Gold tipped ribbon cables and gold on mylars

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1mysurveymail

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 11, 2013
Messages
50
Hello. Has anyone figured out an easy way to recover the gold from computer and monitor cables/mylars lije this?
20210730_224704(1)-1.jpg

I was thinking AP would take a long time because the boards from monitors take a lot longer in AP than RAM fingers and pins.

Maybe HCl + Bleach?
 
Thanks y'all. I just let the ribbon shown in the photo soak in HCl + bleach for 20 minutes...and it removed the "bulk" of the gold. Just an experiment in parallel before dissolving some foils. So that worked. I expect the yield to be extraordinarily low, but it was just testing a theory. Next time, before I run some foils through I will do a larger batch of those Au tipped ribbons.

Just as a corollary, since the bulk of these ribbons came from monitors, I would note that the boards in monitors to which these ribbons attach (do have Au fingers), but take way too long in AP (even with a bubbler and temps in the high 80's). So I will get out my knife edged "paper cutter" and trim them like I do RAM chips, and dunk them in HCl + bleach. Hopefully this will expedite the recovery.

Hope this helps some E-miner.

Cheers
 
Your dissolved gold will cement out on copper trace ends underneath the coating if you don't cut the ends off and digest all copper completely. You will loose gold that way.
 
Your dissolved gold will cement out on copper trace ends underneath the coating if you don't cut the ends off and digest all copper completely. You will loose gold that way.
Hi, I put some gold contacts from ribbons in 55 percent HCL, about 2 liters and 500ml H202, it has been 20 days and I see few finger dissolved and some very small flakes floating. Most of contacts did not come loose. What should I do? Very few warm days
 
Hi, I put some gold contacts from ribbons in 55 percent HCL, about 2 liters and 500ml H202, it has been 20 days and I see few finger dissolved and some very small flakes floating. Most of contacts did not come loose. What should I do? Very few warm days
If you used a cap or two with H2O2 and air bubbling in stead. It would be cheaper and it creates turbulence that may dislodge the fouls. It may also be faster.
To loosen the foils you may need to use a water spray bottle.
 
If you used a cap or two with H2O2 and air bubbling in stead. It would be cheaper and it creates turbulence that may dislodge the fouls. It may also be faster.
To loosen the foils you may need to use a water spray bottle.
I'm lucky enough to have a lab-grade hot plate. I just let my beaker of fingers in HCl sit there just at the boiling point for hours at a time, then cool, then reheat, then cool. Over and over. This seems to work great for getting the foils to fall off. It alters the solubility of various compounds over and over, facilitating the removal of the unreactive gold from the base metal substrate.

It's still a slow process, but a very thorough one. I'm almost done with a 'big' batch of a pound of fingers. Also, adding just a little bit of copper chloride acid soln from previous batches right at the beginning jumpstarts the process. The dilute copper chloride helps the acid begin to attack the base metal. This has to do with distortions in the electron arrangement in the ionic geometry of copper(II) chloride... but it's really complicated. One d-electron is shoved out of its assumed position and gains more capacity for redox reactions. It basically means the compound is a mild oxidant. Also, it makes the compound somewhat paramagnetic, and thus it can induce self-electrolysis in the correct conditions in a self-contained, self-generating electrical circuit. A few coils of wire around an iron and copper electrodes connected by said wire in a copper chloride solution with very rapidly reduce all the copper in the solution, and not just on the iron! The copper electrode too will grow very elaborate crystals.
 
Hi, I put some gold contacts from ribbons in 55 percent HCL, about 2 liters and 500ml H202, it has been 20 days and I see few finger dissolved and some very small flakes floating. Most of contacts did not come loose. What should I do? Very few warm days
How much ribbons did you put in? With 2 L HCl I'm guessing a lot. Was this your first attempt at AP?
As Yggdrasil suggested, did you use an air bubbler?
@Alondro, very interesting, but way over most people's head imo.
I like you in depth analysis and chemical knowledge. But in the end chemistry is all give or take electrons and mix the ions up to change an element or compound.
Everything is chemistry. And electric. Blew my mind realizing that years ago.

