The gold in cell phones?

ron lord

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yes, you need about 10,000 cell phones to make an oz. of gold
 

tlane38003

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I looked into it doesn't seem worth the effort

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galenrog

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Once you get a few thousand dead cell phones, sell them to one of the many companies that buy them as scrap. Buy gold with your payment. Job done.

Time for coffee.
 

cudamark

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yes, you need about 10,000 cell phones to make an oz. of gold

Sounds like the extraction costs would far outweigh the value of the gold!
 

LawrencetheMDer

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Man, I just threw away a Samsung 7 I found in 3-4 ft of water. Hit it with my scoop and busted it up but fell apart in scoop. Don't tell me there's gold in there! Worried about the battery and all...so pitched it. Hmmm, just did the calculation and if 10,000 = 1 oz:. 12 cents of gold per phone...glad I threw it away...never mind.
 

cyberdan

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Has anyone ever harvested the gold out of cell phones before?

Yes, indirectly. I started buying junk cells in bulk six years ago. Does not matter what the condition they are in they all have gold in them. Before I retired I recycled just over 42,000 cells. I did not want to be the one to work with all the gov't red tape or the acids (don't know which is worse) so I sold to two actual recyclers. One was 20 miles and I would deliver and get paid right away. The other is in FL and he would pick up the Fed-X charges.

I would only pay 50¢ each and then sell by the pound so on average they weigh 2.9oz each. I would only get from 75¢ to $1.00 each, so not a lot of profit each. I calculate that, on average, there is $1.15 worth of AU in each. So I calculate about 1100 cells will net one ounce of 24K gold.

Even these have gold in them.
 

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