Can You Find Gold in Electronic Devices? — Reclaim, Recycle, and Sell your Precious Metal Scrap (2024)

FAQs

Can You Find Gold in Electronic Devices? — Reclaim, Recycle, and Sell your Precious Metal Scrap? ›

If you do it in a large type recycling e-waste scale then yes. Electronics are abound with gold and other precious metals.

While extracting gold from electronics is not without its challenges, it can be worth it for individuals looking to recover valuable metals and reduce e-waste. However, following safety precautions and using personal protective equipment when handling hazardous chemicals is essential.

How many grams of gold are there in the computer or laptop? Well, it certainly depends on the specific model and the solutions used. CPUs have a high content of gold – it could be as much as 0.2 g to 0.5 g! Melting and processing of parts from several devices yield up to 1–2 g of gold.

Peydayesh et al. A new method for recovering high-purity gold from discarded electronics is paying back US$50 for every dollar spent, according to researchers – who found the key gold-filtering substance in cheesemaking, of all places.

You can find a lot of gold in computer chips, circuit boards, and parts from cell phones, such as the SIM card. Next, remove any circuit boards or other parts you have managed to salvage. If you do not want to use chemicals such as aqua regia and hydrogen peroxide, then this must be done by hand.

The 24K gold is used to make coins, bars and is also used in electronics and medical devices. The 22 Karat gold is mostly used in making jewellery. In 22K gold, 22 parts of the metal are gold and rest two comprises of metals like silver, zinc, nickel, and other alloys.

The processors and connectors in computers, tablets, and smartphones use gold. You can also find gold in televisions, gaming consoles, printers, or essentially anything electronic.

Remotes contain only a few cents' worth of gold that can be found on the edges of the printed circuit boards they contain. But if you do the math, you'll see that a few hundred remotes can be worth more money than you suspect. Better yet, you can collect that many remotes faster than you might expect.

How much gold is in an old TV? ›

Old televisions – some old pre-flatscreen large living room models can contain gold that is worth $5.00 or more. Old stereo components including amplifiers and receivers. Electronic keyboards and musical instruments, which were “hot” items around 1990.

Bottom Line: Doing the Right Thing with Old Electronics is Worth It. Disposing of e-waste properly and safely is still important. First, it costs less and is significantly less damaging to the environment to recycle precious metals than it is to mine them.

Waste to Gold

The researchers devised a novel way to extract precious metal from electronic waste, a sustainable method that is based on a byproduct from the food industry. And it's pretty lucrative as well. For each dollar spent, the team suggests you could make $50 worth of gold.

However, on average, a smartphone contains about 0.034 grams of gold. While this may seem small, it adds up when considering the number of smartphones produced yearly. The gold in a smartphone is primarily found in its printed circuit boards (PCBs), connectors, and switches.

Platinum: Platinum is used in hard drives and circuit boards components. Palladium: Palladium is used in cell phones, hard drives, circuit board components and capacitors. Copper: Copper is used in CPU heat sinks, wiring cables, cell phones, printed circuit boards and computer chips.

Some other sources estimate that your average computer contains about 1/5th of a gram, or about $12 worth, of gold in them. On the other hand, laptops typically contain about 1/10th of a gram of gold, or around $6 worth. However, the actual value will depend entirely on the type of e-waste you are looking at.

But how much gold is found in a computer? On average, a desktop computer contains about 0.2 grams or 0.007 ounces of gold. While this may seem like a minuscule amount, the gold content can significantly accumulate if you are considering a large-scale recycling operation.

Gold is used on connectors and contacts because it has excellent corrosion resistance, high electrical conductivity (only copper and silver are better) and, alloyed with small amounts of nickel or cobalt, has good wear resistance.