We've seen the beautiful blue solution from the silver cell. We love the gorgeous orange of aqua regia. Now we have an amazing green solution. I love these colours!
Hi sreetips. I would love if you would discuss the costs you incur a little more. I know this is a hobby, but as prices change, it would be nice to hear about how much you would spend in chemicals on a process like this. I think it would be good for other would-be refiners to get a better idea of what they could be getting into.
Nitric is $50 for 2.5 liter bottle. I used about ten bucks worth. The scrap was $130 per pound. Hydrochloric is $12 per bottle. I used about two bucks worth. SMB was three spoons. Maybe fifty cents. So if your goal is to buy the scrap and immediately resell the recovered gold to gain more paper dollars (profit) than you started with, then forget it. My goal is to create content for my RU-vid channel. I was glad to find a source that had that much scrap available to buy in one spot.
Computer scrap is very popular because of the belief that it contains much gold just waiting for those who can figure out how to get it. That’s just a myth. Electronics contain gold because they’d quit working if they didn’t. But it’s just trace amounts. The real money is in scrap karat gold; broken chains, bracelets, rings and necklaces. With gold so low, people are clueless about it. They believe, incorrectly, that paper dollars are more valuable than gold (and silver). This misconception has created a gold and silver buyers paradise. But some folks are starting to catch on. We’ve notice a steep decline in the amount of metal that can be found. But it’s still out there if you know when, where, and what to look for.
No, I tell them that if they don’t need the money then they should just hang on to it because precious metals are trending up while the paper that about to pay them is going down. But that rarely happens. When they hear the amount that I can pay for their scrap, their jaws drop open, and they immediately take the cash, unmindful that the paper I’m giving them is declining and losing value faster than a snowball in July. In that sense, it’s phycological because they believe, incorrectly, that paper dollars are more valuable than gold (and silver).
@@wethepeople7961, bet you think the guys from Pawn Stars feel bad too if the seller under sells because they don't have a clue what something is worth until they call in the expert. It's the sellers job to have an idea what it's worth and what they will accept, don't you use Offer Up?
This process went much smoother than the last time. It had a lot less waste to dispose of. Thanks for the knowledge! As you know I'm not a refiner or even own gold in any way. I'm just a Nerd... also I know way too much about... just stuff. Lol😂 it's so interesting.
The Peroxide method can work just as fast as using Nitric, You just need to HEAT the solution. Nitric would take longer as well if you did not heat it.
I use a slow process that soaks fingers and pins in HCl with just a little copper chloride, called the 'AP process'. It's cheap and you constantly generate more CuCl2 reagent in the process. I can just throw everything into a beaker and forget about it for a week. Doesn't even need bubbling. Just stir it well every few days. When white CuCl crystals begin to form and there's still base metal remaining, just pour off most of the concentrated waste and add more HCl. It works VERY well for pins. Nothing but foils are left over. For fingers, you still end up having to wash the thin gold off some of the cheaper, modern fingers. The old types do tend to fall off nicely.
Thanks brother! I really appreciate your knowledge. The art of alchemy is noble and your salvage recycling of precious metals is inspiring, even though I don't have the space or time for a lab. keep on keepen on! Aloha!
Seeing the gold foil separate so beautifully, I would just dry the gold flakes and display them in a clear glass vial so they can be admired 😁💛 Although I have to admit, the gold button is beautiful 🌟
A really beautiful little button and fascinating that this was a quicker process. I've watched a few of these from others and it's always been a much more involved process. Gold, silver, precious metals and gems does interest me and not necessarily just because of its monetary value but the beauty of those items. 👍
I know you most likely lose money when you make a computer scrap video, but it's always a good watch & wish you'd do more of them. Maybe next time you could do similar technique on different computer scrap, like gold pins. This is the way I'd want to process my computer scrap when I start to do it. I wouldn't care if I lost money because it is a hobby & hobbies usually cost money!!
