Gold inside chips (black, flatpacks - not CPU)

[patnor1011]

the epoxy has to be incinerated completely. any black material will trap the tiny gold wires.

and that is the key to success. If properly incinerated it will go off with water, well most of it. Here is picture with how my concentrate looks like, in pan and in pyrex dish. Mostly fine gold wires and particles and rest is mostly remains from crushed center piece - that glass like silicone wafer.

 

[goldbug66]

Hi All,

This is my first attemptto ask a question onthis site. What do you do with the metal from inside the chips? What is the later process you talked about?
Can anyone fill me in?

Thank you

Goldbug66

 

[Buzz]

Pat,

I know you mentioned earlier in the thread about maybe using a "Blue Bowl" for panning out the debris.

Did you get round to trying one?
Can anyone see any problems using one?

Those not familiar with Blue Bowls, there are lots of videos on youtube showing them in action.

Regards

 

[Geo]

this is my opinion. i find its not necessary to remove all the ash to recover the gold. if you try to clean all the ash, im afraid you will lose some gold. if you remove at least half the ash and process as you would sweeps, you should get the gold. it may take more time to complete the whole process but at least you will get all the gold.

 

[patnor1011]

Hi All,

This is my first attemptto ask a question onthis site. What do you do with the metal from inside the chips? What is the later process you talked about?
Can anyone fill me in?

Thank you

Goldbug66

I do separate them to magnetic and non magnetic. You can choose process which suit you for processing low grade plated pins. There will be significant amount of Ag and nice amount of Pd too. Choose process which will suit you the best to recover all three of them - Au, Ag, Pd.

 

[patnor1011]

Pat,

I know you mentioned earlier in the thread about maybe using a "Blue Bowl" for panning out the debris.

Did you get round to trying one?
Can anyone see any problems using one?

Those not familiar with Blue Bowls, there are lots of videos on youtube showing them in action.

Regards

Yeah, I still want to try that one but I may as well leave that to some of US members to try to do it. It is fairly expensive to try to import one to Ireland, government is after every package from outside EU to squeeze you for VAT and import tax. :mrgreen:

 

[Marcel]

Pat,

I know you mentioned earlier in the thread about maybe using a "Blue Bowl" for panning out the debris.

Did you get round to trying one?
Can anyone see any problems using one?

Those not familiar with Blue Bowls, there are lots of videos on youtube showing them in action.

Regards

Yeah, I still want to try that one but I may as well leave that to some of US members to try to do it. It is fairly expensive to try to import one to Ireland, government is after every package from outside EU to squeeze you for VAT and import tax. :mrgreen:

You can build your own, it is very easy. I did one myself. Bought a plastic bowl (2€) + a plastic funnel (1€) + a DC water pump(12€), drilled a hole in the middle of the bowl with a holedriller, cut the funnel off at half and glued it to the center just above that hole in the bowl. Then you start the pump and you aare ready to go! DC pump is nice because you cna control the water stream directly with a potentiometer, but you can even use your gardenhose and take the water from there to create a stream.

Marcel

 

[patnor1011]

Perfect.
Now I need to get blue plastic bowl - because if it will be yellow then it has to be yellow bowl then. :mrgreen:

 

[butcher]

I built a green bowl out of metal. but it works anyway.

 

[NoIdea]

Perfect.
Now I need to get blue plastic bowl - because if it will be yellow then it has to be yellow bowl then. :mrgreen:

Are you sure yellow will work, im sure they call it the blue bowl for a reason. 8)

Deano

 

[Drowningbodacius]

thanks fr the guide Patnor101 ive got a few pound of these chips

 

[patnor1011]

Happy hunting. :mrgreen:
I am always feeling like child on Christmas - opening presents and wondering what is inside.
I just love when I remove most of black soot and gold is accumulated on bottom and more and more visible.