My AP is by now a mix of cupric and ferric chlorides and more dissolved metals in there making it a 'dissolve it all' soup, hungry for more metal salts.
The foils rinse to the bottom bucket in time as i lift and shake the top perforated bucket every other week or so.
i just reuse the AP and add a bit of HCl when any CuCl1 is still forming at the end of a batch.
Adding a bit of CuCl2 to fresh HCl for each new batch is basically starting over. You need a lot of CuCl2 to have a fast digestion.
And with fast digestion, you also need fast conversion from CuCl1 to CuCl2 with oxygen. It's a fine balance. And still takes time.
To heat a beaker of AP for days at boiling point is just another cut on your profits imo.

Martijn.
 
I had a few kilos of ribbons ends, I covered them with HCL and after a few days seeing little progress I added the H2O2. I am trying to understand chemistry and also realized how fascinating is but I am sorry now for these days in school where I should have paid attention to my chemistry teacher instead of making doodles. I started to like chemistry but do not understand it very well, something does not click yet there. I understand it in theory but can't visualize it so it is not clear to me yet
 
How many pounds will you be running per batch?
I have put in about 5 or 6 pounds, I thought I can always change it to AR later by adding some nitric but if the foils come of I can reuse the solution. Now because I have added some H2O2 not sure how to deal with it. It has been 21 days now
 
Ok. I guess this is your first batch.
Take one or a couple ribbons and put them in AP with an air bubbler, without H202, and watch and learn.
Once that works, and you know how to rinse, decant, filter, wash, etc. Then scale up a bit and get more experience. Gold will not only be as clean big foils in there. You will have some powder or tiny flakes.

Once your process and you are tuned in, go for full batches.
Keep it small to observe better and learn.

Have you read this thread:?
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/acid-peroxide-process-information-thread-q-as.12914/H2O2 with HCl can dissolve gold. Dissolved gold will cement out on base metals.
Do not make AR from dirty HCl. (AP)
Trash in trash out.
Take you time to learn and ask.
 
Ok. I guess this is your first batch.
Take one or a couple ribbons and put them in AP with an air bubbler, without H202, and watch and learn.
Once that works, and you know how to rinse, decant, filter, wash, etc. Then scale up a bit and get more experience. Gold will not only be as clean big foils in there. You will have some powder or tiny flakes.

Once your process and you are tuned in, go for full batches.
Keep it small to observe better and learn.

Have you read this thread:?
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/acid-peroxide-process-information-thread-q-as.12914/H2O2 with HCl can dissolve gold. Dissolved gold will cement out on base metals.
Do not make AR from dirty HCl. (AP)
Trash in trash out.
Take you time to learn and ask.
thank you, yes this is my first try, I heard that H202 can dissolve gold, even if it is 3 percent concentration? What can I do now to prevent gold to cement on base metals?
 
Trim everything down to just the gold plating. I process these in with all my plated escrap, fingers, boards, etc. in AP. Then put the clean, well washed flakes in Hcl/bleach.

And as been said, don't expect much, these kinds of things have extremely thing plating. I mean microscopely thin. As in a few atoms thin.
 
No need to prevent that. Let it cement out and collect with the foils.
Prevent the dissolving of more gold by not adding peroxide anymore.
After I filter the foils out could I try to precipitate any dissolved gold in it by SMB?
 
thank you, yes this is my first try, I heard that H202 can dissolve gold, even if it is 3 percent concentration? What can I do now to prevent gold to cement on base metals?
"H2O2 with HCl can dissolve gold. Dissolved gold will cement out on base metals." This means that if gold dissolves in HCL Peroxide solution the copper in the solution will precipitate the gold back out of the solution?
 
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