Urban Prospecting: Four Tips To Get Precious Metals Out Of Junk
Posted on: 9 July 2015
If you want to start a hobby prospecting for precious metals like gold, today, you do not have to pack everything up and move to the desert. There are a lot of precious metals that you can find in urban junk like electronics. The metals you can find range from everything to copper, aluminum, silver and gold. There are complicated processing techniques to get these metals, as well as hobby enthusiasts that use simple scraping techniques. If you want to get started with your own urban prospecting hobby, here are some tips to help you get started:
1. Looking For The Easy Way To Remove Silver Parts In Electrical Parts
Many electrical parts have silver connectors in them. This is not just in electronics. Silver can also be found in things like break switches and relays. These can be little silver rivets or washers that hold electrical connections in place. You can also find silver and gold in control systems from industrial parts. Before you scrap these parts, check to see if they work and try to sell them. If parts are working, they may be worth more than the metals you can get out of them.
2. Finding Gold That Can Easily Be Removed For the Smelting Process
Finding gold in electronics is not always easy. Sometimes, it can be difficult to get it off the parts. There are some things like older cell phones that have parts with gold that is easy to remove. It is often on old dial pads. Gold can also be found on old computer processors, which can also be easily removed with very little processing.
3. Processing Gold Containing Parts With Acid Solutions
There are many ways to get gold off of old electronics. The quickest and easiest way is to use an acid solution. This is also dangerous, so you will want to be careful. You can use hydrochloric acid and an aerator for a fish tank to dissolve parts and gold. Once the materials are dissolved, you can filter them to get the gold powder out of the solution.
4. Refining Your Gold Into Powder And Smelting It For Bullion
Once you have your gold materials, you may want to smelt the powder into bullion. You can do this with molds and torch. If you have pieces with visible gold, you may want to try smelting to remove the gold rather than using acid. You will still want to be careful, but this can be a lot safer than using acid to remove the gold from electrical parts.
These are some tips to help you get valuable metals from old junk people throw out with the trash everyday. If you have collected an amount of gold to sell, contact a precious metal recycling service (such as Mid-States Recycling & Refining) to sell your gold scrap for smelting.
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