Bought 4 oz of Gold Fingers

I just bought four ounces of trimmed gold fingers for $28.99. Hoping to stockpile and build up a few pounds to get refined. Figuring refining will take 40% of whatever I have refined, I tried figuring what I'd make. I calculated at current gold value, I'd likely still see a 100% ROI.



Anybody with more experience (wouldn't take much) have any opinion?

If you use a respected toll refiner, it should cost about 20-25%. That would up your ROI a little

If these are from Fingers boards, or motherboards trimming at the bottom of them HP.. I think He will do just fine.. I did a video of Me cutting the fingers off my slot one processors.

they are all 24k gold plated. Memory boards too... PCI and agp and For sure ISA..

If you're sitting on alot of finger boards, I would trim them.. remove the metal brackets and toss them into the motherboard and when You get over a 1000 find a respectable refinger.

you'll come out ahead.

Nice Post and good job on your 4Oz what is saved is is earned.. Save More and earn More...

Contgrats

I was talking about when You acheive 1000lbs of motherboard grades.

Thanks for clarifying that.

Originally Posted by wayne1956

When you say over a 1000 are you talking about individual fingers or a 1000 boards cut?

Originally Posted by ryanw

I could be wrong, but I remember fingers being about 2g per pound. If so, that means you have 0.5g of gold there, which is worth about $21.50.

What figures were you using?

Two grams of gold per pound of trimmed fingers?

There are a couple of threads on the forum taking guesses. In addition, here is an article by a well-known credible source: Recyclers Recover Gold from E-scrap Gold Fingers

Originally Posted by ryanw

That article says to expect between 1g and 3g of gold per pound of fingers. Even at 3 grams, you wouldn't be making profit after the toll for refining.

I'm not trying to be a downer. I just don't want you to keep buying fingers at that price with an expected profit.

No problem. That's why I went with such a small amount. It's a learning process.

Originally Posted by ryanw

That article says to expect between 1g and 3g of gold per pound of fingers. Even at 3 grams, you wouldn't be making profit after the toll for refining.

I'm not trying to be a downer. I just don't want you to keep buying fingers at that price with an expected profit.

3 grams of gold at todays price($1335.00 toz) equals $42.93 per gram which equals $128.79. Minus say 30% for toll refining leaves you with $90.16. If the fingers came from ram sticks, one pound of ram is going for around $15.00# approx if you sold to one of the buyers here. The fingers are getting approx $46.00#. So how do you figure you are losing money buy having 1# of fingers refined?
Remember also that the devalued ram sticks can still be sold to a buyer for approx $6.50#, the last time I sold them. So if you cut the fingers, sold them for $46.00 and the devalued sticks at $6.50 you net $52.50 which is almost 50% less than if you had them refined. Also keep in mind that the more material you send out the less the toll fee should be.

The 1 to 3 gram return is also based on many factors. Alot has to do with the type of cards they come off of. I refined one pound of ram which yielded a 1.4g button. It was my first refine and I know I still have values in my filters which I have not incinerated yet to refine the values in them. I am figuring another .3-.5 grams yet to be recovered.
PCI/video cards should yield higher since the fingers are larger. Most estimates are between 2-4 grams per pound but once again the variable is the type of cards they come off of.

Edit- Ram fingers I feel will yieled approx 1-2 grams per pound and fingers from cards should be 2-4 grams per pound. I used the example of 3 grams since that number was used in the post I was responding to. Aslo if you do decide to have anything refined please do your homework and investigate the refiner you want to deal with. Just like scrappers, there are honest and dishonest ones. If anyone needs a reference I can tell you that I have worked with Scott(Noblemetalworks) on a transaction and have nothing but good things to say about the way he conducts business. If he cannot work something out with you he can put you in touch with someone who can.

Edit #2- the dollar return is based on gold being refined to a purity of at least .996 which should get a little less than spot price when you would go to sell it.

