Suggestions on processing these memory cards?

[MidasMilligan]

Hello everyone, I have 50lbs of the memory chips pictured. Sorry about the blur, my camera is not that great.

Besides the obvious fingers, is there anything else worth extracting?

These are a bunch of different cards but some (top in pic) of them look as if all of the wireing is gold where others look like only the fingers are...

Also I know about the GIGO rule but I am interested in everyones ideas on whether or not I should trim the fingers before I attempt to strip the fingers with AP or if I should be OK just tossing in the whole card?

[IMG:800:600]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y241/otrew/EWASTE/IMG_0203.jpg[/img]

[IMG:800:600]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y241/otrew/EWASTE/IMG_0205.jpg[/img]

This one looks like more than just the fingers are gold...
[IMG:800:600]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y241/otrew/EWASTE/IMG_0204.jpg[/img]

 

[Rag and Bone]

Cutting off the fingers for AP would be the stright forward approach. It's time consuming but you should get ~3g gold per pound of clean cut fingers.

My data showed: 21g fingers / pound of assorted memory

20.9 pounds memory / pound of fingers

I haven't yet dealt with the rest of the memory. Definitely save it for gold and palladium(?).

 

[JustinNH]

I have dealt with similar memory to the one in the bottom picture with the 'extra' gold.
The gold on the boards themselves (not the fingers) will strip off in AP. it just takes a little bit longer than the fingers, but it will all come off and float around in the AP.

 

[MidasMilligan]

Great info guys thanks. That yield data is just what I needed.

Also Justin, did you have any issues with impurities when soaking the whole card in the AP? Does it dissolve any other metals? Was your gold pure? Were you using normal drug store grade H2O2?

 

[Rag and Bone]

The whole board in AP routine is a nightmare. Look back on the posts and you will find nothing but trouble for people who tried it. GIGO

 

[tlcarrig]

I'm experimenting right now with 6 memory boards that have gold on all the traces. I am looking at getting the green coating off of the board. What have ya'll used, if anything? Right now they are soaking in Draino. It has had limited success as of now. This is not pure NaOH. It has Al chips in it and it is green right out of the can. If you plan to do the whole board in AP, have you removed the chips? I have taken them off of my boards.

 

[MidasMilligan]

Interesting Terry, let us know how it goes for you. I have a few rather larger motherboards where it looks like the board circuitry is gold but there is a layer of that green lacquer over the gold that I have no idea how to get off…

 

[JustinNH]

Yes, sorry, I soaked the boards in a HCL bath previously to remove anything else on the boards so that they were completely smooth. Sorry for not mentioning that before, i was just thinking about the removal of the gold part
Otherwise any pieces of solder or any chip or tiny capacitor would come off in IP and be mixed with the gold foils, etc.

 

[JustinNH]

Also, as for the green mask over the gold.... I figured somethign out kinda accidently.
I removed anythign i could manually, then soaked it in HCL for a couple days which like i mentioned in my last post will make anythign you dont want fall off with some agitation. When i removed them from that i noticed the green will come off easily if you scrape it with your fingernail or anything else.
There may be other ways as Im not a pro, but that worked on my batch

The plating on mine wasn't very much, but it was still gold and if you have enough it can add up 8)

Edit: Forgot to add this:

Yeah, i used regular cheap H2O2, i think it was 60 cents for a pint at Wal Mart. The gold wont be completely pure yet as you still need to do the actual refining by the HCL-Clorox method and drop it out, then melt into a button, etc. I have gotten as far as dropping it out and washing it a few times- dont quite have the ability to melt a button yet.
Be careful not to use too much peroxide as it will disolve the gold int he AP.

 

[MidasMilligan]

Wow Justin, do you mean to tell me that a soak in Muriatic will remove all metals except for the gold, and then I can transfer the smooth cards in the AP and process like I would cut fingers? Has that worked for you to achieve a high purity of gold?

 

[MidasMilligan]

Good info Justin. I will try the HCL bath tonight...

 

[JustinNH]

Before I get yelled at by an elder...

I dont actually know if it will remove ALL the other metals, but it appears to from what I have seen, or atleast enough to minimize contamination. Also, i would process the cards in a seperate batch then the fingers just incase. Again, if it doesnt remove all impurities, it may need to be dosolved and dropped twice (Although I know some people do that anyways, like with fingers, etc, to ensure their gold is very pure)

*I also edited my last post to add some info for ya.

Hope it helps a bit!

 

[MidasMilligan]

Be careful not to use too much peroxide as it will disolve the gold int he AP.

Hmmm, I have some 27% peroxide for a swimming pool I was going to try but I think I'll stick with the WalGreens stuff for now...

 

[Rag and Bone]

You can water down the 27% H2O2. I was very impressed with the reults of the concentrated H2O2, until I harvested the foils and found much of it had dissolved.

 

[overneo]

But, if some gold is disolved during the H202 process, it can be recovered after? SMB or not?

Is the HCL + bleach process has the same effect?

 

[MidasMilligan]

But, if some gold is disolved during the H202 process, it can be recovered after? SMB or not?

Is the HCL + bleach process has the same effect?

I think so. Number 3 in this thread:
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=1900

LazerSteve mentions saving the used SMB to precipitate AP.

 

[Rag and Bone]

No, it isn't lost. I'm reusing the same solution (now dilluted) to strip more fingers and cpus. Some of the gold should get precipitated as the acid dissolves base metals. I'll drop any remaing gold when the acid is spent. I estimate about ten grams in solution, needless to say I learned my lesson.