My experimental calcs on buying Escrap from online sellers

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Nevadayote

Nevadayote

Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2024
Messages
21
Location
Nevada
I'm very new to this whole Escrap refining thing. My calculations may be way off base either way. What I've been doing is watching videos and taking the initial weight and the end result weight to get a percentage. I use the percentage to estimate how much recoverable gold is in each gram of Escrap category.

1. BGA ram chips
2. DDR ram chis
3. Gold "fingers"
4. CPU chips with heatsinks
5. CPU chips without heatsinks
6. whole ram sticks without shields/heatsinks
7. whole ram sticks with shields/heatsinks

I use my average numbers to calculate the value of Escrap being sold. If I can't almost double my money, I won't buy it. There are some very reasonable sellers and some sellers that seem to be using twice the spot price of gold to price what they are offering...it's a huge range!

I would love to read about how others estimate what they are willing to pay for Escrap.
 
My only comment to your inquiry is only base your buying on what you can recover not on what others claim this is because you may be better or worse at your recoveries than others, you can base your value estimates if you find several similar valuations from reliable sources, another point to remember is that the amount of values in most e scrap has and is been reduced year on year in many cases.
 
Nevadayote said:
I'm very new to this whole Escrap refining thing. My calculations may be way off base either way. What I've been doing is watching videos and taking the initial weight and the end result weight to get a percentage. I use the percentage to estimate how much recoverable gold is in each gram of Escrap category.

1. BGA ram chips
2. DDR ram chis
3. Gold "fingers"
4. CPU chips with heatsinks
5. CPU chips without heatsinks
6. whole ram sticks without shields/heatsinks
7. whole ram sticks with shields/heatsinks

I use my average numbers to calculate the value of Escrap being sold. If I can't almost double my money, I won't buy it. There are some very reasonable sellers and some sellers that seem to be using twice the spot price of gold to price what they are offering...it's a huge range!

I would love to read about how others estimate what they are willing to pay for Escrap.
Click to expand...
There are no numbers here so how have you arrived at this list?
Have you refined a number of those already or are you entirely basing your classifications from others?
As Nick says, you can not base on those criterias.
First the numbers may vary significantly within each class of scrap, even within same chip varied on revision numbers.
And any comment on basing information on videos make me sceptic, as much (not all) the numbers from the world of videos, are based on collecting views and are often exaggerated or even downright lied upon.
And then the factor of skills also play a role in the final result, which is the one that count.
 
nickvc said:
My only comment to your inquiry is only base your buying on what you can recover not on what others claim this is because you may be better or worse at your recoveries than others, you can base your value estimates if you find several similar valuations from reliable sources, another point to remember is that the amount of values in most e scrap has and is been reduced year on year in many cases.
Click to expand...
Agreed, and that trend will continue.
 
Yggdrasil said:
There are no numbers here so how have you arrived at this list?
Have you refined a number of those already or are you entirely basing your classifications from others?
As Nick says, you can not base on those criterias.
First the numbers may vary significantly within each class of scrap, even within same chip varied on revision numbers.
And any comment on basing information on videos make me sceptic, as much (not all) the numbers from the world of videos, are based on collecting views and are often exaggerated or even downright lied upon.
And then the factor of skills also play a role in the final result, which is the one that count.
Click to expand...
The "categories" are my own invention. I vary my estimates of yield per gram based on how much "waste" material is present with the scrap and my estimates are very preliminary!For example, a pinless CPU with an attached heatsink will weigh much more than one without due to the heatsink being over 85% of the weight. So, when a seller offers 1KG of "Pinless high grade CPU's" for sale and the photo shows heatsinks, I know I will only get 150 grams of material that MIGHT yield some value. Estimating the vaue of "ram sticks" is similar since some are shielded and some not.
 
Yggdrasil said:
There are no numbers here so how have you arrived at this list?
Have you refined a number of those already or are you entirely basing your classifications from others?
As Nick says, you can not base on those criterias.
First the numbers may vary significantly within each class of scrap, even within same chip varied on revision numbers.
And any comment on basing information on videos make me sceptic, as much (not all) the numbers from the world of videos, are based on collecting views and are often exaggerated or even downright lied upon.
And then the factor of skills also play a role in the final result, which is the one that count.
Click to expand...
Very smart approach - I've been watching RAM stick offerings on e-bay lately (see attached spreadsheet for completed sales) and I'd like to compare notes. Comparing the actual going prices with the estimated gold value is the interesting part. Then there's figuring out the cost of converting gold on the stick to saleable metal-which of course depends on the processing method. Better living through chemistry! Nevada's gold culture makes it a good place to do this - glad to hear from a fellow Nevadan.
 

