Strategic Stockpiling of E-Waste for Precious Metal Recovery

Gold recovery from e-waste is just a small part of the bigger picture for me so my strategy is to stockpile e-waste commodities until precious metal recovery is simple for everyone.

[shaneyork]

Had to watch this again! I've been sorting my precious metals over the last few weeks a little more diligently than before, so I wanted to follow up by watching this for the 3rd or 4th time!!!
Have a GREAT Day Ben!!!

[Vk]

When i first saw your videos, i described it to a friend as "something that a person "doesn't want to watch" [because you sometimes repeat the same things over and over again] but it should be something every one "should watch". But since then i have watched many of your videos Ben and i can tell you that i am evermore impressed with the way you scrap and even your ways of thinking about scraping because its all based on your real life experiences as someone who "HAS DONE IT". And that is far more meaningful than people who talk about it or just give up after a few months.

In any event, good on you Ben. Your channel is far more valuable than most people could ever realize! Much respect for all that you do and make videos on!

[MaxMakerChannel]

You really held your composure well during the earthquake.

[benjismith]

It's cold out, and I picked this hobby up since I can't garden. I love it!

[edgewoodx]

I am just starting and this really helps with the understanding of scraping. Thanks!

[miguelvaldivieso]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and all of that experience you have. You are great; here in Spain we do not practice scrapping at all, and new scrappers need someone like you helping us optimizing our methods.

[artemisrumbinger]

I love your approach. That's all money in the bank.

[ninjabothandyman]

Ben you're absolutely wonderful for being quite the knowledgeable resource for anyone and everyone who may or may not necessarily be interested doing this themselves to whatever extent; weather it's a die hard born in the wool out of the fryer and into the pan kinda hardcore scrapping enthusiast to the specific "gold + silver & OTHER VARIOUS prescious metals seekers" type scrappers !!! I myself admittedly over the years I have also come to understand and learn a handful of bits and pieces of information which had quite a wonderful practical application in my specific ways of how I do my scrapping.
Blacksmithing is an additional hobby/love of mine Ben. I've done it off and on since the young age of 16, and I'm 39 now. Having all sorts of knowledge of various metalurgy, including the scrapping knowledge gained over the past 3 1/2 years I've actively delved into doing that, I will happily admit that I have experienced multitudes of instances with which all the top 5 money making items thus far have been: (listed highest to lowest) #1 - steel, #2 - #1 & #2 copper wire, #3 - extruded & cast aluminum, #4 battery cores & lead, and lastly #5 brass *clean, dirty, and cast)

[joanbaron]

George from America here again. Soaking up all your videos like a sponge cause I love to depopulate everything and break it all down. That's the most exciting part for me. Can't wait to have as many bins as you Ben. Thanks for teaching me so much. Keep on scrapping mate😁👍

[bantalee]

I always enjoy watching your video's Ben. I like the way you are organized and had broken everything down, separated them and "know" what is in each piece. There might be a book/manual out in the bookstores that details what is in each piece encompassing everything worth keeping in the E-waste business, but i doubt it. So when are going to put out a book on the business Ben? All you need to do is really take a photo of each piece, then put a description of the metal content. Hobbyist E-waste people like me, don't need to know what the component does, we just need to know what part is worth keeping and what is in them. Yeah i like running my fingers through the stuff too..lol. So yeah..get a small E-waste booklet out there and really stack the gold and silver. Cheers!

[burundi]

Great video ive been scrapping all metals and saving up my proceeds and i have been converting to gold ozs and silver kilo bars - gonna start stockpiling e waste great vid !

[ernestpetzrick]

Another good vid Ben, thanks. I think you're spot on. I've been following a similar strategy since I started about three years ago. I sell the steal, copper, Al, boards, etc when I have a reasonable amount and stock pile the gold and silver bearing, tantalum, MLCC's, etc., for the future. Looking forward to putting what I've learned about chemistry to work when I think I have enough. Till then, I keep stocking, watching and learning.

[hucks]

One of your best vids, the whole scrap life explained perfectly.

[aussiescraphunter]

Maybe the best scrapping video l have seen, certainly great advice mate, thank you

[shaneyork]

If I filled up a small container of mixed ic's, I'd get several other containers fashioned after watching this awhile back and separated. I'm doing it almost identical to the way you do it, only on a micro level. I've also filled a container of mlcc's so I got another empty one and separated from big mlcc's and small mlcc's.
Thanks to you Ben!!!

[markthomas]

That's a $#@%load of capacitors!
If/when the price of tantalum goes through the roof you can retire Ben. LOL

[laughingachilles]

A hammer mill will sort those crystals nicely. I have an old one I picked up when a lab I was working at threw it out but you can find them second hand rather easily. The mill will smash the metal casing to small pieces and the crystal and associated valuable metals inside will completely separate. They tend to contain only gold and silver so it's a simple process to recover the values, and as the mill will have smashed everything into small pieces the chemical process will recover everything quickly and cheaply.

Use either an appropriately sized wide mouth beaker or an Erlenmeyer flask if you prefer, place the crushed up crystals into the beaker and pour on just enough concentrated HCL to cover them. Apply a low heat and if there are any base metals present they will be removed (this will mostly be tiny amounts of tin and lead). Once that's done give them a good wash with water until the pH is neutral and then treat with nitric acid to remove the silver, drain off the nitric and again give the remnants a good wash with water until the pH is neutral. Now use Aqua regia to collect the gold (and very rarely platinum). Even with the volume of crystals you have there you won't have to use a lot of chemicals and so it's perfectly economical to recover the metals.

[sebastianmelmoth]

I just love seeing Ben bend that ewaste to his will.

[garysenecal]

Incredible ! You rock ! Awesome stuff dude!

[commonvillagerplays]

I'm just getting into doing this and I think it's a great idea. I've watched videos on how to extract gold from gold fingers and they use a lot of harsh chemicals that I personally don't want to go anywhere near, so I thought to myself that this is the way to go for the time being. It's really cool to discover the amount of precious metals that are in electronics and not just the gold.