Silver Stackers Forum

I agree Bron, it is a drawn out and expensive process, that's why many refiners will give you 50 cents or less on the dollar to recover the gold. The current price of gold still makes this a very profitable venture.

I also did a look at the copper windings in the little fan motors and you get about 3g copper per fan and about 1/2 hour to get it off the windings, the old floppy discs returned about 13g of copper and about the same time. If I was paid by the hour it probably cost $50 hr for maybe $0.50c copper ? So not really worth the effort. I never thought about keeping the aluminium casings. That may be more worthwhile. I figured it would be better for me to go and buy cable by the meter and strip that. So really there was no benefit at all that I could see ?

The gold plated fingers, basically any PCI card, I reckon just keep stacking them and in a few years, when it becomes more mainstream you will probably find there is a home kit that will make life easy to get at these PM's well I hope so.

Last edited by Austacker (2010-06-20 17:30:36)

Austacker wrote:

The gold plated fingers, basically any PCI card, I reckon just keep stacking them and in a few years, when it becomes more mainstream you will probably find there is a home kit that will make life easy to get at these PM's well I hope so.

or you could design one and make a killing both ways

goldpelican wrote:

Putting my greenie hat on, what are you meant to do with the e-waste after the reclamation process is complete? You've extracted the gold, now you've got a pile of leached CPUs or remnant PCBs from RAM sticks - how do you dispose of those safely?

The wheelie bin

ozcopper wrote:

I don't save any other parts but the hard drives cases are usually solid aluminum and I believe that the spinning rotors inside may be platinum plated.

Now that gives me an idea. Time to get out my torx screwdrivers and analyze some hard disk metals with someone elses XRF.

intelligencer wrote:

As much as I can see why, I dont think this is really anything but fringe stuff. The space those processors would take up compared to a handful of 24k coins is the biggest argument against. Not to mention the cost of recovering the gold.

I think Id just pass these onto the recyclers/refiners and buy bullion with the proceeds.

As a stealth type of stash though...... Maybe there is a purpose.

It is fringe in Australia, but it is big business in the U.S.A

See:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/5-3LB-PENTIUM-IN … 1e5c930863

And:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/100lbs-gold-scra … 519122d0bb

And:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/scrap-ceramic-cp … 3a5bc9463a

And:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/LOT-176-PENTIUM- … 563d84b7df

Nice!

Nit pick away Clawhammer, that's why I love this forum. Thanks for the perspective

Wow, that would have taken some work... who said gold wasn't an industrial metal

obviously campaigning to "recycle" your old mobile phone to "save the planet" works a lot better than saying

"give us all your old mobile phones so we can strip the gold and other precious metals out of it"

To me ,recycling PM's (and most anything with DURABILITY,built in) is just the same as mining.

Gold and Silver will be here as long as the planet exists.If we let it go to landfill ..someone else,in the future would see the opportunity ,and value, in mining the landfill sites for PM"s .The variability is in the cost/benefit ratio

It all goes round and round 

mpowerin wrote:

Boyou wrote:

To me ,recycling PM's (and most anything with DURABILITY,built in) is just the same as mining.

Gold and Silver will be here as long as the planet exists.If we let it go to landfill ..someone else,in the future would see the opportunity ,and value, in mining the landfill sites for PM"s .The variability is in the cost/benefit ratio

It all goes round and round 

good point

recycle your old mobile phones and help save the planet .... as long as there is a buck in it ...
otherwise nahhhh... screw it ... business is business and love is bulls**t

I have recycled goat manure from a paddock because I believed it was a precious resource gone to waste.(and it was the best High nitrogen fertilizer available .. you should have seen my leafy vegetables!)

Every thing has value..intrinsic and immutable

mpowerin..you just need to FEEL the love .

A Great song!..and the best songs lyrics read like poetry.I know this is getting WAY off topic ,but I like Neil Young's poetry in song.

He's a misfit and malcontent..a visionary and shaman ..A bit like many SS 'ers

Silver and Gold

Workin' hard every day
Never notice how
the time slips away
People come, seasons go
We got something
that'll never grow old.

I don't care
if the sun don't shine
And the rain keeps pouring
down on me and mine
'Cause our kind of love
never seems to get old
It's better than silver and gold.