Old computers and office equipment cost mere pennies on the secondary market because they are not used for their intended purpose. The governments of European countries are developing a bill according to which manufacturers of devices will be obliged to engage in their subsequent disposal, since such equipment contains a lot of chemical elements that negatively affect the environment. However, there are also precious metals, including gold. It is quite possible to get it. How much gold is in the computer, and how to get it out of it?
Techniques for extracting gold from a computer
There are several methods for extracting precious metals from components of computer equipment and office equipment. All technologies involve the use of chemical reagents.
Extracting gold from the processor
Etching. Instructions for extracting gold from office equipment by Josehf Murchison
Josehf Murchison is an engineer and chemist who was one of the first to come up with a “household” option for etching Au from equipment. He shared these instructions on the forum. It is performed as follows:
- Necessary materials for gold extraction. You will need a solution of hydrochloric acid, methyl alcohol, and sodium salt of boric acid. The equipment includes a burner, with which you can melt metal and get one ingot.
- We remove circuit boards from gold-containing electronics. You can take anything that has a gilded color. The parts need to be crushed (PCBs can easily be broken by hand).
- Place in hydrochloric acid solution for one week. It is recommended to stir the contents every day. The gold there will gradually flake off. This can be seen by the dark “flakes” that form.
- We pass the exfoliated pieces through a regular coffee filter. Gauze is not recommended. Can be replaced with a fiber filter for a vacuum cleaner (do not use HEPA or paper filters).
- Treat with methyl alcohol. Methanol is toxic, so it is imperative to protect your respiratory system while working.
- Add sodium salt of boric acid to reduce the melting point of gold. You can simply sprinkle it on the resulting sediment. Otherwise, the metal will have to be heated to the point of melting to 1064 degrees.
- Melt it on a burner into a gold bar and cool it.
Demand for gold
Gold is one of the most inert metals. Under normal conditions, it does not interact with most acids and does not form oxides. This property has become in demand where metal destruction in the smallest parts cannot be allowed.
Gold is destroyed only by aqua regia, but in reality it is not very common, so this metal has found demand in electronics and medicine.
All mined gold that is in legal circulation is concentrated in:
- state and international financial organizations - 30,000 tons;
- jewelry items - 79,000 tons;
- products of the electronics industry and dentistry - 17,000 tons;
- investment savings - 24,000 tons.
If we consider that gold dentures are now giving way to ceramic dentures, then the turnover of gold in the electronics industry will not be so small.
Safety rules when working with acids
All work with acids must be carried out outdoors (if this is a room, then it must be with a forced air recovery system). It is also necessary to use personal protective equipment (respirator, mask, gloves).
Reagents cannot be reused! It is necessary to mix hydrochloric and nitric acid immediately before refining.
There are a lot of precious metals hidden in computers
Precious metals used in technology
With the improvement of PC models, the total volume of precious metals used is reduced. And this has nothing to do with saving gold or other metals. It’s just that the development of IT technologies is moving in the direction of increasing complexity, using a small number of parts. There was much more gold in computers of the 90s than in today's office equipment.
What is noteworthy is that inside the PC, in addition to gold, a small amount of other precious metals is used, namely: palladium, platinum, ruthenium, silver and tantalum.
The above alloys are contained in office equipment in a small volume, but play an important role in the operation of the PC.
We recommend reading: What does the law say about illegal trafficking in precious metals?
Section question - answer
How much gold does an Intel processor contain?
Expert opinion
Zavorotniy Alexey
Service engineer
A modern Intel processor contains only 3–4 mg of gold.
How much gold does the motherboard contain?
Expert opinion
Zavorotniy Alexey
Service engineer
A modern motherboard with gold-plated contacts can have approximately 4 - 5 mg of gold.
How much gold does a laptop contain?
Expert opinion
Zavorotniy Alexey
Service engineer
The precious metal content is approximately 0.3 – 0.5 mg. There is a legend that expensive "gaming" laptops contain much more. But this is a myth.
Details of an old laptop
Precious details
Gold is often used for the finest sputtering. But parts of technology that are responsible for serious calculations, processing a large range of data or reproducing high-quality sound cannot do without the unique properties of this metal.
