27 Jun
2006
27 Jun
'06
8:48 p.m.
HP cards are high value because of the gold plating .
However it is
very thin. One rule of the scrapper is bright plating is very thin,
heavy plating is dull, you look for dull. HP cards used to bring $3.50
/lb and up depending on age, probably double now.
Another place gold is sometimes found is on the pads and vias of
circuits boards ready for surface mount. Yes, the gold gets covered by
the solder paste, but the rifinery does not care! USR Total Control
modems are full of gold for this reason - and it made one scrapper a
very rich man in a few years.
Copper is starting to be an issue wih the boards - there is a decent
amount per board, once you figure in a typical six layer planar. A few
years ago tantalum was the big issue, so boards with Ta caps were very
sought after ($25 a pound for just the caps). Tantalum, however, has
gone back to normal levels now. And then there are those military
grade tantalum capacitors, with solid siver cases...
Anyway, the point of this is that if you see a sizable machine with a
bunch of cards, it may not be a 50 dollar purchase. Add up the value
in all those cards...
One interesting fact is that if you refine your lot
rather than
selling it and take your end product in gold and silver you do not
have to pay taxes on it and your refining cost is an expense. We got
back Silver and Gold Coin. I seem to remember the refining cost at
about $1 to $1.25 per pound from a trusted refiner (hard to find)
Very hard.
--
Will