Where Is the Gold Hiding in Your Old Computers? — Reclaim, Recycle, and Sell your Precious Metal Scrap (2024)

FAQs

Where Is the Gold Hiding in Your Old Computers? — Reclaim, Recycle, and Sell your Precious Metal Scrap? ›

Motherboards and Circuit Boards

Smartphones: Smartphones are the electronic devices with the highest gold content, and the amount of gold in a smartphone ranges from 0.03 to 0.05 ounces. Computers: Computers, including desktops, laptops, and servers, contain gold in their circuit boards and connectors.

Mining circuit boards for gold can be more valuable than mining much of the highest grade gold mine ores given the generous gold plating in electronics scrap. One ton of computer and laptop circuit boards are estimated to contain 40 to 800 times more gold than one metric ton of gold ore.

The chips on your motherboard often have some gold in them. The processor nearly always does. They also often contain platinum and palladium.

Gold in computers is primarily found in the Central Processing Unit (CPU) and memory chips. Gold is utilized in these parts due to its exceptional ability to conduct electricity. Besides the CPU, gold is also used in various connectors, such as USB ports and specific cables and wires.

Gold – Printed Circuit Boards, Computer Chips (CPU), connectors / fingers. Silver – Printed Circuit Boards, Computer Chips, keyboard membranes, some capacitors. Platinum – Hard Drives, Circuit board components.

Pour nitric acid into the glass container over the circuit boards. Stir the mixture with the glass or metal rod until the contents become a uniform fluid. Once the gold has separated from the plates — it may take some time — strain the nitric acid from the mix using the filter. Take out the pieces that aren't melted.

It's also not including the cost to remove it. Other sources estimate that the average computer contains 1/5th gram of gold, which is worth about $12. Laptops, on the other hand contain around 1/10th gram or $6 in gold. The actual value of the e-waste will vary depending on its type.

According to the International Platinum Group Metals Association, in the electronics sector, most palladium is used for multi-layer ceramic (chip) capacitors (MLCC). MLCCs store energy in electronic devices such as broadcasting equipment, mobile telephones, computers, electronic lighting and high voltage circuits.

Where is the gold in a TV? ›

The cheap TV sets will use tin plating where gold might be used in the higher end TVs. Since gold does not oxidize in air, it is typically used on the connector contacts: the HDMI connector for one.

There is actual gold in your phone, used because of its excellent conductivity and resistance to corrosion. However, the amount of gold contained in a phone is smaller than one might expect. On average, a smartphone might have around 0.034 grams of gold.

Magann: A PC circuit board, where the gold is, weighs about a pound. If you had a ton of those boards, you should have 5 troy ounces of gold.

According to the team, the energy costs present a mere 50th of the value of the gold that can be recovered, making it an incredibly profitable process if scaled up.

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.

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.

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.