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UPDATE: In January 2018, Dell announced an industry-first pilot to reuse gold from e-waste in millions of new motherboards including Latitude 5285 2-in-1.
This post originally appeared in 2013 on the PowerMore site – a publication by Dell for news and analysis on technology, business and gadget-geek culture. You can learn about Dell’s approach to responsible mineral sourcing as part of our sustainable supply chain here on Direct2Dell.
By Jim Nash
There’s gold in them thar consumer electronics.
Most people picture copper when they think about how electricity is conducted, probably because it’s the most common conductor. Silver is actually the best conductor, followed closely by gold. Copper is cheaper than precious metals, but it’s also much slower in transporting electrons than its glamorous siblings. In the world of computing and communications, speed is more important than cost, so copper remains relegated to construction and pennies.
And as fast a conductor as silver is, it corrodes or tarnishes easily whenever it comes in contact with water — even with humid air. Corrosion is to electrons what fresh road tar would be to Olympic runners.
Gold, on the other hand, is highly corrosion-resistant. So, while it’s not as fast as silver, it doesn’t fall apart like silver and is many times faster than copper.
There is intrigue brewing in the electronics industry, though. Some manufacturers are looking at how quickly people upgrade their electronic devices to learn whether using gold is necessary.
If consumers replace their devices faster than silver can break down, electronics companies may decide to depose gold as the ruler of conductors to fatten their margins. Why pay to install high-quality materials when so many buyers crave novelty more?
Were this trend to take hold, devices would have shorter life spans, which would stifle resale markets and, not coincidentally, increase the flow of unwanted goods to recyclers.
To learn more about gold and how it is removed from discarded devices, I spoke to Sean Magann, vice president of sales and marketing for Sims Recycling Solutions—North America, a division of the global re-use and recycling firm Sims Metal Management.
How much gold is in a smartphone?
Magann: In very rough numbers, there are 10 troy ounces of gold (or about three-fifths of a pound) per ton of smartphones. Ten thousand phones weigh one ton. [With gold selling for about $1,580 per ounce, that would yield $15,800.]
How about a laptop?
Magann: Two hundred laptops would yield five troy ounces of gold.
How much is in an average desktop?
![How Much Silver Is In A Computer Keyboard How Much Silver Is In A Computer Keyboard](https://media.kingston.com/hyperx/product/hx-product-keyboard-alloy-fps-rgb-hxkb1ss2us-1-zm-lg.jpg)
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.
Are there manufacturers that use more gold than others?
Magann: Computer makers don’t make their circuit boards because they are commodity items. They buy them from third parties. The trend in using gold among all of those companies is definitely down. It’s a costly material, so they are looking for more efficient ways to make the boards, trying to use as little gold as possible.
How long does it take to get all the gold out?
Magann: Individuals can take apart a smartphone easily by hand, but the volume of gold is going to be small.
It’s not uncommon for a developing nation to accept all kinds of trash from developed nations, including electronics, in return for cash. Local entrepreneurs typically burn circuit boards and use cyanide on the ash to separate the gold. That’s not what anyone would call a green process, but it is a cottage industry because it gets the job done reasonably inexpensively.
We use a mechanical process, shredding computer components to quarter-inch bits to liberate the plastic, aluminum, steel, gold and other materials to create commodity streams. Magnets grab the steel. Eddy currents are used to propel non-ferrous metals (including precious metals) from plastics.
Is shredding computers the best way to get at the gold?
Magann: There are lots of interesting ideas for technologies that could possibly be better, but it’s hard to compete against developing nations that are manually breaking things down, often in environmentally unfriendly ways. Doing it almost any other way to protect the environment is going to be more expensive.
Jim Nash is an award-winning business, tech and science journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Economist Group and Scientific American.
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Materials >Electronics Scrap > How Much Gold is in a PC?
Materials >Electronics Scrap > How Much Gold is in a PC?
We take apart an old desktop computer to show what is valuable
EScrap such as whole computers or individual components from computers contain gold, palladium and other precious materials. Computer circuit boards have gold and other precious metal traces in densities comparable to mined ore. There is enough valuable material to make refinement profitable on even a moderate scale.
Why are there precious metals in EScrap?
Gold is the 2nd best conductor of electricity, it is the most malleable metal, it can be made into micron-thin leaf and it is highly resistant to tarnish. These characteristics made gold well suited for circuit boards. Gold is frequently used as connectors ('Fingers'), and sometimes used as the PBC traces and components pins (in high performance boards).
Many circuit boards have small amounts of Silver and Palladium in their solder and components (e.g. How to take screenshot on apple laptop. transistors.)
Taking Apart the Computer
Inside the case of this Computer
Let's examine the many components of a typical PC. All computers have these same set of components. A $ denotes a value rich component.
- Case - A heavy, metal and plastic enclosure.
- Power Supply - A heavy metal box inside that provides power to each component
- Motherboard ($) - the main, large circuit board that all other components are connected to
- Hard Drive - Smaller metal box that is the storage drive for the PC
- Disk drives - drives for Floppy, CD, DVD and other media
- PCI boards ($)- boards connected to the motherboard to provide additional functionality such as graphics output.
- RAM ($) - slim circuit board sticks that provide memory for the machine.
