newbie needs help. Please.

[Charlesncharg]

I have close to 15 lbs of old brick and flip style cell phone charger ends. And about 10 lbs of antennae bases. The plug unds havve gold plated prongs and the antennae look to be gold plated but have a plastic part covering part of them. Any ideas on an efficient way to remove gold.

 

[4metals]

Welcome to the forum Charles.

First thing I will tell you is gold plating makes you think you have more gold than is really there. Then there is the coating of all of the plastics around and covering those connectors. There are plenty of members who can help you decide on the most effective way for you to separate the gold plated parts from the plastics and once you have gotten to that point, there are different methods to strip or remove gold foils to process and recover the gold.

I suggest you start slowly, read about the separation methods used by members and when you are ready begin by reading in the library and while you're there print out a free copy of Hoke to get you started on the chemistry used.

It's not a quick and easy trip from e-scrap to gold bars, but if you are serious you are in the right place to read and learn the best ways for your situation.

 

[Charlesncharg]

Thankyou and again thank you for the advice. I have been reading hoke's book for a week or so now. It has been very helpful. I have also been reading on this forum for a while but never posted until now. Althoughi havent found anything in hoke's book on seperating from plastic yet.

 

[4metals]

The closest you will get to e-scrap in Hokes book is the bench grindings from Earnie the jeweler :lol: (Get it, that's a joke Earnie's scrap........well not that funny.)

E scrap came along years after Ms Hoke wrote her book. The value in her book to our members is the fact that it is written so a layman can understand it and she describes the testing and basic acid usage in a complete and easily understood way. But she will get you on the right path and give you the ability to ask the right questions. So stick with it.

 

[kernels]

4 Metals is unfortunately 100% correct on this one, there is very little Gold there to recover and it would be some of the hardest possible E-Waste to recover Gold from. Dissolving away the base-metals with acid is not even worth considering, which only leaves you with processes that strip the Gold from the surface. Unfortunately I have not yet come across any stripping process that is simple and safe enough at hobbyist level.

 

[Shark]

I too must agree, this stuff is way less than prime escrap. I have saved them, and even processed some. There is very little there and the work to get it is not worth it for the return. While I still do some of them, it is only in my spare time, while waiting on something else to finish up. To be a bit more clear, it may take me weeks to break down 1 pound of that material and I only work on it when I just want something to do out of the ordinary. Otherwise, I send it on down the line, and I certainly don't go looking for it.

 

[Charlesncharg]

Thank you gentlemen. I have pretty much set them aside. Luckily inside a few of the boxes of chargers were approx. 3-4 dozen older cellphone green boards with a fair amount of plating. Also a couple hundred base chargers with half a dozen prongs each like the one inpicture.

 

[alchemistmetalguy]

The easiest way that I have found to process low-grade gold plated e-scrap, is to completely submerge them in muratic acid for 1-3 weeks, stirring (or shaking, if you used a capped jug instead of a bucket) them at least once a week. The base metals all dissolve, and the gold plating turns to little foils that come loose from the plastic parts whenever the solution is stirred or shaken. Then, while the solution is still in motion,
quickly pour off the liquid into a second container (use a funnel if needed) so the gold foils have no chance to settle back into the plastic parts. Allow the liquid (now mostly in container # 2) to settle for 10-30min. Now sort the plastic parts that have no metals left on or in them out. Be sure to rinse them carefully in a third container (that has just tap water in it) to make certain no gold foils are lost. I save this third container of foils until I've run enough parts through it to make it worth further treatment. By the time you have sorted the plastic parts out, the #2 container will have settled, so then slowly pour BACK into the plastic parts (the ones with metal still on them - the naked plastic can be discarded at this point) pour SLOW SLOW so the gold foils stay at the bottom, and do not return to the mix, OR run the liquid through a filter back into container #1. At this point, you can add more e-scrap and/or muratic acid to container #1 and keep the process going until the sludge- metal buildup in container #1 forces you to use all new acid (my record is 22 consecutive leaches with NO additional acid!) When the metallic sludge is thick and so saturated that it won't dissolve any more, I pour it into Pyrex pans and put it in intense sunlight, which dehydrates it, as well as driving off most of the chlorine. The dry cake that remains is usually 60-85% copper, trace amounts of zinc, nickel, iron, aluminum, and as much as 2-13% silver, and .3-5% gold! Very much worth processing! This is as far as I like to process this type of e-scrap, as nitric acid is prohibitively expensive, and the refiners fee is usually 5-10%. I have done this as a continuous process on almost 600lbs of this type of e-scrap, and it is far and away the most easy and inexpensive method I know of. Best of Luck to You!