Seeking Reverse Electroplating Services

Bryan · Feb 27, 2013

I've been doing a bit of collecting and a lot of researching and would really like to start reclaiming some gold from the pins I have so far. The pins are very small and old but I am reasonably certain the plating is of high quality. I would like to do a sample run of about 2-5 ounces of the pins to see if the yield is worth pursuing on the rest of my stock, however I do not feel as though I have the experience or resources available to perform a quality process run.

I would like to partner with an experienced reclaimer from this forum. Since I an new to the process, I am open to the reclaimers terms and cut of the profits, so as long as they are reasonable and fair. Please contact me if you are interested and I can supply you with more information or negotiate an agreement. I am willing to meet in person at your lab if you are in the Baltimore, Maryland area - or I can arrange to have a sample shipped to you for evaluation and testing.

Thanks!
Bryan

Anonymous · Feb 28, 2013

Welcome to the forum Bryan.

If possible, upload a picture of the pins so that way someone can maybe tell you more about the pins you have.

Kevin

nickvc · Feb 28, 2013

Welcome to the forum Bryan, I have to say that the amount your talking about would be a waste of time to process even if heavily plated, to make the whole thing worthwhile for you or the refiner you really need pounds not ounces of them. If you just want to know how much gold is there then that amount would make a decent sample for a fire assay but and it's a big but all the pins have to be the same to have any relevance to the value. Producers have never wasted gold and will only use what they have to, even military spec material which can be higher grade is only plated, so volumes of material are needed to make a decent return for the effort of recovering and refining them.
Keep harvesting and collecting it all adds up and with patience you may well have the volumes needed to make that first button or two.

Bryan · Mar 17, 2013

Sorry that it took so long to get more information on here, but I'm in the process of moving and had to dig everything out of storage.

It's terribly difficult to tell from the pictures, but the pins are actually an "S" shape, however for approximations, I have simply measured them as if they are rectangular. The dimensions of a single pin are as follows:

20/1000" = Width
60/1000" = Length
07/1000" = Depth

I had at one point in time attempted to count how many pins were in a single gram. I believe it was somewhere around 1500-1800 (before I passed out from boredom counting). I could tare the jar later again and re-weigh, but I believe I have a little over 2 pounds in the jar ready to go and probably another 1.5-2.0 pounds of pins that still need to be extracted. In short - it's a ridiculous amount of pins.

Anonymous · Mar 17, 2013

If you want to determine if it's worth it or not to process the pins, you'll want to do at the minimum 1 lb worth. Anything less than that wouldn't be worth it for anyone to do. Keep in mind that when you're dealing with gold plated pins, you always want to have at least 1 lb to work with. Once you get your yields from the 1 lb, you'll be able to determine if processing the rest will be worth it or not. If it's not worth it, then you can easily sell them, especially on eBay.

If you want someone to toll refine them for you, you're better off doing the deal with the whole batch you have already. I'm sure someone might do it since you have 2+ lbs worth.

Kevin