Originally Posted by Mick

There are a couple of threads on the forum taking guesses. In addition, here is an article by a well-known credible source: Recyclers Recover Gold from E-scrap Gold Fingers

The link you posted is close, but still misleading. One example would be where it's stated:

There are approximately 28.35 grams to an ounce

Strictly speaking, this is true for the ounce measurement they are referring to, which is the Avoirdupois Ounce. However, this is not the same ounce measurement that refiners or people who buy/sell precious metals use. We use ozt or Troy Ounce, which is just a little more than 31.1 grams per troy ounce. This becomes very important when purchasing material to process, and figuring any yield per ounce.

So which ounce measurement are we talking about, there are 16 "avoirdupois" ounces to a lb, and only 14.5 "troy" ounces per lb. 16 avoirdupois ounces = 14.5 troy ounces.

Whenever I post on the forum, I have to change the unit of measurement to lbs from kilos. When I express values with other refiners or people in the precious metal industry, I do so in grams, ozt or Troy Ounces, and kilograms so as not to confuse what is being discussed. It becomes ever more important the more material you accumulate.

So obviously, if they were troy ounces, you did better than if they were avoirdupois ounces.

Originally Posted by AuburnEwaste

I hope they are actually Gold, not just "anodized" fingers

Because the gold fingers are actually where electricity is transferred, I seriously doubt they would be anodized, I have never seen gold fingers that were anodized. I have seen silver alloy used, tin, etc but never anodized.

Originally Posted by ryanw

I could be wrong, but I remember fingers being about 2g per pound. If so, that means you have 0.5g of gold there, which is worth about $21.50.

What figures were you using?

Gold plated fingers could be 1-4 grams dependent on several factors. Whenever I purchase trimmed gold fingers, I figure 1g per lb, and this is the reason why.

Some gold fingers are only plated on one side, some gold fingers have less space between the gold traces, some gold fingers were plated before 2002 which was before gold took a steep jump in price, some gold fingers were made after industry responded to more expensive gold prices, and started plating more efficiently. Some applications such as military, telecom or communication equipment, hospital equipment etc use much thicker gold plating. I posted on a thread explaining these things here:

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/elect...nger-card.html

I can usually, if the person I am buying the fingerboards from has sorted them properly, gauge about what the value might be, but even processing the material, and understanding it, I never hit the nail on the head, I get close but never perfect. The only way you will ever know a true yield is by either assaying prior to processing, or processing and accumulating values.

Also, if you are processing larger amounts, the values become easier to accumulate. If you were, for example, to process a few ounces, the amount of gold recovered is actually difficult to see, just like dust is difficult to see on your shirt. But if you have a lot of dust on your shirt it's easier to see, same with refining gold. When it's precipitated out of solution it's in very small particles. If the refiner doesn't know what they are doing, the amount might be very difficult for them to even see. So more is always better, always always.

Buy Ryan, you are right, 2 grams if the fingers are plated on both sides, close cut, and the traces close together, 2 grams would be very reasonable to expect. An average mixed lot of gold fingers will generally yield 1.5 grams. But for calculating for the purpose of buying, you shouldn't figure more than 1g per lb so you never loose money.

The key things you want to look for when purchasing cut fingers are:

Are the gold traces on both sides of the fingerboard?

How close are the gold traces? Closer together amounts to more gold per lb, more space between equates to less!

What application did the boards originate from? Some applications require thicker gold plating.

What color are the PC boards, white/gold/brown/black are older boards probably prior to 2002 which means thicker gold plating, green is newer and red is either old Russian or new Chinese.

How close cut are the fingers, closer cutting means less fluff and a higher percentage of gold/PC board.

I am sure I am missing something else. I'll follow the thread if it gets more action and try to answer any questions. Or as always you can PM me directly if you need clarification.

Scott

Thanks to Brasscatcher and Noblemetalworks. Yes, the credibility of the refiner is very important and I have full faith in the person who refined my half a pound. Even more so since the transaction. That is where I got some of the figures I used to calculate bid and expected profit. He's not ready to go "public" but when he is, I'll give a review. Like I said before, this one was a learning experience with ebay and bidding on gold stuff to be refined. Right now I'm kind of holding my breath cause the tracking number I got was to something that had been delivered in Oct of last year (I checked the number six times). The seller had 100% Positive and a couple Neutrals with something like 2000 transactions so I'm not really worried with this small amount.

If your dealing with a refinery that is capable don't focus solely on gold. My .02