Where do I begin???

[riggler]

Hi all! I am a newbie here. I have watched a bunch of videos and done some light reading on gold recovery.

I have:

PCB fingers (about a tissue box full, more on the way)
Heavy Plated connector pins
Plated jewelry
14k-18k jewelry

I started to looking into chemical processes and I don't like the idea of fumes, disposal, cost, safety.

I could do that, sure.

But I am VERY interested in melting (smelting?), then cupellation!

So what's my simplest method to recover gold here? My thought is for the plated PCB fingers I can separate the foils with salt/vinegar over a couple of weeks. Then, melt EVERYTHING down, adding the right amount of lead, then cupel the resulting ingot to arrive at 24k gold.

Something tells me it's not going to be that easy!

Thanks,

Damian

 

[Geo]

Cupelling is not really geared toward gold recovery. When it is used for gold, it is an assay. Two basic refining possibilities, remove the target metal from everything else or remove everything else from the target metal. Copper(II) chloride is a good recovery method. It can be started with vinegar and salt but muriatic acid ( HCl) is as safe because the end product is still the same, CuCl2. Never mix Karat scrap with electronic scrap or even gold filled. There is no comparing the three. Gold plated electronics may have 0.01% gold by weight. Gold filled may have 1% to 2% gold by weight. Karat scrap is so much higher in gold percentage by weight.

 

[nickvc]

Unfortunately there is no one process or method that fits all types of gold scrap.
If you do not want to use chemicals then my advice is to save up all the e scrap until you have a pound or pounds of different items separated and then list them on eBay where you will probably get more for the scrap than you will recover and then buy some coins or bars.
With karat scrap selling that is very easy you could simply offer them for sale here or on eBay and again use the money to buy gold.
There is no shame in not wanting to recover and refine and in some cases it pays better to collect sort and sell, pick you own way forward and use the resource we have here to learn what to look for and where and even probable values.