Interesting article on e-scrap from todays New York Times

[4metals]

https://www.nytimes.com/card/2025/01/01/business/uk-royal-mint-jewelry?smid=em-share

I am a paid subscriber to the Times and this is a share link. I hope it works, but if not let me know and I will delete this thread.

 

[snoman701]

It does not unfortunately. But would you be willing to send me the text of the article?

 

[adam mizer]

This is what I get.

 

[4metals]

The New York Times, what a capitalist bunch! This would be an excellent article for discussion, there are imbedded video's as well. Let me see if I can figure another way to post it.

 

[4metals]

Unfortunately the file is too big to send as a video. My iPhone allows me to make a video of my screen so I made a video of me scrolling through the article so it can bypass any hassles by going as a video. Unfortunately the video is too large to go by email so that won't work either. Sorry but I am my technological wit's end.

 

[goldshark]

Unfortunately the file is too big to send as a video. My iPhone allows me to make a video of my screen so I made a video of me scrolling through the article so it can bypass any hassles by going as a video. Unfortunately the video is too large to go by email so that won't work either. Sorry but I am my technological wit's end.

Can you take a picture of the article, post the pages in individual picture posts, then we can read them? Don't want you getting busted for copyright though.

 

[4metals]

Can you take a picture of the article, post the pages in individual picture posts, then we can read them?

I can try that, some of the article has video, but if they are smaller they can go as a video screen capture as well. May be tough to keep them in order.

 

[canedane]

The link is funktionel if you are a paid subscriber. I found it very interesting, thank you 4metals.

 

[anarxi]

Unfortunately the file is too big to send as a video. My iPhone allows me to make a video of my screen so I made a video of me scrolling through the article so it can bypass any hassles by going as a video. Unfortunately the video is too large to go by email so that won't work either. Sorry but I am my technological wit's end.

I'll tell you a little secret.
such paid articles are easy to read through Google Translate. (but not always).

I read the article,
watched the video.
in essence, nothing special....
don't take it as flattery, but it's much more interesting to read you and an absolutely free huge array of knowledge and experience.

 

[4metals]

Well they mention a patented solution for extraction of gold which would make for interesting discussion. They select certain boards they are confident have all exposed gold and process them that way. Worth a discussion especially for scrap processed using the AP method.

 

[anarxi]

At the chemical plant, gold removal is a relatively quick process. In just a few minutes, the gold is leached from the circuit boards in a proprietary solution that oxidizes the gold, making it soluble.The gold-saturated solution must go through another chemical process to harden the gold again. The gold powder that is filtered from the solution is washed and dried. It looks remarkably like ground coffee, but 100 grams costs about £6,700, or $8,405.

The powder is then melted at temperatures above 1,100 degrees Celsius (2,012 degrees Fahrenheit) and cooled again to produce gold nuggets, which are then sent off to be refined to 99.9 percent purity.The gold is returned to the Royal Mint in the form of long rods that undergo annealing - a process of heating and cooling the gold to make it more malleable. Every part of the jewellery, right down to the hooks that attach the pendants to the necklace chains, is handcrafted at the mint

The result is a sleek line of jewellery called 886, named after the year the mint first issued the coins.It's priced to match the Mayfair flagship store's location: a pair of small nine-carat gold hoop earrings costs £795, about $1,000

 

[anarxi]

In the late 1960s, the Royal Mint moved from its home in the Tower of London to a sprawling complex of low-rise buildings outside Cardiff, Wales.The former foundry where metal was cast for coins receives large bags of e-waste. The mint expects to process around 4,500 tonnes of e-waste each year, including circuit boards from TVs, computers and medical equipment
Old electronics are better because they tend to have a higher gold content than modern, more efficient technology. Smaller circuit boards that have a noticeably higher gold content are sent straight to the mint's chemical plant to have the gold removed.The rest goes into a depopulation machine - a multi-colored, slowly rotating cylinder that heats the circuit boards to 230 degrees Celsius (446 degrees Fahrenheit) to melt the solder and cause components to fall off the boards
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The boards and various components, such as microchips and aluminum capacitors, are then shuffled onto a large pink sorting machine. The pieces move along a vibrating sieve-like conveyor belt, falling into different buckets depending on their size.Items without gold are also valuable. Metals such as iron, copper, and nickel can be sold at metal markets. And the remaining scrap, shredded, can be sold to construction companies for building materials

 

[4metals]

View attachment ScreenRecording_01-01-2025 17-58-29_1.mp4

 

[4metals]

View attachment ScreenRecording_01-01-2025 18-00-31_1.mp4

I would have thought that the Royal Mint could afford a motorized tumbler! Thing's must be tight in the UK!

 

[4metals]

 

[anachronism]

View attachment 66383

I would have thought that the Royal Mint could afford a motorized tumbler! Thing's must be tight in the UK!

I was in their cardiff plant in December. Although I'm covered by an NDA and can't go into real detail, I can say that they've spent one heck of a lot of money.

On a completely unrelated note it never ceases to amaze me how you can have impressive equipment but if you don't know how to use it, your results are still terrible.

 

[4metals]

Older electronics are better because they tend to have higher gold content than modern, more efficient technology. Smaller circuit boards that have visibly high gold content are sent straight on to the mint’s chemical plant to have the gold removed.

The rest goes into a depopulation machine, a multicolored, slowly rotating cylinder that heats the circuit boards to 230 degrees Celsius (446 degrees Fahrenheit) to melt the solder so the components fall off the boards.

Some of our members have mentioned heat to depopulate boards but likely on a smaller scale. This set up may interest some members

 

[4metals]

The multi colored rotating machine pictured above is a mystery to me. It appears to have panels on each section but from the wires that hang down, that seems to make rotation complicated.

 

[goldshark]

Just thinking out loud, the colored drums may represent differing temperature cells. The wires go to the heating unit. The drum doesn't need to completely rotate, just enough of a jarring action to knock the solder loose, the solder then falling to a collection area under neath. You could in theory then have a selection of differing alloys, based on melting temperatures.

 

[snoman701]

The multi colored rotating machine pictured above is a mystery to me. It appears to have panels on each section but from the wires that hang down, that seems to make rotation complicated.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the rotating drum is on the inside, and that's the cover. Even when using low temperature to remove components, you are still heating the board up to a temperature that is going to offgas all kinds of fun fumes, so they have to send all of those fumes to a scrubber.