Something that is kind of near and dear to my heart - urban mining is starting to make a comeback with the rise in gold and silver prices. I've recovered with aqua regia several times in the past, and still continue to acquire chips, boards and have a large stash of this stuff that I've collected over the years. There's actually a market for this on Ebay. During the peak of gold prices, I sold quite a bit of this stuff as well. Apple touts almost $40mil in recovery of gold and precious metals http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/04...rth-gold-from-recycled-gadgets-last-year.html In its latest annual environmental responsibility report, which was published last week, Apple explained that it gathered 2,204 pounds of recycled gold during its fiscal year 2015. The gold, which weighs more than a ton, is worth $39.6 million.
I tired this a few times. The aqua regia was the tougher part for me. I still have a little gold left from recovery but havent had any more time to try again
2,204 pounds of gold out of 63,000,000 pounds of recovered metals... It would seem that volume plays a big factor here. From an environmental standpoint, its better to use the stuff that has already been dug out of the ground. This is Apple's primary goal with the program. Apple will also control part of their material source and wont have to rely as much on questionable labor practices from international mining operations. Geopolitical issues also become less of a problem when trying to source materials from overseas.
I'm curious - how environmentally friendly is it to do urban mining when dealing with aqua regia? I cannot imagine that you can pour the waste down the drain.
There was a tv show about this in 2013/14 I think. Can't remember what it was called but the guy from the early seasons of Hardcore Pawn with the long gotee, rich I think his name is, was on it. They would pull pm's from old electronics and find it in strange place. One time a guy bought the carpet from a pm dealers store and recovered a few ounces from it.
Why yes, I have... There's not a lot of direct correlation, but there are some telltale signs. It's mostly a function of where the economy sits during the election.
To some extent you can re-use some of the chemicals as you work through the process if you are careful. Some of them burn off as you catalyze the gold burn off the excess low grade metals. At the end, baking soda will neutralize the by-product once it loses the strength and ability to process the metals. It's definitely not an amateur hour project. It requires dangerous chemicals and does create bad fumes, so you need a filtered vent hood and to understand the lifecycle of the chemicals and by-products. There is definitely a satisfying "Eureka!" moment when you get your first recovery!