Many devices that everyone has at home and are often thrown away contain gold. With gold prices reaching record highs, scrap metal dealers are now on the constant hunt for these devices.
As technological devices become more numerous every day, iIt has been discovered that many of them, often thrown away or given to scrap metal dealers in exchange for a few coins, actually contain 22-carat gold. The motherboards of computers and smartphones that everyone has at home and that are often thrown away because of malfunctions or lack of updates actually contain a small amount of gold.
So some phone repairers make a living from discarded devices, thanks to the connectors on the motherboards of computers and phones that are gold-plated. “Motherboards are found in most electronic systems and 99% of the alloys you see in gold are gold,” says one scrap metal dealer.
He learned the trade from a man who bought motherboards by the kilo. “I had a lot of faulty phones. I spent about a week removing their motherboards. Then I looked online how to extract the gold from these motherboards. You pour them into an iron drum filled with acid. All the motherboards dissolve and the gold comes to the surface.
It is not possible for a person to extract gold on their own, a special alloy is needed and it is dangerous. This gold is found not only in smartphones and computers, but also in many electronic devices because it is an excellent conductor. For this reason, it is advisable not to throw away these devices or sell them cheaply to scrap metal dealers, but rather to sell them to specialized recyclers.
Indeed, these recyclers will give you a better price for your devices and, above all, they will prevent worthless plastic parts from being thrown into the environment. Motherboards contain substances that are harmful to the environment, including heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury. They also contain brominated flame retardants, which are potentially toxic. Their disposal in landfill or improper disposal can lead to environmental contamination.