Dummies Guide to GOLD bullion refining at home as a long term precious metal investment - made EASY

good deal looks like i might give this a try, even if its so i can say i have tried it. i have a few old computers i dont need any more. just need to look in to getting the acid to do it.

reply to post by ANNED


I suspect you're correct, even though Butler claims accuracy below milligrams/ton. Although I'm more inclined to agree with you. Something about beginning with a measure of volume and arriving at a measure of mass. Good to know there are some legit gold folks around these parts

Another very useful skill/knowledge. Thank you again.
2nd line

reply to post by tauristercus


that was an amazing read S+F you're abilities to explain things are incredible, that guide is perfect. i'm going to save this one and the silver one to pc and definitely try this one day.

Thanks for the awesome thread
-TF

Please note everyone ...

In my OP, where I describe the refining process, somehow I managed to miss posting an important step in the process that may have caused some confusion.
I've asked Admin to insert the missing section but until they do, you'll find it on page 3.

Another excellent thread. I really like the idea of obtaining the "waste" industrial gold from electronics. Even things like speaker plugs have gold coatings.

I still do not recommend melting down identifiable, "certified" gold such as coins, but the recovery of industrial gold has great potential. Thanks again and I hope you don't mind if I save this thread as a PDF for future reading as well.

Anyone ever turn a profit off of this instead of just keeping it as a stash?

im guessing if you salvage e-waste you would need a LOT of it, and after spending the gas to go and find all of that plus the time to break it down, not to mention the cost of buying the junk electronics unless you garbage pick for it, there wont be much profit.

would be an awesome job though, I know where to find some old stuff but nowhere near what I would require, maybe ill just start collecting it as i come across it and in a few years ill have a big enough batch to churn out a couple grams.

This may have already been stated, apologies if so. However, there is zero point in doing this with coins (silver or gold). As was said, some coins contain silver... well those coins are already worth their weight in silver, no point in extracting it. If anything, it will DECREASE the value because joe six pack knows a 1959 quarter contains X amount of silver and will pay for it, not some silver colored button made by you in your basement.

Also, I saw a comment about buying silverware at yardsales. Yes, there is silver in them (the right ones) but once again, no need to extract it, as they ARE ALREADY WORTH MONEY DUE TO THE SILVER CONTENT!!!

It takes a lot of computer material to justify the danger of this. I foresee a bunch of ATS'ers with lung damage and melted faces because of this going wrong.

If you find cheap silver/gold coins, count your blessings and hold onto 'em, they're already worth money, no need to extract it.

nice one.. was waiting on this thread being published.

I have been considering going fossiking (spelling?) before with a friend due to the area of australia in which i live.

This would be good to extract the gold from the raw ore.

Cheers bro!

reply to post by NISMOALTI


You can get platinum and others from old catalytic convertors.

Originally posted by hpm724
This may have already been stated, apologies if so. However, there is zero point in doing this with coins (silver or gold). As was said, some coins contain silver... well those coins are already worth their weight in silver, no point in extracting it. If anything, it will DECREASE the value because joe six pack knows a 1959 quarter contains X amount of silver and will pay for it, not some silver colored button made by you in your basement.

Also, I saw a comment about buying silverware at yardsales. Yes, there is silver in them (the right ones) but once again, no need to extract it, as they ARE ALREADY WORTH MONEY DUE TO THE SILVER CONTENT!!!

It takes a lot of computer material to justify the danger of this. I foresee a bunch of ATS'ers with lung damage and melted faces because of this going wrong.

If you find cheap silver/gold coins, count your blessings and hold onto 'em, they're already worth money, no need to extract it.

HPM makes a very valid point here. If you lack common sense or doubt your abilities to safely use acids do not try this. For the others your high school chemistry class should have more than readied you for this simple task.

reply to post by Donkey_Dean


The point may be valid but it extend to more than just coins.
All forms of scrap which you can acquire at cheap.
If you refine the silver down it will be worth more as silver than a spoon.

Not to mention it's possible to buy coins at less than face value and coins with more than there fair share of silver.
At the end of the 50's quarters still had enough silver in them to make them into jewelry, they had more than 25 cents worth of silver.
I don't know why they did, but they did.

This is kinda INCREDIBLE!! All I would as of ye, good sir OP-er and anyone with knowledge that is sufficient; what would be some cost-effective items to create this gold from? You have already mentioned PC parts, but more sources would be great to know of. Gotta get started on my (unconceived) child's education fund!

