Does anyone here recover gold from circuit boards

[Dave45]

I disassembled three old computers today going to try and recover the gold with acid " I know all the hazards " my question is has anyone done this and how much is recovered.
Dave

 

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[jewelerdave]

Unless your set up to process it already, and have a crap load of it. Dont bother. You will make more money selling it on Ebay to amatures and hopeful suckers where you will get anywhere from $2000 to $30,000 per ounce of gold contained as to getting the current $900 per ounce and disappointing results and spend a lot of time, work and money getting the stuff out.
Just because it looks like a lot, does not mean there is a lot there on plated items. There are enough people out there convinced that there is a gold mine in computer junk that the small scale individual can get rich doing it.
Problem. Many are sold on this message and pay for "info" and then pay way too much for the stuff to process. and then pay way to much on the stuff to process it. Before you know it, you have wasted 1 to 2 grand on tools they may only use once. and piles of scrap that only yields a small amount. If buying gold and doing the work yourself to get gold for maybe $2000 to $5000 per ounce and end up with a bead you can only sell to a refiner(after they process it) Or someone who knows what it is and can use it. People dont trust and buy unmarked fine gold buttons and dont pay a premium for them.

Unless your getting gold plated items for next to nothing or for free or are getting paid to take it away from someone, honestly dont bother, but even then, if you get it, sell it for a profit too the suckers, Then maybe prices may fall in line.

As for yields, they are all over the map. No one can give you an accurate estimate as to whats contained.

I concentrate on gold items that will give good yields, and I only do it as I use the gold for wedding rings so I consume the stuff. I avoid EScrap like the plague for processing. When I do find it, I sell it on ebay and use that money to buy scrap to process for gold.
I also buy a lot of the buttons from hobby refiners, always under or around spot as no one else will pick it up, and when I process it I find that it often has silver and copper mixed in, sometimes as bad as %10 in there "pure" gold.

Scrap your computers metals, and Ebay off the gold, If you only had 3 computers the yeild will be so low it will be near impossible to recover, you may have up to 1/100th of a gram in all of it. Or about 30 cents in gold, the chips sell for $2 to $3 each on ebay. Now tell me where the gold is?

 

[bradyboy]

Ive always been under the impression that you would look for the silver on boards, not gold
what is the ratio of gold against silver on boards?
where and for what reason would gold be used on a board, this is news to me