I'm new to refining (been "Making Money From JUNK" for years, but typically tossed all the boards, computers, etc. - until I found this forum!).
Mostly we deal in complete equipment (lab/test/etc.) and never really thought about the scrap too much since we never had much quantity and any that we did have was given to the 'trash' guy as a bonus for taking out all the rest of, what we always thought, garbage. (we are now reevaluating just what we want to toss!)
In our last load (we do a lot of gov't auctions), we got about 15 pounds of gold plated pins (all NOS, some in bags, some in separator boxes, some still in the original vials [I think these must be pretty high quality...]). About 30 different types, with 50 - 1000 count. In researching, we found most to be obsolete (i.e., "old"), but some are still being sold.
The nice part is that even for those that are obsolete, there are still specs online for most of them so we can try to calculate the recoverable gold (using the calculations in this thread). For those that we don't have specs on, we'll use the "measure and calculate" method.
Which leads me to my question/issue. Even though I'm pretty strong in math and spreadsheets, this jumping back/forth from avoirdupois to metric to troy - just really kicks my brain out of whack!
I really could use some double-check on my calculations as it seems I've either got a pile of worthless(ish) pretty metal or a massive fortune! All the calculations really helped, but somewhere along the line, I think I may have missed something.
Here's two examples of some pins I have (kinda going between the two 'masters' ways of calculating and keeping it all in metric [much simpler to add up - please don't tell my Russian wife I admitted that!;]) until the end.
(I also attached this as a spreadsheet - may be easier to view)
View attachment gold scrap calculator.xls
Part Number 201328 423036
Title/Name (if known) CONN SOCKET 20-24AWG GOLD CRIMP Series 140, 157-53 taper pin terminal
Gold thickness (microns - um) 0.76 2.54
other metals Brass, Nickel, “hard Gold”
where found http://www.te.com/catalog/pn/en/201328-1 http://www.macpanel.com/DataSheets/35.pdf
status (selling?) selling likely obsolete – found only on ref site
selling price 4.96 0
Length 20.2 18
Diameter 2.72 2.5
Radius 1.36 1.25
likely accurate? (%) 97 99
estimated gold area (cm3) 178.71 149.68 confidence level of measurements (calculated 'round down')
gold weight (1) 0.00262126 0.00733748 2 × pi × r2 + 2 × pi × r × h ((2*PI()*(C11^2))+(2*PI()*C11*C9))*C12/100
Weight (1)(g) 0.44 0.6 cm3*19.3*microns C13*19.3*(C4*0.000001*0.01)
weight (stock) 427.6 834
Count (est.) 971.82 1390
Retail Value (est.) 4820.22 0 SPOT =>>> 1596.88
Reclaim Value (est.) 130.8 523.69 SPOT/31.1 C16*C13*SPOT/31.1
From the above, what I'm seeing is that the retail value of these pins is very attractive (if I can find a buyer....) over the scrap value (not surprising), however, I wonder if I've done all the calculations right on the Reclaim.
If so, then I seriously wonder about the value of attempting to recover the gold from the one pack (taking into consideration there is a huge learning curve for me and working with anything that includes the word "acid" is not on my list of 'fun').
I guess there are other questions as well here if the calculations look right;
- what is the (approx.) "hard cost" (actual dollar value of discarded materials) to recover these lots (presuming they were equal count of 1000 pins in each)
- what would they be worth to a hobbist (like someone on this board)
- would it be better to just stick them up on eBay or somewhere and sell them by the pound/ounce?
- are there recommended locations to send this off to just have someone else do it and send me back the gold (after a fair recovery cost to them, of course)?
I'm not worried about getting the absolute most out of the bundle, I just want a fair deal.
Until I came across this forum the other day, I was just going to melt them all down and expected there to be a pile of nice clean gold at the bottom (yeah, I even went to the expense to get the furnace, gloves/tongs, etc....). Now, I certainly see that is not the way to get much of anything from this type of scrap, but I really am not into the chemicals (I know my limits, and without a hands-on mentor showing me, I won't be going there!)
So, I leave my recovery 'fate' to this group of learned experts - what'cha think?
Steve