- Processor ($) - square, many-pinned components that is the 'brain' of the PC
- Connective wires - cables that connect all the above together.
The Case
Computer cases hold the PC together and are made from steel and plastic. They add most of the bulk and none of the value (steel is worth mere pennies a pound). The case can make it unprofitable to recycle small lots of PC's, as the case's mass and volume drive up the shipping costs.
If you have a small number of PCs, the best approach is to disassemble them and sell us the individual components. The cases can be sold to a local scrap yard and recycled.
If you have a large number of PCs (more than 1000lbs), shipping becomes economical. We can arrange for a truck to pick up the whole computers and bring them to our facility for disassembly. We pay more for disassembled computers, as shipping and labor expenses are far lower for PC components.
Power Supply
Power Supply from the above Intel 486 PC
The power supply provides regulated, DC power to all the PC's components. It is a large metal box with a number of color-coded wires connecting it to the other components in the PC. The power supply is heavy due to the iron core in the transformer within it. As a result, it has very little value and it is bulky and heavy. Like the case, the power supply diminishes the profitablity of PC recycling.
Motherboard
Intel 486 Motherboard
The motherboard is the large circuit board that connects the innards of the PC together. All the components communicate with each other through the motherboard. The Motherboard is rich in value and has several of the most valuable parts of the PC attached to it.
The board itself has many gold plated connectors and pins. Older and high end motherboards (such as those found in rack servers, telecommunications equipment, or military test equipment), often have gold in the traces and components. Motherboards are one of the most value-dense portions of the PC.
Attached to the motherboard are the processor and RAM. These contain precious metals as well. Warning: Motherboards typically have a battery on them - it should not be thrown out. Batteries contain toxic materials and need to be recycled. Batteries should be removed prior to shipping; they can be sent to us for recycling.
We buy Motherboards for about $3.20 a pound.
Processor
The processor is the brain of the PC. It contains millions to billions of microscopic transistors and a few hundred gold plated pins. Processors are one of the most value dense portions of the PC. Older processors are generally larger and have more generous gold plating than more modern ones. 386/486 and Pentium chips are particularly valuable. More 486 processor details.
The processor is recognizable as a large rectangular or square chip that plugs directly into the motherboard. It is usually the largest single chip in the PC. The processor often has heat sink attached to it which may also have a small fan. Heat sinks are typically aluminum, which has little scrap value.
We Buy Processors from $8 to $95 per pound.
Top view of an Intel 486 Processor as mounted on the motherboard
Underside of an Intel 486 Processor. Look at all that gold plating!
RAM
2 RAM Modules inside an Intel 486 Compute
RAM, or Random Access Memory, is the short-term memory of a computer. RAM chips are found as a bank of long, rectangular 'mini circuit boards' that are populated with numerous memory modules. A computer may have 1 to 8 RAM modules. Older RAM modules are generally smaller, but have bulkier chips. Newer modules are recognizably sleeker. In contrast to processors, we are sometimes able to pay more for newer RAM chips.
RAM modules are small, light, but valuable. It is very economical to ship and process RAM.
How Much Silver Is In A Computer Keyboard
We usually buy RAM for $8 a pound
PCI boards
How Is A Keyboard Made
PCI Boards found inside this Computer. From left to right: VGA Graphics card, Dial-up Modem, Peripherial expansion board (e.g. for a printer) How to screenshot on windows laptop.
To extend the base functionality of a PC, additional circuit boards are typically added via the Peripheral Computer Interface. These boards typically add network connectivity such as through a modem or thernet connection, additional drive ports through a SCSI or IDE connection, dedicated video hardware through a video card, and many others.
These boards are valuable due to precious metals found in their components as well as the connector pins and traces. They are generally fairly compact and light.
PCI cards are usually worth $3.20 a pound. (this value is less if the steel brackets are included)
Drives
![How Much Silver Is In A Computer Keyboard How Much Silver Is In A Computer Keyboard](https://www.qweas.com/reviews/images/pcdj-red.jpg)
Disc Drives found inside this Computer. Clockwise, starting from left: Harddrive, 5.25' Floppy Drive, 3.5: Floppy Drive How to change the format of a hard drive.
Storage drives enable data to be saved, transferred and read from the computer. Over the years, smaller and more sophisticated drivers have been developed. 5.25' and 3.5' floppy disk drives were some of the first, followed by ZIP, CD, DVD, and now Blu-ray drives. These drives, especially the older, bulkier ones, are not very value dense. They are primarily casing and motors with only a small amount of precious metal containing circuit boards.
Every computer also has one or more hard drives (HDDs) which function as the long term memory for the PC. These drives do have some controler circuit boards inside of them which have some value. They are also generally more compact than the disc drives.
Connective Wires
Various cables found in this PC
All these components are brought together by various interface cables such as ribbon cables with numerous separate wires, power cables which are typically bundles of 4 wires (and originating from the power supply), small control wires leading to LEDs and switches and eSATA cables in more modern machines.
These cables and wires are comprised of rubber coated copper stands. Copper is a fairly valuable metal (far, far less valuable than gold or platinum, but far more than steel and aluminum), so wires can be economically recycled for profit.
We Buy Scrap Computers and their components
We buy computer components and whole computers and pay you for the precious metals (such as gold, platinum, silver, and palladium) found inside them. Check out what comptuer scrap we purchase.
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