Scrapette this is the biggest advantage of sending your material out to a large company such as Sipi who deal in the final end of the product. If you live close by a Sipi location make a day of it, bring your camera, note book then pick a few brains. Make observations of how they are receiving their inventory and ask plenty of questions these guys are here to help you become a customer.
The lower echelons are eager to move on so try and speak with a foreman who has been with the company for a few years and truly knows the business, this is how contacts are bonded.
I wish you the best of luck with this endeavour, oh and happy Valentines Day.
On a side note, most mother boards have layers of copper circuits impregnated inside the the boards, invisible to the beholder of such treasure. I’ve seen as many as 6 layers but when you look at the board you only see the top and bottom layers which are called solder layers.
Yes your correct, the value is in the metals recovered, the green boards were made during a time when the manufactures did not know the technology to scrimp on copper traces, gold plating on fingers and the amount of chips required. Chips on newer boards may actually have aluminum bonding wires inside instead of the traditional gold. So the guys buying tend to error in their favour.
If your paying a dollar a pound to have Sipi refine your boards it wont matter which colour they are, just strip off the excess materiel before shipping.
As a matter of persoanl interest, keep track of how many lbs green, brown and purple were added into the shipment.
If your serious about shipping a load, I will take some mother board round capacitors like the one below, then acid treat them checking to see if there is any silver, otherwise the foil is aluminium.
I would like to assist you in making this first load profitable, if there's no silver in these capacitors you may as well discard the un-wanted weight from the boards.

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