The most “precious” parts of a computer are the processor, video card and contacts. For mining, it doesn't really matter whether they work or not. It is important that they are not magnetic. This is the main sign of the quality of the metals used.
If you decide to become a “gold miner”, it is worth knowing an important nuance. The equipment that has been produced over the past few years contains few precious metals. They have been almost completely replaced by tungsten. But old technology, especially computer technology, is richer in this regard.
How much gold is in the processor? Its quantity directly depends on which platform the equipment belongs to. Eg:
- i 486 SX, 486 DX2−80, Cyrix MII and Intel Pentium MMX contain about 4 grams;
- Cyrix Cx486, IBM 5x86C, Cyrix 6x86 and AMD - K 6−2 each have approximately 5 grams;
- in AMD, WinChip C 6- PSME 200 GA, IBM 6×86 MX PR 200 there is about 6 grams;
- i 486 TX 486 DLC and i processor have about 7 grams;
- the brown case contains 8 AMD, as well as the Intel Pentium, each containing 8 grams;
- Intel i 435 DX 4 and Intel i 486 will bring 9 grams each;
- the most “gold-bearing” is the Pentium PRO, which contains about 11.4 grams of metal.
Computer equipment released in the 90s can make its owner very rich. The gold content in processors of such models is the highest among analogues.
The same can be said about Soviet technology and electronics. Domestic engineers did not skimp on quality, so the content of precious metals in processors (for example, in X86 or X64) was also high (about 11 grams).
Gold in motherboards
Almost all components on the motherboard contain gold:
- connectors – for video card PCL Express Ch16, PCL, AGP, for sound card and modem PCLe Ch1,4,8, eSATA, USB, Wake on LAN, PS2;
- sockets – Intel, Pentium, Xeon, Itanium, Core i7, Duron, Athlon, Sempron;
- memory modules – EDO, FPM, DDR, SDRAM, RIMM (RAMBUS);
- jumpers - for bridging, clearing the configuration, connecting individual terminals, connecting a cable, SATA jumper.
The board parts are technically complex components and bear the main functional load. Maximum reliability and operational efficiency is ensured through the use of precious metals. The gold layer is very thin and is only a few microns. This is a thousandth of a millimeter, so it is beneficial to hand over connectors and other parts to professionals for later removal.
An independent attempt to extract precious metals will be almost impossible, since this requires special chemicals and tools. Users are recommended to visit the website for purchasing radio components and familiarize themselves with our offer, or contact the organization directly. Our specialists provide fair assessments of equipment and quickly serve customers.
The process of assessment, registration and payment will take no more than half an hour, which will reduce the customer’s time costs. A transaction with us will be economically beneficial for each client. We have been purchasing precious metals in radio components, computer equipment and other equipment for quite a long time, so we are able to offer the best terms of cooperation.
Why do you need to recycle equipment?
Gold from motherboards is now mined by many owners of old computers. There are also a large number of enterprises in the world that recycle parts of old gadgets. This procedure allows not only to extract precious metals from equipment, but also to take care of the environment. The thing is that the components of gadgets contain not only precious metals, but also toxic substances, which, if not processed, can cause irreparable harm to the environment.
As for precious metal extracted from equipment, he must first of all become familiar with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, since the illegal sale of gold is prosecuted by law.
* Features of the use, accounting and storage of precious metals in organizations are available to everyone on the GB.BY portal
From a letter to the editor:
“In May 2015, our organization plans to sell a fully depreciated computer to an individual – an employee of the organization.
In this regard, questions arose:
— Is it legal to sell a computer containing precious metals to an individual? If so, at what cost should it be sold?
— Should this property be appraised?
— How to correctly reflect such a business transaction in accounting? What primary documents should it be drawn up?
Alla Nikolaevna, accountant"
The sales price is formed taking into account the cost of precious metals contained in the computer
I would like to note right away that there are no prohibitions on selling a computer to an individual. It is only important to take into account some features of the sale of property containing precious metals.
Thus, it is not allowed to carry out transactions for the sale of precious metals to citizens in raw materials, industrial products, parts and semi-finished products (Article 20 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus dated June 21, 2002 No. 110-Z “On Precious Metals and Precious Stones”).
