I just recently processed 270 lbs of gold fingers from old PC boards, the reason I know they are old is because it was WHITE PCB that they were on (which is bad bad bad, it was discontinued in electronics in the US back in 1979). These are considered to be high yield because back then they just slathered the gold on. Industry has since changed greatly.
so 270 lbs gave me a final yield of 536 grams. So you take 536 grams, divide that by 270 lbs and you come up with a yield of 1.98 grams of Au per lb.
The plating on these gold fingers was thicker, but the yield seems kind of low, right? Wrong, even though these are considered to be thick gold plating because of it's age and date of manufacture, it is the gaps between the gold fingers that matter. They had huge gaps so the boards, front to back, were probably 35%-40% total gold plated surface There seems to be a lot of talk on this board about what yields are, and this is the reason it's so difficult to explain what I see, through my eyes, as a refiner. Everyone is looking for hard numbers and that just simply isn't the way the world works in regards to recovering precious metals from scrap. I posted in another thread about this here:
http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/elect...ht=#post118376
But here is the flip side to understanding your material better. You can then educate people who refine, specially as a hobby, in your ebay posts or offers to sell on forums like this. If you state in your auction for example, to look at the gold fingers, and point out the very little space between the gold plating, and that's why you are asking for more, people will be willing to pay more. That means, if your fingers are close cropped, the different between 50% gold plating and 90% gold plating over the fingers. It could mean almost double the money, for you. And the end buyer will appreciate the fact that they are purchasing material that will bear more precious metals. As you inform them, they become more loyal, and trusting of you.
Refining is an art, it's craft work and knowledge. As a refiner, I also believe that scrapping is an art, it's craft work, and takes knowledge of all kinds of material, how to process it, separate it so that you can make the most from your hard work and labor. You are practicing in practical terms what people who attend college to obtain a 4 year degree in material handling never experience. You probably, as scrappers, know far more about the material you are dealing with than those people who spend 10s of thousands of dollars attending college do. This is truly one of those industries that there is very little written about, and most everything you learn is hard won and proprietary. If you are a scrapper dealing in electronics, this is even more true, it's not just about picking up and dropping off a load, if you intend to make as much as you are able. It's about knowing what the material is, knowing the difference in why one lb of fingers is only worth 1/2 gram, and another lb is worth 2 grams.
Scott
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