Precious Metals in Scrap?

Here is what the average scrap value of electronics and other related items are.

https://www.scrapmonster.com/scrap-prices/category/electronics-scraps/2

Thanks for the link tcmtech... I gotta find me a good local recycling spot for this kind of stuff, I have access to large enough amounts of those types of components to make it worthwhile.

Here is a site that I've bought used parts from: https://www.pchub.com/uph/category/64/Main-Board-Motherboard-.html Note, they also sell DEAD motherboards. Remember that a motherboard could be missing the CPU.

Numbers might be hard to come by on the internet, but that doesn't mean they aren't available. Most people just try "google" and if they can't find it there, they assume they don't exist. That's the great misconception of the internet: if it isn't there, then it doesn't exist. Here are some numbers, but they are old (1999). For those who are too lazy to do the actual research ( like me ) you can basically extrapolate the numbers for the price of the material and the rise in amount of electronics in the marketplace.

as muchas one-third of the precious metals recovered from scrap may be gold (Sean Magaan, Noranda, Inc., Micro Metallics Corp., oral content. The value of the 1 t of amount of precious metals precious metals recovered from electronic scrap in the United States in 1998 (table 1) probably exceeded $3.6 million. This value was obtained by assuming that the precious
metals recovered consisted of 60 percent silver and 40 percent gold, palladium, and platinum. The average price used to calculate the value was $5.10 per troy ounce of silver and an average of $300 per troy ounce of gold, palladium, and platinum.

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link

The problem is there is no value given to the amount of precious metals that are in a motherboard... The assumptions made have no basis in science and have since that period of time become a tiny fraction of what they were. There's no point to start a calculation from aside from wild guess and random assumptions.

TCM's link to scrap prices of various E-waste items is about the best you could get and a solid chunk of that is from re-use of components not the raw metals price.

I have been tempted to look around for a electronics recycling center myself.

Most of the aluminum, copper, and steel from heat sinks, heavy wiring, and chassis go in my normal scrap bins but I do have a considerable amount of circuit boards that if I could even get $2 a pound for I would not hesitate to sell them off for recycling.

Sceadwian said:

The problem is there is no value given to the amount of precious metals that are in a motherboard... The assumptions made have no basis in science and have since that period of time become a tiny fraction of what they were. There's no point to start a calculation from aside from wild guess and random assumptions.

TCM's link to scrap prices of various E-waste items is about the best you could get and a solid chunk of that is from re-use of components not the raw metals price.

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i just thought i would also point that while it may indeed be true that gold content has decreased, there seems to be two faators you are neglected to take into account
1) we are talking scrap so that is likely to mean "older" E scrap past being useful and therefore possiably more precious metal content
2) the price quoted was $300 per ounce (troy) current value per ounce(troy) $1,787, i would have thought that this rise in price alone more than covers the decrease in content for newer scrap.
thank you for the link brown out

i also found the following that may be of interest and at least has some figures, although i exspect theese to be fully discounted
http://www.electronicstakeback.com/wp-content/uploads/Facts_and_Figures
interesting figure for cell phones
1 ton cell phones (approx 6000 phones) contains $15,000 in precious metals and thats at a very low metal price (1998).
to quote "“A ton of used mobile phones, for example – or approximately 6,000 handsets (a tiny fraction of today's 1 billion annual production) ‐‐ contains about 3.5 kilograms of silver, 340 grams of gold, 140 grams of palladium, and 130 kg of copper, according to StEP. The average mobile phone battery contains another 3.5 grams of copper. Combined value: over US $15,000 at today's prices.”32"
and just to dot the i's and cross the T's for those that need it, the source they are quoting is
32 United Nations University (2009, September 17). Set World Standards For Electronics Recycling, Reuse To Curb E‐waste Exports To Developing Countries, Experts Urge. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2009/09/090915140919.htm
i would have thought they could be considered a reliable source.
so yeah i guess brownout hit the nail on the head... the info is actualy out there if you look! although i still havnt seen anything that would make me think small scale reclaiming wasnt viable

Most of these old figures do not include the costs! Laber, EPA, hazardous waste disposal, or general over head.

4pyros said:

Most of these old figures do not include the costs! Laber, EPA, hazardous waste disposal, or general over head.

