Coaxial Cable - Copper-plated steel rod

Okay...So I know that coaxial cable in it's current form (outer jacket, inner jacket and the copper-plated steel rod) isn't worth the hassle because of a very small profit return but if it was just the copper-plated steel rod, is there a way to recover the copper from the steel rod if there were a quite a bit of it (as in a few thousand pounds)?

I've read posts that it would be possible to create a small foundry and melting the metal. Granted...Copper has a lower melting point and is denser but I would think that it would just create an alloy. Anybody have knowledge on that?

The other option I've read is reverse electroplating but with the large volume, it probably is not feasible for a small-scale operation. Any thoughts about this process?

My opinion only. You are wasting your time messing with coax.

move on to more profitable items....you will mostly likely end up in the hole factoring in time to strip and cost to run any sort of extraction (physical or chemical)

My yard sends this in with shred, so you know if they are doing it, it is not worth anything more to them (or they would separate it out).