Moses - thank you for the pics - in your first post you said -----------
I live in Creswell Oregon and was wondering if there is anyone in the area with a hammer/ball mill and a shaker table I could rent out yo process about 2 tons of mid yo high grade boards and many switches containing precious metals
However - looking at you pics I do not see 2 tons of actual boards - what I see is more likely several hundred pounds of boards - the rest of it is complete electronic equipment that has boards in it - so the VAST majority of what you have is scrap iron, copper, aluminum & plastic - with "some " boards in the electronic equipment
To put that somewhat in perspective - on "average" - a complete computer will weigh (plus/minus) about 20 pounds --- when you tear that computer down to get the boards out of it you will get about (plus/minus) 3 pounds of boards (which is where the PM value is) the other (plus/minus) 17 pounds is nothing more the scrap iron, copper, aluminum & plastic
So - working on "averages" - when you tear that 2 tons of equipment down you are only going to get about (plus/minus) 600 pounds of actual boards - plus the "maybe" couple hundred pounds of boards that have already been taken out of equipment - IF (the BIG IF) those boards where already taken out of the equipment when you got the load of stuff
So at best - when you are all done tearing everything down you may end up with around 800 pounds of boards --- if you are lucky
maybe 1,000 pounds of boards
BUT (going with the 1,000 pound number) - 30% of the boards are going to be LOW grade boards like power supply boards & other LOW grade boards which run between 15 cent a pound to $1.20 - so about 300 pounds of LOW value boards
Then "about" 40% of the remaining 700 pound is going to be in the mid grade range of board values so worth between $1.90 to $2.50 a pound - so "about" 280 pound of mid grade boards
Then - out of the remaining 420 pounds (& only because the equipment you have is "older" equipment) you are likely to see 300 - 350 pounds of higher grade boards which will run between $3.50 to $6.00 per pound
So - you now have somewhere between 70 to 120 pound of boards that are going to be in the very high value category of boards worth between $6.25 - $14.00 per pound
Because the equipment you have is "older" equipment you are likely going to pull out a fair number of ceramic CPUs - like 10 - 15 pounds "maybe" 20 pounds (if you are really luck) & ceramic CPUs run between $28.00 to as high as $185.00 a pound
Because your equipment is older equipment you are going to see two types of RAM - gold fingered RAM which is worth $28.00 per pound & the silver/tin RAM which is worth $10.50 per pound --- the older the equipment the more likely it will be the silver/tin fingered RAM & out of the equipment I am seeing you will likely pull 20 - 30 pounds of RAM (
maybe 40 pounds) but it will certainly be a mix of both kinds
From what I can see - very few - if any of the equipment you have is going to have the EXTREMELY high grade CBs in it like the pics of the CBs I posted pics of
My point is this - in looking at your pics - out of the 2 tons (4,000 pounds) of equipment you have you will be lucky to pull 1,000 pounds of actual boards - out of which only about 70% is going to be worth sending in for processing for their PMs
But lets be optimistic & say you actually get 1,000 pounds of boards ranging from the mid grade to higher grade & even a fair amount of very high grade (& maybe a small amount of extremely high grade) & you send that 1,000 pound in for actual processing - that 1,000 pounds of boards is only going to pay you about 4.5 - 5 troy ounces of gold -
MAYBE if you are
REALLY lucky 6 troy ounces of gold
Because your equipment is older equipment you will also see "about" 12 - 15 troy ounces of silver & "about" 1.5 - 2.5 troy ounces of palladium along with 60 - 70 pounds of copper from processing that 1,000 pounds of boards
As a side note - with newer boards you will see
MUCH less palladium
And how do I know all of this ?
Because when I was doing this for a living (for 10 years) I bought MANY truck loads of OLD equipment just like what you show in your pics from scrap yards --- when I say truck loads a small load was "at least" 2 tons & up to 5 tons & I had 3 scrap yards I bought from so I was buying 1 or 2 sometimes as many as 3 truck loads per month
I had 2 full time employees & 1 part time employee for tearing all that equipment down & they where WELL trained in how to sort the boards in to their "value grades" (so I knew the value of what I was shipping & where to ship it to get the best value)
Side note here - knowing the grades of boards & "sorting" them into there different grade is VERY important in making money in this business --- you MUST know the value of what you have - you can NOT just throw everything in one big load & send it for processing - doing so will most certainly result in getting screwed
I sent all the low grade & mid grade stuff - buy the ton - off to bigger board "buyers"
I sent all the higher grade to very high grade stuff off to 2 different actual processors
The extremely high grade stuff I processed myself --- & for what it is worth - with all the tons of boards I handled this extremely high grade stuff only made up a "small" but "fair" amount of what I handled - the VAST MAJORITY of the boards went to buyers &/or actual processors
To put that in perspective - I had to handle MANY TONS of boards to get a few hundred pounds of the extremely high grade stuff
So Moses - I hope you did not pay a lot of money for that truck load of equipment - based on the guy that sold it to you telling you it had 4 pounds of gold in it - because as a matter of fact - you will NOT see anywhere even close to 4 pounds of gold out of that truck load
For what it is worth - when I bought truck loads of equipment like that I paid between 25 cents & 35 cents a pound for it (depending on the price of metals at the time of buying)
And I can tell you this --- between paying for the stuff - cost of hauling it home - paying employees to tear down & sort - cost of shipping to board buyers &/or processors - & all the other cost associated with doing business I only made a "fair" living doing this for 10 years (10 -12 hours a day) ---
I most certainly did NOT get rich !!!
To put that in perspective - I have worked at regular 8 hour a day jobs where I made more money then I made scraping TONS of electronics --- Like I said - I made a "fair living but most certainly did not get rich
To get rich at this you have to handle several simi truck loads (40 tons per simi truck load) per month - you will NOT get rich handling a few tons (2 - 4 tons) per month - at best - you can make a "fair" living IF (the BIG IF) you handle at least a few tons per month --- & you most certainly are not going to get rich on one 2 ton load - you will be lucky to cover your cost - & that is only if you paid little or nothing for that load
So I hope you did not pay a lot of money for that 2 ton load Moses because by the time you are done with all the cost to tear down & process that 2 tons to the point where you get paid on the PMs in that 2 tons - you will be lucky if you see a $1,000 "profit" on it & VERY LUCKY to see a $2,000 "profit"
I do not mean to be the bad bearer of bad news - but I have 10 years of actual experience in this "business" of handling scrap electronics & you absolutely do not have 4 pounds of gold in that load - you will be LUCKY if you have 4 troy ounces
Kurt