Attachments

  • RAMstick prices 24Aug24.xlsx
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Taleeho said:
Very smart approach - I've been watching RAM stick offerings on e-bay lately (see attached spreadsheet for completed sales) and I'd like to compare notes. Comparing the actual going prices with the estimated gold value is the interesting part. Then there's figuring out the cost of converting gold on the stick to saleable metal-which of course depends on the processing method. Better living through chemistry! Nevada's gold culture makes it a good place to do this - glad to hear from a fellow Nevadan.
Click to expand...
Well that means it is not verified, as there is no way to know if the buyers actually made money on their purchases.
I guess one can make guesstimates though.

And no, I'm from a different continent.
 
Until the material is processed, the best we have are estimates. I'm about to complete processing 677 grams of depopulated ram sticks. I just knocked off the chips and put the boards into an AP solution to remove the gold. Then, I put all of the solids into an acid and bleach mix to dissolve the gold and whatever other metals came through after the AP treatment. I've put in the SMB and now I'm letting it all settle before melting.
 
Nevadayote said:
Until the material is processed, the best we have are estimates. I'm about to complete processing 677 grams of depopulated ram sticks. I just knocked off the chips and put the boards into an AP solution to remove the gold. Then, I put all of the solids into an acid and bleach mix to dissolve the gold and whatever other metals came through after the AP treatment. I've put in the SMB and now I'm letting it all settle before melting.
Click to expand...
Is that the plan or have you already done it?

Your use of past, current and future tense seems unclear.

Be advised that if you use Bleach you have to keep control of the pH so it do not get too high.
And SMB do not work well if the pH is too high.

Better to use Peroxide or pool Chlorine tablets.
 
If you have a full lab setup with equipment that ensures you have no losses end to end, or an AAS then this sample size will work to get you an accurate reading given the small amount of gold you will recover. If not, then it will be inherently inaccurate. For a home setup, even a good one the larger the sample size the better the results.
 
anachronism said:
For a home setup, even a good one the larger the sample size the better the results.
Click to expand...
No question the larger the lot the more accurate the results. I watched last evening a series of 2 Sreetips video's on making and using a sulfuric cell. He processed two and a half kilo's of plated jewelry and recovered 0.3 grams of fine gold. It is an art to recover those small quantities of gold from any process. Good refiners are both chemists and artists!
 
Yggdrasil said:
Is that the plan or have you already done it?

Your use of past, current and future tense seems unclear.

Be advised that if you use Bleach you have to keep control of the pH so it do not get too high.
And SMB do not work well if the pH is too high.

Better to use Peroxide or pool Chlorine tablets.
Click to expand...
What was the starting weight of your material before stripping? The difference (net weight of chips) is interesting because there might be gold in them. Has anyone heard of a method of extracting gold from them?
 
Taleeho said:
What was the starting weight of your material before stripping? The difference (net weight of chips) is interesting because there might be gold in them. Has anyone heard of a method of extracting gold from them?
Click to expand...
Why are you asking me?
Why not ask the one who did it?
You need to check that your replies goes to the right person.
 
Taleeho said:
What was the starting weight of your material before stripping? The difference (net weight of chips) is interesting because there might be gold in them. Has anyone heard of a method of extracting gold from them?
Click to expand...
Yes the chips are the main source of Gold, although there are modern chips without.
 
Taleeho said:
What was the starting weight of your material before stripping? The difference (net weight of chips) is interesting because there might be gold in them. Has anyone heard of a method of extracting gold from them?
Click to expand...
Since the ram sticks were of various types and sizes, taking a weight before stripping off the chips didn't interest me. It's an ongoing project since I have so many to do. As for the chips holding gold, yes! They absolutely hold gold. There are dozens of videos on YouTube about extracting gold from RAM chips.
 
Nevadayote said:
Since the ram sticks were of various types and sizes, taking a weight before stripping off the chips didn't interest me. It's an ongoing project since I have so many to do. As for the chips holding gold, yes! They absolutely hold gold. There are dozens of videos on YouTube about extracting gold from RAM chips.
Click to expand...
There are too many dangerous videos out there, follow the recipes here on the forum in stead.

Edit to add:
The process is basically like this: pyrolize, incinerate, grind, magnetic separation, gravity separation, incinerate and smelt or dissolve.
 
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Taleeho said:
Very smart approach - I've been watching RAM stick offerings on e-bay lately (see attached spreadsheet for completed sales) and I'd like to compare notes. Comparing the actual going prices with the estimated gold value is the interesting part. Then there's figuring out the cost of converting gold on the stick to saleable metal-which of course depends on the processing method. Better living through chemistry! Nevada's gold culture makes it a good place to do this - glad to hear from a fellow Nevadan.
Click to expand...
Hey there Nevadans Im in vegas! I need advice on buying those pre melted compuer scrap blocks or bars and taking them to Elemetal here in town for refining. Is that worth it? Can you advise on ebay sellers you have used? What is the purity of those melted compouer ram chip prongs, etc?
 

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