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a some what lazy response.
laber hasnt increased a great deal, you only have to look back at wage freezes and the massively uneven distrubution of wealth over the last decade or so. had you of read the report careful or looked at the source the exstracts were taken from the waste produced is considered more "green" than raw mining of gold ore! infact all the poiunts you raised would be as applicapble to traditionaly gold mining as it would be to recovery. as the reports points out there is a far greater amount of gold to recover from gold recycling than gold mining!! so by default traditional mining must therefore be even less profitable now in comparision
just incase you cant find current prices if you update current metals values it works out at around $27,000 per ton of scrap!
and one last little point to clear up for sceadwien seeing as he dislikes making a mistake so much, in a earlier post you stated that copper rather than gold would be worth more due to the greater ammount of it.
indeed you will be delighted to know that copper is by far the greater quantity using theese figures at around 130KG!!! to gold's somewaht modest 340 grams! however sadly the value of the copper is around $1,065 compared to golds $19,380!!! i would probaly advise you against going much further with any plans to deal in scrap as you indicated earlier, it would appear it isnt something you have yet developed a feel for. anyway alot of the leg work has been done for you so maybe now you can crunch the figures and work out the cost v profit. should you get lost in this or have difficulty finding information (ive noticed so far you havnt had alot of sucess geting figures to back you up). let me know and i will help you try and disprove that small scale recovery is profitable

4pyros said:

Most of these old figures do not include the costs! Laber, EPA, hazardous waste disposal, or general over head.

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None of those really apply - the boards are normally shipped off to India (or similar) where they are 'processed' by child labour in slums, causing massive pollution.

Like here;
**broken link removed**

4pyros said:

Like here;
**broken link removed**

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what has that got to do with this thread??? the question origanaly was regarding doing reclaiming on a small scale and was it worth it?? your taking it in an entirely different direction, as is often the case when people hate to sdmit there ill founded assumptions are wrong. but never mind we forgive you

ghostman11 said:

what has that got to do with this thread??? the question origanaly was regarding doing reclaiming on a small scale and was it worth it?? your taking it in an entirely different direction, as is often the case when people hate to sdmit there ill founded assumptions are wrong. but never mind we forgive you

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It's got everything to do with it - it's only worthwhile if you can ignore any regulations and do what you want. Doing it responsibly (on either a large or small scale) isn't cost effective.

Nigel Goodwin said:

It's got everything to do with it - it's only worthwhile if you can ignore any regulations and do what you want. Doing it responsibly (on either a large or small scale) isn't cost effective.

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thats a sweeping statement Nigel! one the bigest plants for mobile phones etc is a belgium place so are we to assume they are only making it pay because they are trashing the planet? all forms of mineing cause problems if we want metals etc then we have to except there will be consequences. i still prefer reclaiming to just continualy mineing stuff out the ground. here on the farm we recycle way way more than most simply because of cost, for us we have to pay to have most the waste we produce taken away and it aint cheap!! so where we can we seperate waste and recycle. of course animal waste we reuse or sell on. we dont do this because we care about enviromental issue's (we do care but the driving force is cost).

ghostman11, why do you prefer recovery over mining? Current recovery techniques have not proved to be more friendly than mining for energy or resources, for anything other than non-precious metals.

Don't worry about the planet, we're the only one's at risk from us, not even a total global thermonuclear intentional destruction of this planet would make mother nature do anything more than go "okay"

We're so far off topic from your original claim that precious metal scrap in e-waste can warrant recovery for profit that even if you started the thread you're still off topic in it...

ghostman11 said:

thats a sweeping statement Nigel! one the bigest plants for mobile phones etc is a belgium place so are we to assume they are only making it pay because they are trashing the planet?

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What makes you think they are making it pay based on the value of metals they recover?.

Assuming they are making it pay?, then it's more probably due to subsidies they are receiving.

well the united nations report says that more gold is now recovered than mined! not just from ewaste i admit. so it has to have a greater profit margin or they wouldnt bother????? when i get a chance i will study the full UN report see exactly what the benifits are.
as for being off topic. scead the topic was is it worth while getting precious metal from ewaste on a small scale, i fail to see how i am off topic. the topic never mentioned was it viable and eco friendly! scead if you have read or interpreted something in the OP that i have missed and i am now off topic with what i have posted then please point it out. considering people are happy to work for £5 to feed there families in the uk i would say reclaiming metal is a viable way of making a living on a small scale. have you yet come up with any figures on acid's costs etc?? or how much acid is needed??/ or have you still not bothered to find anything to back up what your saying?
Nigel i will get back to you on subsidies and ewaste. ive not looked yet and its not something i had considered, if there are heavy subs for doing it then there is a whole new slant on it and the proposistion would look alot less viable indeed.

ghostman11 said:

Nigel i will get back to you on subsidies and ewaste. ive not looked yet and its not something i had considered, if there are heavy subs for doing it then there is a whole new slant on it and the proposistion would look alot less viable indeed.

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How much gold do you think is in a mobile phone?.

the topic never mentioned was it viable and eco friendly!

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Then what's the point?

You want to do something that will recover a trivial amount of raw materials and expend more energy in the process than creating new materials from mined components....

I think we need a sanity check here.

Sorry for throwing the thread off on a tangent.
My point is as long as we have over seas dumping grounds thay will get the e-waste.
It is a good idea to recycle our e waste, but as long as it is cheeper to ship it over seas it ant going to happen in large or small scales.
Andy