The value of property containing precious metals during its sale, with the exception of cases of shipment of scrap and waste of precious metals for processing, must not be lower than the value of the precious metals contained in it, determined at estimated prices on the 1st day of the month of sale (clause 22 of the Instructions on procedure for the use, accounting and storage of precious metals and precious stones, approved by Resolution of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Belarus dated March 15, 2004 No. 34; hereinafter referred to as Instruction No. 34).
Therefore, the sale to an individual of a computer containing precious metals is absolutely legal if:
– this property has consumer properties and does not represent scrap “veiled” as a computer;
– upon sale, the value of property containing precious metals is not lower than the value of the precious metals contained in it, determined by calculated prices on the 1st day of the month of sale.
The settlement price is the price for precious metals accepted into the State Fund of Precious Metals and Precious Stones of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as the State Fund), which is formed, approved by the Ministry of Finance and posted on the 1st working day of the month on its website (clause 2 of Instruction No. 34) .
For reference: information on estimated prices for precious metals accepted into the State Fund, incl. for past periods can be found on the website of the Ministry of Finance: https://www.minfin.gov.by/ru/activities_jewels/fund/pokupka/gosfond/.
From May 1, 2015, the estimated prices for precious metals accepted into the State Fund are set for 1 g of pure metal in the following amounts (see table):
Resolution of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Belarus dated June 25, 2014 No. 44 established a List of components, components and parts of equipment, instruments and other products from which the extraction of precious metals is not economically feasible. Computers are not included in this list.
The content of precious metals in the names of products and components of imported equipment based on data from chemical analyzes and commission estimates is given in the Directory of the content of precious metals in imported products (hereinafter referred to as the Directory), approved by the order of the Republican Unitary Enterprise "Inter-industry self-supporting laboratory for rationing and saving of precious metals and precious stones" dated 12/12/2007 No. 47.
I would like to note that reference data on the content of precious metals in imported products is used by legal entities, regardless of their form of ownership and subordination.
If, according to accounting data and information presented in the technical documentation (passport or other documents, if available), or in the Directory, the content of precious metals in the computer is (conditionally): gold - 0.91 g, silver - 1.62 g, platinum - 0.35 g, then the minimum price at which it can be sold must be at least 666,857 rubles. (0.91 × 526,013 + 1.62 × 7,219 + 0.35 × 504,257).
In the Republic of Belarus, free prices are used for goods. The organization has the right, independently or in agreement with the buyer, to set the price for the product if price regulation is not applied to it (Article 6, 12 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus dated May 10, 1999 No. 255-Z “On Pricing”).
Computer prices are not regulated prices.
Mandatory cost assessment is carried out only in cases established by law.
The legislation provides for cases when a mandatory assessment of the value of an object must be carried out (clause 21 of the Regulations on the assessment of the value of objects of civil rights in the Republic of Belarus, approved by Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus of October 13, 2006 No. 615; hereinafter referred to as Regulation No. 615).
For reference: objects of civil rights subject to assessment in accordance with Regulation No. 615 are, incl. equipment, inventory and other property (clause 1 of Regulation No. 615). An assessment is mandatory, including:
– when making a transaction involving the alienation of state property, or a transaction that may entail the alienation of state property, except for property classified as current assets of legal entities of state ownership;
– in other cases provided for by law.
Thus, Anna Nikolaevna, if your situation does not fall under clause 21 of Regulation No. 615, then a mandatory assessment is not required. The price of a transaction for the sale of a computer to an individual can be established by agreement of the parties (Article 394 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus), however, the price of the sale of the computer must not be lower than the value of the precious metals contained in it, determined by the estimated prices on the 1st day of the month of sale.
Let me remind you of several important points that organizations operating machinery and equipment that contain precious metals should pay attention to:
1) by order of the manager, employees must be appointed who are responsible for the collection, storage, accounting of scrap and waste of precious metals (clause 19 of Instruction No. 34);
2) accounting of precious metals must be organized in the context of financially responsible persons, places of storage or use (clause 29 of Instruction No. 34);
3) determination of the content of precious metals in property must be established:
– according to the initial content of precious metals indicated in passports, technical specifications, forms, labels, and other documents;
– according to chemical analysis data;
– a commission from among the organization’s employees competent in these matters, appointed by the head of the organization (if necessary, competent specialists from third-party organizations may be involved);
- based on the decision of the manager by making an entry in the accounting documents: “There are precious metals, the content of which will be determined after write-off” (clause 34 of Instruction No. 34).
