Why is Scrap Memory so valuable? $20 per pound on eBay.

[NobleMetalsRecovery]

Why is Scrap Memory so valuable? $20 per pound on eBay. I would like to know what makes scrap memory worth around $20.00 per pound. I doubt that there's enough gold to make it worth that. I know people will even pay a good price for memory, even with the gold fingers removed.

I've been told the reason is a rare metal called Gadolinium. All I could find on Gadolinium is that is has been used in memory at one time. I'm not sure if it is used currently.
I know that you may think it's because some of it is reusable and can be resold as good memory, but I don't think that explains it completely. Anybody have any solid info on this subject?

One more related thing. Circuit boards from hard drives, they also bring a premium price, about double the value of a common PC motherboard. I hear that they have some memory on them as well.

Thanks, Steve

 

[glondor]

A quick price check of GD puts it at about $230 a kilo. Some one else can do the math on how much would need to be in a kilo of ram to justify $20 per pound, discounting the AU/AG, PT/PD.

How is GD recovered?


http://www.metal-pages.com/metals/gadolinium/metal-prices-news-information/

 

[qst42know]

Here is an overview from the wiki.

Production

Gadolinium is produced both from monazite and bastnäsite.

1.Crushed minerals are extracted with hydrochloric or sulfuric acids, which converts the insoluble oxides into soluble chlorides or sulfates.
2.The acidic filtrates are partially neutralized with caustic soda to pH 3–4. Thorium precipitates as its hydroxide and is removed.
3.The remaining solution is treated with ammonium oxalate to convert rare earths in to their insoluble oxalates. The oxalates are converted to oxides by heating.
4.The oxides are dissolved in nitric acid that excludes one of the main components, cerium, whose oxide is insoluble in HNO3.
5.The solution is treated with magnesium nitrate to produce a crystallized mixture of double salts of gadolinium, samarium and europium.
6.The salts are separated by ion exchange chromatography.
7.The rare earth ions are then selectively washed out by suitable complexing agent.[1]
Gadolinium metal is obtained from its oxide or salts by heating with calcium at 1450 °C under argon atmosphere. Sponge gadolinium can be produced by reducing molten GdCl3 with an appropriate metal at temperatures below 1312 °C (melting point of Gd) in a reduced pressure.[1]

 

[NobleMetalsRecovery]

OK, we're off to a good start, but do we even know that there is Gadolinium in the scrap memory. All I can find is that it was used at one time, no info on whether or not it's in current use.

Also, is anyone refining gold finger memory, and if so, what kind of yields, gold only, or gold and silver, and palladium?

 

[joem]

Why is Scrap Memory so valuable? $20 per pound on eBay. Steve

Right now I only see them selling at about $9 a pound, pretty much scrap resell value if you factor in shipping costs, any other ebay listings rarely have bids unless item is resold as working.

 

[NobleMetalsRecovery]

Here you go, this eBay auction 200674364085 shows 40 pounds of memory sold for $810.00 plus $28.00 for shipping. Also, the memory sticks only went up to 256K size, so that's not likely to be sold for working memory. Looks like over $20.00 per pound to me. Also, I have a buyer that pays me $16.50 per pound, and I know they are not buying for resale as usable memory. So, I still wonder where the value is in it.

 

[joem]

Here you go, this eBay auction 200674364085 shows 40 pounds of memory sold for $810.00 plus $28.00 for shipping. Also, the memory sticks only went up to 256K size, so that's not likely to be sold for working memory. Looks like over $20.00 per pound to me. Also, I have a buyer that pays me $16.50 per pound, and I know they are not buying for resale as usable memory. So, I still wonder where the value is in it.

It does seem an anomaly ( possible), but two things about this makes me wonder;
high starting price and with only two bids an even higher end. Then shouldn't all other lots auctions of memory at low prices should also sell much higher quicker and a more bids than zero? Also a start date of 11.11.11 and a warehouse? number the same date. I really don't think a warehouses would itemise an artcle by date only, this is most likely an individual which is fine, but don't try to market yourself to a marketer as such.
but hey, if it's a great sale them congrats to the seller.

 

[texan]

Gadolinium...