Superb ! That was way faster than anything i ever tried ! If you recall the Weir Effect thing, it'd be great to do the Nitric treatment in a glass cement-mixer. Adding a bit of water/nitric as the thing turned, at an angle, the gold foils would flow over the edge. Mostly they get trapped by the circuit boards, as you saw. AR directly on the FR-4 circuit board material could well have produced some things you might not like.
On those boards, it tends to be the copper layers where pretty much all the metals are attached unless they are bolted/screwed to the board. Going right after the copper seems to been the easiest way. If you get a large enough batch and can cycle through large boards and not just trimmed then you could recover a fair bit of copper and silver this way for basic refining to recoup some costs. Copper would be the highest yield volume wise. Even the cheap boards like in basic electronics would give up copper in the least. Silver could be in the contacts and solder at the low end. Good for a hobby unless you needed fine powdered copper/silver for maybe plating.
Most of us ewaste scraper know there is small amounts of precious metals in electronic. As the saying goes "It takes alot to make a little." Some resell computers components or separate gold fingers for sale, like what sreetip demonstrated here. Some, like me, tear down, separate, and stock pile metals to turn in for cash. Metals found in ewaste are steels, copper, brass, various aluminums, tantalum, PGMs, silver, and gold. I thank you Sreetips for knowledge you're sharing. I have learn new better cost effective ways to process precious metals. I even started to buy and collect jewelry to increase my precious metals yields.
Best of luck for a quarter million subs by the end of 2023 Sreetips... You're so close. Great vid. If you can get the fingers at a fair price it might be closer to economically viable. Hope the YT ad bucks are currently assisting that. Thanks for sharing.
Here's an idea. This would probably be on the same lines as recovering gold from gold fingers (not profitable and maybe even LESS rewarding), but maybe fun for those who are hobbyists, or just plain curious. There are trace amounts of gold 'almost' everywhere, if you know what to look for. Your neck of the woods is no exception. Have you ever thought about going to a local creek, or stream and digging up a couple of bucket loads of dirt and gravel, from lower lying areas to process? Panning only reveals visible gold to those who do that. What about the gold that is too small to see, or does not 'look' like gold... kinda like ore, or cemented gold? Quite possibly a complete waste of time, but you must admit that it would be a curious experiment, just the same!
The detaching of the plating with nitric acid worked beautifully. How spectacular! I would've been tempted to remove all the foils floating at the surface with a spoon before filtering the solution.
@@sreetips That's true! I posted this as I was watching the video and expected the recovery of the foils to be far more labor intensive. I assumed that they would stick to everything and that you'd have to rinse the circuit boards one by one. I didn't think that you'd do the aqua regia with the circuit boards still in the beaker, but it worked perfectly!
Your videos are interesting and educational. Have you ever calculated your profit, accounting for the cost of chemicals, raw materials, waste disposal, etc. I know that's not really the goal, but would be interesting to know
This beats the pants off the peroxide method. 10 years ago I used nitric acid for CPU chips it took a lot longer and was a bit of a mess but I was just experimenting. The info online wasn't as good as it is today. Fun to see it done on fingers though.
I have a video “Trimmed Fingers in Aqua Regia” posted on my channel. I didn’t like precipitating the gold from the dirty solution. But it did work ok. Can’t remember if the yield was affected or not.
@@sreetips Sulphamic acid - iron sulphate - boil au precipitate in HCL - Re Refine - then Ascorbic acid. Quickest Method I believe when time is your enemy.
That's the only way I do fingers. AP will dissolve gold as well so I stopped doing it a long time ago. Dilute HNO3 works fast. I have done 20 lbs of fingers in a day. I have even melted the foils and Xrayed the buttons, they come it at about 22k on average. So when I get them recoverd I let them sit for a while in fresh Nitric. Give them a few water boils and go to AR. Most cases it comes in at 997 +. Given you don't get paid any more for 999 then you do for 997 . I just sell it to the refiner
Hey there, just a tip to you because I like watching your methods the most, strenuous as you are toward getting back that gold. You might condense your videos to 10 to 15 minutes, at least SOME of them, as those are the ones you might get back the most traffic. But your analysis stats probably say better.