Important! The specified procedure should be fixed in the accounting policy (Article 9 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus dated July 12, 2013 No. 57-Z “On Accounting and Reporting”; hereinafter referred to as the Law);
4) precious metals must be accounted for by their name and content (weight) (clause 33 of Instruction No. 34);
5) accounting of precious metals must be kept according to the forms of primary accounting documents drawn up in accordance with Art. 10 of the Law (paragraphs 40–42 of Instruction No. 34);
6) an inventory of precious metals must be carried out at least once a year simultaneously with an inventory of the material assets of which they are included (clauses 88, 90 of Instruction No. 34).
Accounting
Income and expenses associated with the sale and other disposal of investment assets are included in the income and expenses for investment activities recorded in account 91 “Other income and expenses” (clauses 2, 14 of the Instructions for accounting of income and expenses, approved by resolution of the Ministry of Finance Republic of Belarus dated September 30, 2011 No. 102).
Investment assets also include fixed assets.
When disposing of fixed assets, the amounts of depreciation and impairment accumulated on them over the entire period of operation are reflected in the debit of account 02 “Depreciation of fixed assets” and the credit of account 01 “Fixed assets”. The residual value of retiring fixed assets is reflected in the debit of account 91 and the credit of account 01.
Expenses associated with the disposal of fixed assets are reflected in the debit of account 91 and the credit of accounts 60 “Settlements with suppliers and contractors”, 69 “Settlements for social insurance and security”, 70 “Settlements with personnel for wages”, 76 “Settlements with various debtors and creditors”, etc.
The amount of the additional fund included in the retiring fixed assets, formed as a result of previously carried out revaluations of these fixed assets, is reflected in the debit of account 83 “Additional capital” and the credit of account 84 “Retained earnings (uncovered loss)” (clause 30 of the Instructions for accounting of fixed assets , approved by Resolution of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Belarus dated April 30, 2012 No. 26; hereinafter referred to as Instruction No. 26).
When selling a computer in May 2015 to an individual - an employee of an organization, the following should be reflected in the accounting records (the data are conditional):
D-t 02 – K-t 01 – 6.131 million rubles. – the fully depreciated cost of the computer is written off;
D-t 73 – K-t 91 – 2.5 million rubles. – revenue from the sale of fixed assets is reflected;
Dt 91 – Kt 68 – 0.417 million rubles. (2.5 × 20 / 120) – VAT is calculated on the sale of fixed assets;
D-t 50, 51, 70 – K-t 73 – 2.5 million rubles. – the cost of the sold computer has been paid;
Dt 91 – Kt 99 – 2.083 million rubles. – reflects the financial result from the sale of fixed assets;
Dt 83 - Kt 84 - reflects the amount of the additional fund listed on the retiring computer, formed as a result of previously carried out revaluations of this fixed asset.
The disposal of fixed assets as a result of sale (with the exception of alienation to individuals) is formalized by an act of acceptance and transfer of fixed assets in the form in accordance with Appendix 1 to Resolution of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Belarus dated April 22, 2011 No. 23 (clause 29 of Instruction No. 26).
Thus, it is not necessary to formalize the sale of a computer to an individual with an act of acceptance and transfer of fixed assets. In this case, the organization can draw up a free-form act containing the mandatory information established by clause 2 of Art. 10 of the Law.
The sale of a computer can be documented with primary accounting documents TTN-1 “Consignment note” or TN-2 “Consignment note” (hereinafter referred to as TTN-1 or TN-2) in accordance with the Instructions for filling out standard forms of primary accounting documents TTN-1 “Consignment note” and TN-2 “Consignment note”, approved by Resolution of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Belarus dated December 18, 2008 No. 192, depending on the participation of the vehicle in the movement of goods.
In this case, the organization is obliged to indicate in TTN-1 or TN-2 the name and mass of precious metals located in the sold property, as well as the method for determining the content of precious metals in it (clause 22 of Instruction No. 34).
