I've been researching how to get gold and platinum out of old computers and it's easier said than done. I have experience in refinning and all that and it's been hard to get straight answers without giving a credit card number so my age can be checked, anyway, google pointed me to this site, which I came across several times. I decided to register and check out what's out there. I'm new to the treading stuff. This site seems pretty intresting. Any answers for me out there?

Why would you bother to try to get the gold out of old computers? There is very, very little gold there, and I don't think there is any platinum at all. The gold is only on a very, very small layer on the contacts for PCB board connections. The value of the copper in the wiring, components (coils and transformers) and PCB boards would be worth more, IMO, than the gold (which is to say, not much).

unless you are processing large numbers of computers (hundreds of thousands per month) and are selling off non rare-metal parts then it isn't worth it.

 

if it has a metal chassis selling that for scrap will get you more than the precious metals contained in it. except on massive scale operation the precious metals will give you a net loss.

The page linked below shows a rate of one pound of gold per ton of "random electronic board". It has a chart showing recovery rates of other metals which is kinda interesting. Platinum is listed at 0.07 pounds per ton. I don't know how accurate that data is.

 

http://www.backthruthefuture.com/environ_issues.php

 

 

(Something like 300 million personal computers are sold each year. Staggering, isn't it?)