If you want an easier way to get the water out of the gold try pouring it on to a paper towel and then you twist the towel to press the water out. Rip off the part where the gold is and then proceed as normal. You can burn the paper towel in the melt dish to get rid of it and pool the gold.
Great video! As a fellow refiner, I have a quick question for you. I’ve always been cautioned against using AR while the PCB are still present due to the fact that the boards can and do absorb the acid. Are you concerned that you’ve lost some of the yield because it’s still trapped in the PCB boards?
Hi Sreetips! Just out of curiosity, would the process of extraction and refinement of AU, be any better benefitted if you used Mercury ( Hg) in your process?
"Add a splash (nitric acid), maybe 50ml" I know what 50ml looks like, and that was on point! So with the nitric acid trick to remove the gold fingers, was it worth it? Not just making easier, but is it viable?
some of those circuit board fingers have copper INSIDE the middle. They might be multi-layered and have copper inside. A long boil in nitric may not be enough to remove it all. I haven't fully watched the video yet, but I can predict the outcome.
Going through your vids to find what helps me the most on my task. A word on computer scrap: Computer scrap refining only makes sense to me, if you get the stuff for free. And even then you would be better off to sell the fingers than to extract the gold. I wonder what you paid for the fingers. It feels like often they are more expensive than the actual gold in there.
Suggestion, since you teach us so much. One more legal reservation of rights commonly used for video/film is an “all rights reserved” it sounds broad but tested & defined by case law, this also covers your creative genius..!
I wonder how would the removal of gold plate from electrolytes and electrolysis?? I've done alot with silver in the past but compared to other methods it sure is a messy long process with silver. But I say to anyone money is able to be made if you need it desparatly. But I've never ever bothered to read up about gold plating. Cheers as always mate.👍🇦🇺
Great video. Like always! I do have a a question. Why would you not be able to use aqua Regia to put all the metals in solution at the beginning. Then separate the solution from the fiber boards then process the solution accordingly? I have no experience at all other than what I have learned from sreetips so it may be a stupid question but either way, you get pushed up on the algorithm. Thanks!
Hi there! are those any kind of special filters or i could just use regular coffee filters for this process? Thanks for sharing this great content!! Very useful!!
Ok i have a question im about to start to refine some gold from electronic scrap anyway wat iblike to know is doing the electrolisis method deos the liquid have to be gold cloride or can i use a vinegar salt solution
Electrolytic is a refining process. Using salt and vinegar to strip gold off of scrap is a recovery process. Recovery and refining are two totally different processes.
And i have a question... I did 2 reactions together and one resulted in a blue liquid. I know blue is the expecting colour to the copper reaction with HNO3 which results in Copper Nitrate. But the other became Green... Could you share some thoughts about this green colour? Scraps I own are full of Gold, Silver and Copper... I dont know what else.
When I didn’t know better I tried melting silver in a bread tin inside a kiln I couldn’t control the heat of, long story short the silver melted as well as the metal tin and they fused together. How would I go about separating the silver from the metal?
@@sreetips I believe it’s thin steel but it got so hot it fused with the silver but I’m not sure how to melt or dissolve the silver that doesn’t include melting the steel tin aswell
my dear friend please tell me what is the use of electrolytic silver? For what kind of market can I offer goldsmiths, baths, dentists ??? who uses it the most. thank you very much in advance ... congratulations for the videos .
I use silver to store my savings. But it has many industrial uses. Silver is the best conductor of electricity and heat, over all other metals on the periodic table.
Hello sreetips: I was just wondering if once you got the foils off of the fiber boards if you could just melt the gold foils and form gold shot then put the shot into your gold cell ? Enjoy your videos always interesting, thanks.
@@sreetipsis that the only possibility for the green color? I wanna say I’ve seen green before when trying to de-gold circuit boards but always before the AR step
@sreetips Hello Sreetips. I have a question about the quality of MASS QUANTITY OF COSTUME JEWELRY that I've seen for sale from Salvation Army and other places. How much precious metals content have you found in costume jewelry usually? Would it be more cost effective to melt the metals down to recover the precious metals, or using chemicals
