Originally Posted by
CopperMiner
The thing about the board recycling up North is true. I used to live where that copper smelter is located. By the way, they have an arsenic issue over there since they recycle PCBs.
About the comments on starting buying
ewaste in Canada, I am not sure if it was addressed to me, but it has stuck my mind since. The opportunity is interesting, but I also wonder why the niche is developed in the U.S., but almost not existent in Canada. The margins must be very tight or someone would have already done it before. The computer breakers (the ones who buy electronics by the pallet or the full building floor), public ewaste recovery programs and the few scrap yards who buy them must have some kind of buyers for the boards, I guess that they don't just resell them to refurbishers / rebuilders or ship them away in the third world. Also, every now and then, there's someone who claim to buy boards to recover gold, then they disappear in the fog. If I can be willing to buy PCBs, I am not very interested to refine myself. That means, I need to find a commercial location, transportation and someone to resell them in large volume. Not sure the smelter in up North is buying them or just taking them for free and pay themselves with recovered metals and if I resell in the U.S., profits will be reduced by higher shipping costs and paperwork at the border. Lots of questions to figure out.
The largest ewaste refinery in North America is in Quebec. When you mentioned earlier full truckloads crossing the border, they go to Glencore. If a town as big as Montreal truly doesn't have much in the way for ewaste recycling it could be a big opportunity.
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