Again, excellent post!

This could be the most valuable thread (along with the silver thread) ever posted on ATS! Thank you so much bro! I have been interested for some time about this process and now i think i will give it a go, this could mean the difference between feast or famine in the tough times ahead ATSers,
so i think taking this process seriously and literally giving it a try is something we should all consider...

reply to post by tauristercus


How well does just melting it down from the beginning work? What would be the result of putting the material in a pot and melting it all down if the material is all metal, as an alternative to using chemicals. Separating it could be a challenge but I think the different density of the metals could be used to help separate it. My metallurgy experience only goes as far as some bullet casting.

reply to post by Skewed


I can answer that as I've taken Materials Science and Pa was a Metallurgist.

It's actually much harder to separate metals using a forge.

You need constant high heat for long periods of time, and you still need chemicals.

The Chemicals cause the slag to clump together much like flocking agents in water purification.
They then need to be removed and depending on if the precious metals get stuck to them the slag may need to be chem washed anyway.

You would use a phenomenal amount more of fuel to maintain the temperature to separate the metals.
Not to mention metals like to alloy and become a new homogenous solution.

To use your method you would have to use chemicals to remove the metal from the alloy than cool it until the slag rises to the top skim it and repeat until all the undesired metal is out.

On an industrial level it's more practical, on a small scale it's not.

I hope that helps fill in some gaps, there is of course much more to it than I described and each extra step takes time and money.

reply to post by Pigraphia


Understood, thanks.
Just goes to show my experience only goes as far as working with lead.

Originally posted by Pigraphia
reply to post by Donkey_Dean

 

The point may be valid but it extend to more than just coins.
All forms of scrap which you can acquire at cheap.
If you refine the silver down it will be worth more as silver than a spoon.

Not to mention it's possible to buy coins at less than face value and coins with more than there fair share of silver.
At the end of the 50's quarters still had enough silver in them to make them into jewelry, they had more than 25 cents worth of silver.
I don't know why they did, but they did.

They did because back in the day the silver wasn't worth as much. As inflation increased, it become worth more dollars and became uneconomical to produce the coins with silver, so they went with 40%, and then to 0%. Example, a nickel right now is worth about 6.5 cents if melted down to its metal components. I'm sure they have plans to change that though, but that's off topic for this post.

Here is a good resource for determining how much a coin is worth due to its metals. www.coinflation.com...

Edit: Sorry, I lied about the 6.5 cents, it is around 5.7 as of this post.

reply to post by hpm724


Good find on the currency value site.

That's where any profit in this can be made.

We can't melt American coins but we can foreign coins.

Look for foreign coins at face value or less for whatever reason and make your profit on the difference through volume.

It's possible, this isn't a get rich method that's for sure but it beats spending time in front of the boob tube.

reply to post by tauristercus

Simply by VERY carefully pouring off the clear liquid into another container. Then add enough fresh clean water to cover the brown sediment, leave to stand until the brown sediment has re-settled on the bottom (because adding fresh water will most likely stir it up), then VERY carefully pour of the water into another container. Repeat this adding water/let settle/pour off 3 times in total ... the aim being to completely dilute and pour of any remaining traces of acid. On the last pour off, try to pour off as much water as possible leaving the brown sediment behind. Then just let the remaining water evaporate and the sediment to dry.

I refine precious metals often and have done for 20 years. Aside from the fact that you will loose too much and that the refiners we use don't lose as much and handle bulk, so it's cheaper, you have written a very helpful article. S&F

The reason I highlighted your quote above, is that I found a very simple trick to separate metals from water.

Instead of waiting so long the metal to settle make the water heavy by adding dish-washing liquid.
When it is cleaned and you are ready to melt, pour it out wet and it wont blow away, BUT it will leach the impurities from the water, so...

Also, most people doing it on the cheap use charcoal as crucible.

Q. How long does it take to dissolve away the impurities of a, say, heavy 14k gents ring?

Q#2, have you encountered gold+platinum alloys, yet? Platinum tends to 'take over' if you remelt an alloy containing the two (found in some high-end white gold alloys).

Last question / point = now what?
If you sell it, it still has to be assayed and while your investment is raising in price, you will still have to sell it at a discount.