Simple questions, looking for simple answers (or maybe not so simple).

[kurtak]

But this was 30 years ago and metal prices have risen considerably.

True - but so has processing cost - especially for the hobby refiner

Kurt

 

[4metals]

other then "maybe" leaching a very small amount (like 50 - 100 grams) of CAT material you will NEVER get all of the PGMs leached out of the ceramic substrate of catalytic converters - this is especially true of the Rh

That may be great for backyard processing but I always de-canned, crushed sifted, & leached 100ish pound lots in a tumbler to keep them turning over. But even that, with the amount of rinsing required, was too costly.

So we started to skip the refining and put them in the Gemco to blend and sample 6 drums before it went to Europe for smelting. One thing to realize when you refine commercially is it is often cheaper to sample well and ship to an outside refiner. Every refiner has a specialty, none do everything. And most learn the hard way!