I am new to this scrapping gold from cellphones,and I feel like a dumb person who does not have a clue as to what she is doing.First let me tell what I have done, I stripped all of what I figured was gold and put those little pieces in a dish and I then took all of the boards from the phones and stripped all the pieces of everything I could get off of them off.I spent several days googling the muratic acid and peroxide way of doing this and came up with 2 n 1 2parts muratic acid to 1 part peroxide so I poured all of my boards "AND" al of the little pieces of gold and gold plated pieces and poured them in with the boards in a gallon plastic jug,I then poured muratic acid enough to cover the stuff in the jug and I then added my peroxide to this and shook it up and put a lid on it and it is sitting outside .can someone please tell me what I'm doing I am SO SO LOST.Thank you
Please Help I'm lost in gold from cellphones method!
- Thread starter Cindyjo28
- Start date
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I am very new to this gold refining and I feel like the dumbest girl that ever tried.First let me tell you what I have done, I got what I thought was all the little gold peices off of the phones and put them in a small dish,I then cleaned all of the whatever off of the boards I mean plastic peices and metal peices that were on them then I got a plastic gallon jug and poured all of my little peices of what I think is gold or gold plated and put all of the boards together in the jug I then poured muratic acid over this just enough to cover everything and then I added my peroxide and put a lid on it and shook it up and its sitting outside and I'm not sure what I've done or what to do next,like I said I feel dumb at this but I really want to get all of the gold out of this if I can and I'm not sure what to do,I've watched videos on YouTube and cant get anything from them they lose me everytime and that probably like I said because I'm dumb to this sort of thing,so if someone out there could help me please! I would appreciate all the help I can get.Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Cindyjo, welcome to the forum.
Do not double post. I've combined the two new threads you created into one, since they're both on the same subject, but with slight differences in the content.
In the future, make a post, then be patient and wait for responses. Many active members only visit every few days, so it can take a while to get responses.
Dave
Do not double post. I've combined the two new threads you created into one, since they're both on the same subject, but with slight differences in the content.
In the future, make a post, then be patient and wait for responses. Many active members only visit every few days, so it can take a while to get responses.
Dave
No problem.
Now stop what you're doing, take a breath, and wait for some responses. Expect some harsh words, since you've started adding acids and oxidizers to materials without knowing what might happen. I'll leave it to others to help sort out what you've done, and where you should go from here.
Dave
Now stop what you're doing, take a breath, and wait for some responses. Expect some harsh words, since you've started adding acids and oxidizers to materials without knowing what might happen. I'll leave it to others to help sort out what you've done, and where you should go from here.
Dave
Welcome to the forum Cindyjo28,
What you have is a dangerous toxic mess, the gold in the phones is not worth your health, learning to recover gold is not that simple, it takes time to learn these skills, and should be done by learning the dangers involved and protecting ourselves from them.
If you are really willing to devote your time and energy to learn this skill, I would suggest starting by learning to deal with the toxic waste you have on your hands now (see the safety threads).
Spend time learning the different recovery methods like how the copper II Chloride leach works
Hoke's book is a must-read.
Put away the acids and chemicals, for now, they are dangerous, and at this point useless to your efforts of getting gold or other metals,
Educate yourself that is how we get gold, not by dumping phones into acids making a toxic mess.
What you have is a dangerous toxic mess, the gold in the phones is not worth your health, learning to recover gold is not that simple, it takes time to learn these skills, and should be done by learning the dangers involved and protecting ourselves from them.
If you are really willing to devote your time and energy to learn this skill, I would suggest starting by learning to deal with the toxic waste you have on your hands now (see the safety threads).
Spend time learning the different recovery methods like how the copper II Chloride leach works
Hoke's book is a must-read.
Put away the acids and chemicals, for now, they are dangerous, and at this point useless to your efforts of getting gold or other metals,
Educate yourself that is how we get gold, not by dumping phones into acids making a toxic mess.
Martijn
Well-known member
Welcome to the forum Cindyjo28.
Leave the jar alone. Dont let it sit out in the sun so it wont build up pressure and burst open Set it away somewhere safe and away from kids and pets. Maybe open it a bit every now and then if you see a reaction going on inside like bubbles or a color change. Use plastic gloves.Dont expect any solid gold parts in electronics. The base metals will dissolve if the pieces are not completely gold plated. You can fish them out later. AFTER you've learned enough to safely clean up the mess you've made. I know it looks really easy on youtube and buying the chemicals is just as easy. But understanding what youre doing and what is the best way to treat different materials is a bit of a study.
Read the forum safety section and hoke like butcher said and be patient. Good luck and lots of fun exploring this great forum.
Leave the jar alone. Dont let it sit out in the sun so it wont build up pressure and burst open Set it away somewhere safe and away from kids and pets. Maybe open it a bit every now and then if you see a reaction going on inside like bubbles or a color change. Use plastic gloves.Dont expect any solid gold parts in electronics. The base metals will dissolve if the pieces are not completely gold plated. You can fish them out later. AFTER you've learned enough to safely clean up the mess you've made. I know it looks really easy on youtube and buying the chemicals is just as easy. But understanding what youre doing and what is the best way to treat different materials is a bit of a study.
Read the forum safety section and hoke like butcher said and be patient. Good luck and lots of fun exploring this great forum.
bigpagoda
Well-known member
Hello Cindyjo28,
Along with the others, I am going to say stop and put this somewhere safe. Getting the gold out of cell phones is not as easy as you may hear on youtube. It sounds like you are trying to use the acid-peroxide process to get gold foils. This only works for some kind of material. It works by dissolving the layers of metal underneath the gold plating and letting the gold "foil" layer float off. Because it will dissolve other types of metals you need to carefully separate the ones that will interfere with it. Much of the gold in a cell phone board is in the chips mounted on the board and acid-peroxide will not recover this. They need to be removed and processed in a different way. A 2:1 ratio of acid to peroxide is way too much peroxide. Look in the tutorial section for AP to start learning more about it.
For you current problem you need to give more information. How many cell phone boards did you put in? If it fits in a gallon jug I'm guessing not many. Were there components/soldered parts still connected or was it just little strips of gold foil traces? Pictures might help. Store this jug carefully (lid loose, away form children/pets, somewhere it wont spill, not in your house)- it is hazardous and will need to be dealt with after you recover your gold. You won't be able to just dump it out. Is there any gold flakes floating around.
be patient and you can fix this
Along with the others, I am going to say stop and put this somewhere safe. Getting the gold out of cell phones is not as easy as you may hear on youtube. It sounds like you are trying to use the acid-peroxide process to get gold foils. This only works for some kind of material. It works by dissolving the layers of metal underneath the gold plating and letting the gold "foil" layer float off. Because it will dissolve other types of metals you need to carefully separate the ones that will interfere with it. Much of the gold in a cell phone board is in the chips mounted on the board and acid-peroxide will not recover this. They need to be removed and processed in a different way. A 2:1 ratio of acid to peroxide is way too much peroxide. Look in the tutorial section for AP to start learning more about it.
For you current problem you need to give more information. How many cell phone boards did you put in? If it fits in a gallon jug I'm guessing not many. Were there components/soldered parts still connected or was it just little strips of gold foil traces? Pictures might help. Store this jug carefully (lid loose, away form children/pets, somewhere it wont spill, not in your house)- it is hazardous and will need to be dealt with after you recover your gold. You won't be able to just dump it out. Is there any gold flakes floating around.
be patient and you can fix this
