Recovering gold from junk electronics, also called urban mining, may be profitable if you can amass large volumes of electronic waste (e-waste), particularly computer parts. It may not be worth the ordeal to extract gold from a small pile of junk hardware.
Low Yield: The yield of gold from electronics is relatively low compared to other gold extraction methods, and it may not be worth it for individuals who are only looking to extract a small amount of gold.
Mining circuit boards for gold can be more valuable than mining much of the highest grade gold mine ores given the generous gold plating in electronics scrap. One ton of computer and laptop circuit boards are estimated to contain 40 to 800 times more gold than one metric ton of gold ore.
Well, it certainly depends on the specific model and the solutions used. CPUs have a high content of gold – it could be as much as 0.2 g to 0.5 g! Melting and processing of parts from several devices yield up to 1–2 g of gold.
According to recent research, approximately 200 g of gold (Au) per ton of scrap can be extracted from e-waste, whereas Au ores contain 5–30 g of Au per ton; this offers an economic incentive to recycle e-waste rather than mine ores from virgin sources [6], [7], [8], [9].
Desktop Computer
It sounds simple enough: just take out some of the shiny components, ship them to authorized gold refiners, and wait to get paid. The largest circuit board in both laptops and desktops, the motherboard, is the part where the most gold can be found.
Recycled gold can be melted down and recycled over and over again and it will never lose its value or purity.
The 24K gold is used to make coins, bars and is also used in electronics and medical devices. The 22 Karat gold is mostly used in making jewellery. In 22K gold, 22 parts of the metal are gold and rest two comprises of metals like silver, zinc, nickel, and other alloys. It is also known as 91.67 per cent pure gold.
TVs usually contain a very small amount of gold that might amount to about $1.00 or less in value. It can be quite a lot of work to get to the gold inside your TV as well.
So, on average, a Computer along with its accessories will have 0.310 grams of Gold. On specific high performance processors/ computers like Intel 386 and 486, Pentum 4 CPU, AMD Ryzen CPUs, Intel 80286 microprocessor have higher Gold content. The total amount of Gold from a single computer can go upto 0.500 grams.
Motherboards and printed circuit boards - The motherboard is often the best potential source of gold in computers. The edges of most components on the board will have gold contacts and connectors where the wires slide in. You will often find thin layers of gold on the motherboard's surface.
Removing Gold Using Fire
Use steel tongs to turn over the burning circuit boards. Get a metal bin or tray, and put the circuit boards into it. Break the boards into smaller pieces so they burn faster. Light the boards on fire.
Something) I'm using simple math its about 37.00 bucks of gold newer computers are about a 1/3 of a gram that's the ram, board fingers, processors. And hard drives, this came out to about 10-12 bucks per computer.
Quick Summary. There is anywhere between 0.1 to 0.5 grams of gold in a single CPU. If a gram of gold is worth $60, you'll typically get $30 worth of gold from a single CPU. To make a profit, you'll have to dismantle hundreds of CPUs to extract a significant amount of gold.
The processors and connectors in computers, tablets, and smartphones use gold. You can also find gold in televisions, gaming consoles, printers, or essentially anything electronic.
Pour nitric acid into the glass container over the circuit boards. Stir the mixture with the glass or metal rod until the contents become a uniform fluid. Once the gold has separated from the plates — it may take some time — strain the nitric acid from the mix using the filter. Take out the pieces that aren't melted.
Gold is an important element in the design of printed circuit boards, and looking closely at most PCBs will reveal that the 'fingers' on the board include metal contacts fabricated from gold.
Motherboards – the biggest circuit boards inside both laptops and desktops – often contain the “mother lode” of gold in used computers. Their edges have gold contacts and connectors where wires slide on. You will also find thin layers of gold applied to motherboards' surfaces.
This is because the gold content in rams is about 0.155%, which means that there is 15.5 milligrams of gold in every gram of rams. So, if you have 1 kilogram of rams, which is equal to 1000 grams, you will have 15.5 grams of gold.
But after the old jewelry has been turned over to cash-for-gold operations, what happens to all that gold? Because the pieces are usually outdated or broken, pawn shops and jewelry stores usually send all that 'scrap gold' to a gold recycler, or refiner, who melts it all down.
Your best bet among all options is to sell your gold to a professional bullion dealer. This may simply be one of your local coin shops. Professional dealers will pay you more for your gold than any of the alternatives. They are also by far the safest and most secure place to sell gold.
Scrap gold is often weighed in troy ounces when bought and sold: 1 troy ounce generally equals 31.1 grams. Most scrap gold buyers will buy your gold at 60% to 80% of the market price.