On electrical equipment, how do I know if it is gold or not?

[Eric]

I went into a locel department store and I saw USB cables, VCR and video cables, memory cards, that had gold coloring on them. I even saw a light bulb with gold coloring on it. How can I tell whether or not it is gold?

 

[banjags]

Chances are that they are gold plated. They will be flash plated. A little while ago I processed in a cell about 50lbs of gold plated AV ends... I netted me just over 1 gram of gold. Basically I broke even money wise for what I spent on chemicals. The old problem was it took me 6-8 hours to process it all. So monetarily it was a loosing proposition. My advice dont bother.

 

[Eric]

Thanks. Maybe I can buy a whole bunch of old cables really cheap. I am living in Korea and it does not appear that Koreans are doing much gold scrapping so I might be able to find good deals on old electronics.

But another problems is that Korean consumers usually do not practice recycling so they tend to throw away everything. There are no pawn shops here because Koreans don't believe in second hand items so I have that working against me. Maybe if I go into computer parts shops and ask them what they have that is not profitable.

 

[Rag and Bone]

It sounds like you might have an excellent opportunity if there is no recycling program in place. Where does all the trash and electronic scrap go? China?

 

[Eric]

It sounds like you might have an excellent opportunity if there is no recycling program in place. Where does all the trash and electronic scrap go? China?

Been wondering about that myself. They usually just throw it away into a big landfill or incinerator, that's my guess.

 

[Rag and Bone]

I imagine there is a great deal of e-scrap and manufacturing waste in Korea. Somebody must be tapping into it. If not, go get it!

 

[Eric]

I imagine there is a great deal of e-scrap and manufacturing waste in Korea. Somebody must be tapping into it. If not, go get it!

You are right. In Seoul, there is a 5000 store flea market that sells old electronic items. There is a mountainfull of telephones, remote controls, Walkmans, and Cameras. I don't know what to do with them. I must find out what is inside them before I spend money on them. But in less developed regions, I think I found an untapped gold mine.