For example, the accompanying documents may state: “There are precious metals, the content of which will be determined after write-off. Content of precious metals based on technical documentation (according to the passport or based on other documents): gold - 0.91 g, silver - 1.62 g, platinum - 0.35 g" |*|.
* New rules for the collection and accounting of scrap and waste of precious metals are available to everyone on the GB.BY portal
I hope I helped you with my explanations.
How much do palladium and platinum cost, and why are they needed?
Radio components containing precious metals often contain palladium. For many, this representative is not as well known as gold, silver and even platinum, but despite this it has a wide range of applications: industry, medicine, electrical engineering, jewelry. The material is used in the production of ceramic capacitors, commemorative coins, white gold, and medicines used in the fight against cancer. Palladium acts as a catalyst in the process of fat refining and oil refining.
The metal is contained in capacitors, resistors, and connectors. It is quite difficult to visually distinguish palladium from platinum; this requires placing the sample in nitric acid. If the element has dissolved, it is Palladium, which today costs more than platinum and gold.
Sell chips
Platinum can be placed in second place in price after palladium. This element belongs to the group of rare metals with a high level of value. It is used in aircraft and shipbuilding, the chemical industry, medicine, and glass production. Platinum is also an investment asset, which is cast into bars and stored in banks. Platina is found in relays, capacitors, and microcircuits.
Prices for scrap circuit boards
Mix of different types of boards 80/20
1. No more than 20% of Monitors 2. On domestic boards, more than 75% of the element base must be in place Raw materials must be free of clogging
GSM boards from cellular stations with yellow tracks Batteries, batteries, metal parts, plastic fasteners, radiators, etc. must be removed.
Server boards
Server boards (wide yellow connectors, several sockets for processors) Batteries, batteries, metal parts, plastic fasteners, radiators, etc. must be removed.
The motherboard is “old” and from laptops
Motherboards for laptops and motherboards up to (and not including) the Pentium 4 generation Batteries, batteries, metal parts, plastic fasteners, radiators, etc. must be removed.
Motherboards after the Pentium 4 generation (including Pentium 4). Batteries, batteries, metal parts, plastic fasteners, radiators, etc. must be removed.
HDD cards from hard drives
Cards removed from computer hard drives, metal parts, plastic fasteners must be removed.
Video, network and sound cards
Video, audio and network cards (all cards with yellow slats for PC) No metal, plastic or aluminum heatsinks
Control boards from office equipment and imported devices Without metal, plastic and aluminum radiators
Rich control boards
Control boards from medical and complex imported devices with yellow connectors Without metal, plastic and aluminum radiators
Memory “yellow” with gold-plated edges
Memory yellow Without aluminum radiators
Memory “white” with silver edges
Memory white Without aluminum radiators
Monitor boards and any power boards Boards must be cleared of metal, plastic, and transformers.
Boards from Soviet household devices Without metal, plastic and aluminum radiators
Control boards for military and Soviet devices of the USSR Without metal, plastic and aluminum radiators
Connectors ShR, ShRG (USSR)
Connectors ШР, ШРГ from Soviet industrial and military devices Without wires
Gold connectors import
Gold-plated connectors removed from switching boards such as GSM
Ceramic processors Without aluminum heatsink
How much gold is in a computer? You can't get very much precious metal from one piece of equipment. Gold is used in the manufacture of parts for the motherboard, processor, fan and power supply, since this metal is quite ductile and can easily take a given shape.
However, if gold is obtained in this way on an industrial scale, enterprises must keep reports submitted to the relevant regulatory authorities.
How to extract radio components with precious metals from the system unit
Precious metals in the system unit are distinguished by a large number of additional impurities and, after extraction, will most likely require special cleaning. Extracting metal from parts is a complex and unsafe process that is best left to professionals. During extraction, acids and other chemical elements are used that are dangerous to human health and even life.
From all of the above, one conclusion can be drawn - old system units contain a lot of useful things.
If a person does not have the skills to independently mine metals and the time to acquire this knowledge and skills, then he can always sell parts or a system unit to companies that buy such valuable “junk.” This will help you get rid of stale junk and get a good reward for it. ◄ Back to news
