Hi guys, noob to the forum but have been at precious Metal recovery for a few years now. Varying degrees of success LOL. My question is about these metal caps from green fiber chips, and if there are techniques to process what looks like platinum core and gold flashing on the cap itself. Very nominal amount but I have hundreds of them. It would take a lot of acid to digest the base material which feels like a copper alloy. Is there an effective method to remove the gold from the base material? The base material would be excellent to use for casting arts and crafts that I do as well, I just don’t know if it’s worth the time But also do not want to simply waste the gold material because I have so many of them if it is recoverable. Much thanks for any input!
Recovery From BGA Caps
- Thread starter Ryno9000
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Personally I would think long and hard before spending time and chemicals doing this.
The yields are very low for the expenditure and waste involved.
The yields are very low for the expenditure and waste involved.
Geo
Well-known member
Hard boil in HCl will remove the tin coating and release the gold as foils.
The metal between the glass die and the metal cap is an alloy of indium and gallium. People on my group collect it and some have kilo bars of it poured but no one has been able to find a good buyer for it. It will also dissolve in the HCl boil.
The metal between the glass die and the metal cap is an alloy of indium and gallium. People on my group collect it and some have kilo bars of it poured but no one has been able to find a good buyer for it. It will also dissolve in the HCl boil.
patnor1011
Well-known member
The gold will strip in ferrocyanide leach within minutes. No need to waste acid on them and create more waste.
Geo
Well-known member
Be very careful with this. It can create hydrogen cyanide gas if the PH drops too low. One mistake can literally be your last. There will not be many second chances with cyanide.
Another option is to use them to process your waste. It will release your gold from the caps, recover any gold you may have missed in the other processes, and work out the first step of your waste treatment. Plus you use no more acids other than those already used, making a smaller waste stream footprint.
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Geo said:
There are NO second chances with Cyanide.
Learn it properly, take the right precautions, never get cocky. That given with a good mentor and learning it step by step it's a manageable risk. The viceral fear of it is based upon the fact that what's frightening is the dumb using it.
