is for sure work!

I used to buy "take apart" and take it to my father in law who was retired and on a fixed income. He wasn't lazy, but was awful at managing his money. I figured out that if I kept him flooded in take apart, he had enough money to keep his bills paid. He would tear it down and kept all the base metals. The stuff I was getting had a lot of aluminum and copper. He gave me the circuit boards back.

I never kept track of whether or not I made money...but I know that it wasn't until he had severe complications following a knee replacement that he was forced to slow down...then he was diagnosed with alzheimers. It was there before, my wife and I saw it, but the work and the sense of accomplishment kept it at bay.

 

[4metals]

Bottom line here is that in order to make money (as in make a "living") at this you need to process this stuff in HIGH volume

For the hobby refiner looking to build up his or her personal gold reserves, processing disassembled computers on a small bucket scale using techniques learned here, I would imagine if the source of the scrap computers is available for little or no money, one could realize 10 ounces of refined gold at the end of a year with a modest hobby sized operation.

Again I have only done this on a larger scale using commercial methods but the numbers seem to hold up. I'd like to hear from some hobby refiners who do this for fun and enjoy building their own gold reserves about their experiences.

 

[snoman701]

That's a significant amount of computers. Given the amount of gold that you actually get in modern computers. I'm taking in approximately 90% small socket motherboards. They sell to the refinery at 1.85/lb. Each one weighs around a pound and a half. Assuming a gold content that is 2x the purchase price, which is pretty generous, you are looking at needing 400 computers per ounce. My gaylords have about 650 lbs of boards in them.

 

[4metals]

I recently got rid of about 6 old computers which I never trashed before. They were all at least 10 years old. From what I saw in Mexico a lot of the computers were older. Is that not true here now as well?

 

[Thomacus]

Hi, it is all because of this form I have Known what to collect throughout the years I've been collecting for over 10 years now I work for an ISP company. some of the radio we used 10 years ago. they cost anywhere from $10-30,000 there're all obsolete now, but they got some good stuff in them I'm not set up to do any refining yet, but I will, and I want to do it right with a hood and a scrubber setup that I got from this form. I would have to say I have over 4000 pounds of boards as of right now I don't collect any consumer electronics other than I'll take the mem and CPU out of it I look back at my pictures on this form when I first started and all they say is I hope you have more .well I have a lot more now to the point where I am running out of room not a bad thing to have all for free I would like to thank you all I appreciate all the information and knowledge you all have put into this and I will take it one step at a time with all safety procedures in place when I do start my refining
Thank you Thomacus