I know some places here in Texas that is lousy with the stuff...

Texan

 

[Geo]

i understand that 256 memory is still in use but not in regular consumer products.i have a buyer that sells to a company that builds custom made servers that uses banks of this kind of memory.i dont think he was paying quite that much though.

 

[glondor]

I do not know about memory chips, but i believe it is used in processor chips. A patent for recovery I was looking at yesterday was for the recovery of Gd and gallium from kerf dust (sawdust) from cutting slices from a silicon boule. recovery method very similar to gold. http://www.google.ca/search?q=silicon+boule&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1024&bih=677&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=pXbSTrfqDsLb0QHPhNg1&ved=0CDYQsAQ

 

[goldenchild]

Why is Scrap Memory so valuable? $20 per pound on eBay. I would like to know what makes scrap memory worth around $20.00 per pound.

Thanks, Steve

Pure ignorance.

 

[g_axelsson]

I agree with goldenchild, ebay prices is seldom based on reality.

Just to add a bit fact on this thread about gadolinium. It was once used in bubble memories, a type of magnetic solid state memory. It was used but never common in the early eighties. If you find a bubble memory then it's value to collector is a lot higher than any scrap metal value, especially if the card it's sitting on is functional.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_memory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadolinium_Gallium_Garnet

Memory sticks has to my knowledge never used gadolinium.

Göran

 

[rickbb]

If you look at what brokers and refiners are paying for whole ram, it rarely goes over $8 lb. Sometimes eBay prices are un-real, or just a scam.

 

[ilikesilver]

If you look at what brokers and refiners are paying for whole ram, it rarely goes over $8 lb. Sometimes eBay prices are un-real, or just a scam.

Gold/Silver/Tin Fingered Memory RAM $13.00 per pound boardsort.com

 

[chlaurite]

All forms of gold-bearing scrap tend to go for more than their actual recoverable value on Ebay, unless you can afford to buy (and process!) huge lots of low-grade parts (like mixed whole motherboards) that contain more of their value as copper and aluminum than as gold.

Do a quick search for "pci lbs" or "pci gold" and you'll find mixed random pulls going for $5 to $10 per pound. Then try something that doesn't sound like scrap, like"video card lot of 5", and you'll get much better parts (nice big easily removed heatsink, high-yield GPUs, plus fingers and various pins) for less money per pound. Of course, still not really at a price that makes it worth your time to process, but occasionally (rarely) you'll luck out on getting something that lists for a buck with no reserve and only you bid.

Personally, I've acquired my garage full of [stt]crap[/stt] recyclable electronics part-by-individual-part over the years, picking up one junk computer at a time, off the side of the road or given to me by friends and family or occasionally bought at a steal from yardsales and the like.

 

[burningsuntech]

Yeah, I've noticed that memory has been selling at really inflated prices. One posibility which my salvage yard guy mentioned, was that people have a perceived value rating of what items will bring. he buys at $10 and sells at $15 per pound. He mentioned that the fingers had a higher quality than just plating on boards. But i'm finding that the gold used on circuit boards is always high in it's purity. Some boards have a thicker plating than others. So it doesn't add up. The only reason prices can be so inflated is that it is what the market will bear. The more people who are into scraping, the more demand. Therefore, the price is higher.

Since gold has dipped in price from its $1600 per troy last year, there are less people going to the trouble of refining. So the price should drop. But there is that gleam in the eye appeal of perceived value that keeps it up there. This is the reason I don't buy from Ebay.
Sam

 

[chlaurite]

So, on this very topic, funny/annoying story.

This morning, I won a lot of 100 sticks of RAM for $9.99. "Awesome!", I think, "I finally got a deal at the palace-o'-used-stuff-selling-for-more-than-new!"

Except, the buyer "meant" to list them (some sort of high-end server RAM, pulls but still cost a fortune new) for $999.00, and voided the sale (after I had already paid, even - Thank %Deity% I used plastic instead of PayPal).

On the one hand, I find it hilarious to think that I would have gleefully (and unknowingly) ripped apart and dissolved in acid, a thousand dollars' worth of "scrap". On the other hand - DEFINITE "unsatisfied" rating across the board on this one.