How much gold do you think could be extracted from these?

[dlb92]

These are gold plated transistor caps used in the first minute man missile ~1960. This little bag weighs between 1.5 and 2 pounds (I dont have an accurate scale at the moment).

The small circles are so thin I cut one in half and you cannot see what the core metal is but it is not easily flexible.

One company in california said he had no idea if they were worth anything and would melt them for free and pay me if they found anything.

Another company rated A+ with BBB said give him $100 and he would send back 98% of any gold they found.

Anyone here have any opinions? Not sure who to trust. If this was 10% gold we're looking at $2000, 50% gold $7000. What if I send this to someone and they keep the gold and tell me its not worth anything. Seems there should be an easier way to figure this out..how did they do it 6000 years ago??

 

[maynman1751]

If you have them in your possession, weigh out a certain amount and process them. Then, according to the return, if any, you can figure what the rest will yield. Or there are several trusted members who would possibly process some for you.

 

[samuel-a]

dlb92

Hard to tell honestly.

If the shapes are not too complex, you can work out an estimation of the plated surface area of one piece and apply it for the rest of your lot.
The only real unknown here is the thickness of plating. You could estimate it by dissolving one piece in moderately warm dilute nitric and see what happens with the gold foil...
If it crumbles to gadzillion tiny pieces then you are looking at flash plating (5-10 microinch).
If it crumbles to just several pieces then it might be anywhere from 15-30 microinch.
If it keeps its original shape more or less then it might indicate 30 microinch or more.

You can work out the calculation using these links:
http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=822
http://www.goldnscrap.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=72:gold-plating-calculator&catid=49:calculators&Itemid=66

 

[etack]

do a surface area calculation on them they are plated. Use 50 as gold plating thickness in http://www.goldnscrap.com calculator.


http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=822

http://www.goldnscrap.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=72:gold-plating-calculator&catid=49:calculators&Itemid=66

50 micro inch plating is $0.80 a square inch at $1560 gold

did a search and came up with this http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=5535&p=47508&hilit=+transistor#p47508
Test Test Test

Eric

You beat me Sam

 

[dlb92]

If it crumbles to gadzillion tiny pieces then you are looking at flash plating (5-10 microinch).
If it crumbles to just several pieces then it might be anywhere from 15-30 microinch.
If it keeps its original shape more or less then it might indicate 30 microinch or more.

This sounds interesting, I do have a minor in chemistry but where does one obtain nitric acid? Does everyone else agree with the above approximation?
I need to cut one in half so the inner core is exposed otherwise it won't dissolve will it?

Most of the bag is full of hundreds of those round plates you see, the rest is the caps you see and there are only those two shapes.

dlb92

Hard to tell honestly.

If the shapes are not too complex, you can work out an estimation of the plated surface area of one piece and apply it for the rest of your lot.
The only real unknown here is the thickness of plating. You could estimate it by dissolving one piece in moderately warm dilute nitric and see what happens with the gold foil...

You can work out the calculation using these links:
http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=822
http://www.goldnscrap.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=72:gold-plating-calculator&catid=49:calculators&Itemid=66

 

[Oz]

PM sent

 

[samuel-a]

etack
Great minds think alike... lol
8) :mrgreen:



dlb92

There might be some overlap with these three genral "grades".

One more thing that help me fine tune the determination of which grade a plating belongs to is:
Once the dissolution is over, i'm boiling the solution for 1or 2 minutes and see how much damage occurred to the foil's integrity.
The smaller the damage, the heavier the plating.

This is usually done in a test tube.

 

[dlb92]

Where to get nitric?


HCL would work if core was not copper/silver right?

 

[etack]

Sam I love you calculator. I use it often as of late. I was given over 30000 pins some in bags most came on two reels. I just hope that my area calcs. where right. :lol:


Eric

 

[samuel-a]

Sam I love you calculator. I use it often as of late. I was given over 30000 pins some in bags most came on two reels. I just hope that my area calcs. where right. :lol:


Eric

Eric

Do share your experiance and observatons once you are done with it.

 

[dlb92]

So I learned how to make nitric acid on youtube.

I'm going to count all the plates and post my results when I am done. Pretty sure I'm going to have a very large surface area.

 

[Geo]

youtube huh? the best source for DIY chemicals is right here on the forum. theres alot of information on youtube thats misleading and some is down right dangerous. try to learn the screen names of some of our more prestigious members on youtube and follow their advise and you should be ok. or you could look it up here on the reactions list in the guided tour. making nitric acid should be ranked around 4 or 5 of the most dangerous processes because the fumes can kill you and the acids used can maim or kill you. i'm 48 and on every med made for COPD and have never smoked a cigarette in my life, but i have made quite a bit of nitric acid in my younger days.

 

[Oz]

So I learned how to make nitric acid on youtube.

If you want to make nitric acid would certainly find your directions on this forum. We rapidly correct any false information posted. Try starting here
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=14266&p=143264&hilit=cold+nitric+acid#p143264

Having said that, I would cut one each of your caps and disks into quarters and try HCl (muriatic acid available at your local hardware store) with just a capful of Dollar Store H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide). Not knowing your base metal under your gold plating there is a high probability this will digest it leaving you foils. If it does, I will go into the household products to digest your foils and precipitate your gold.

 

[dlb92]

So I learned how to make nitric acid on youtube.

If you want to make nitric acid would certainly find your directions on this forum. We rapidly correct any false information posted. Try starting here http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=14266&p=143264&hilit=cold+nitric+acid#p143264

Having said that, I would cut one each of your caps and disks into quarters and try HCl (muriatic acid available at your local hardware store) with just a capful of Dollar Store H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide). Not knowing your base metal under your gold plating there is a high probability this will digest it leaving you foils. If it does, I will go into the household products to digest your foils and precipitate your gold.

That is exactly what I was going to try first after I get them all counted.


This is actually a pretty cool video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yE7v4wkuZU

 

[dlb92]

Does anyone know what the average thickness of military/space gold plating was in the 60's?

 

[Geo]

Nurdrage makes some good videos. pay attention to their warnings. they do their experiments in a lab environment. i you attempt any of their experiments please be safety aware and use all the right safety gear. no filter can filter nitrogen dioxide fumes, NONE.

 

[Geo]

milspec can be anywhere between 30 to 80 microinches, even more on special equipment.

i think type (3) class was thicker than type (4)class for electronics on PCB's

plugs and fingers and slot connectors were type (1) and type (2) which is thickest

 

[Geo]

i would love to have a truck load of these.

 

[dlb92]

So I have ~1989 (15 ounces) of 12mm round plates and 198 transistor caps (4 ounces). If I did the math right its ~697 square inches for the plates, I'm guessing another 70 square inches for the caps.

So at 50 micro thats about $600 worth of gold right.

Funny thing is my dad bought these for $1 when he retired, he could have got a lot more, and many were thrown away.

 

[dlb92]

So this is after 10 minutes in about 30mL of 30% hcl and 5mL 3% H202