 

[nickvc]

I don't know if this will help with catching those fine wires but if you take a cheap plastic sieve and put it into boiling water it causes the mesh to contract, my thoughts are that if you poured the wash water carefully through it it should catch the majority of the wires so long as the material is finely ground.

 

[butcher]

What about trying static electricity separation, it was used to help separate ore, on belts and a plate that held a static charge, maybe you could use an old printer drum for the static charge they have a drum that collects toner, I wonder what it would do with this ash?

Could try it with a balloon rub it on your hair, and see if it collects ash from the fine wires.

 

[Auful]

Pat,

I know you mentioned earlier in the thread about maybe using a "Blue Bowl" for panning out the debris.

Did you get round to trying one?
Can anyone see any problems using one?

Those not familiar with Blue Bowls, there are lots of videos on youtube showing them in action.

Regards

Yeah, I still want to try that one but I may as well leave that to some of US members to try to do it. It is fairly expensive to try to import one to Ireland, government is after every package from outside EU to squeeze you for VAT and import tax. :mrgreen:

You can build your own, it is very easy. I did one myself. Bought a plastic bowl (2€) + a plastic funnel (1€) + a DC water pump(12€), drilled a hole in the middle of the bowl with a holedriller, cut the funnel off at half and glued it to the center just above that hole in the bowl. Then you start the pump and you aare ready to go! DC pump is nice because you cna control the water stream directly with a potentiometer, but you can even use your gardenhose and take the water from there to create a stream.

Marcel

This little concentrator works really well as an alternative to the Blue Bowl. I set it up with a recirculating pump in a concrete mixing tub for my dredge and sluicing concentrates. I suppose it might also work to concentrate the pyrolized chips as well. I have just acquired some chips and after pyrolysis will try this concentrator to see how it does.

 

[Vargas]

....
Long story, but at the end of the day, I know nothing about rare earth how they can be detected, recovered and refined and what´s more, I never heard of any company actually buying rare earth metals. So this is an interesting niche, but probably fruitless...

Marcel

I know of 2 companies in Germany and Switzerland that buy rare earth elements - prices range from $ 50 - $ 2500 per kilo (and also broken Si-Wafers, Indium etc..)
However, there still is the problem of detecting and refining them...
I am still in the reading, learning and collecting phase, but I am set to really get everything out of those PCs.
Ta I know already will be impossible with backyard means, but there are buyers for the caps at least.
PMs, Copper and Aluminium I will manage eventually, but those rare earth elements really interest me to and I take this as a challenge - whether this will be possible or costeffective is another story.
This is a great thread indeed btw!

@Marcel btw. I am in your forum too and will e-mail you shortly about your books

 

[patnor1011]

Do you know how much they do pay for Si wafers?

 

[Vargas]

from what I've found on their websites, anything between $1 - $12 per kg depending on batchsize, degree of purity etc.

please note, that I am still in the phase of research and collecting data.
Sooner or later I shall cotact those buyers and find out the details of how and what.

here are 3 links:
http://www.metallankauf.org/51-silizium.html
http://goldankauf-sondermetallhandel.de/81.html
http://www.gramet.de/rohstoffe-einkauf/rohstoffe-produkt.php?erepaid=10

PS: you're a genius
PPS: why anybody would pay more than $1 is beyond me, cause that is about the world market price for Si

 

[Smack]

Molycorp, Inc. provides Rare Earths and Molybdenum products to companies. The Company's rare earth products comprise of bastnasite, cerium, europium, lanthanum, neodymium, praseodymium, yttrium, and other lanthanides. You may be able to contact them and find out who refines rare earth material. They are the only American based company mining rare earths that I know of.

 

[patnor1011]

With Si wafers from IC there may be some catch, I mean all that small transistors and wiring inside die may contain precious metals. I do have about 200-300g again, I will try to find out what is inside. I will put them in hot AR first to remove any traces from where bonding wires were attached and then I will try to grind them to dust and leach in AR again to find out if there is anything valuable inside.