Gold From Scrap Ceramic IC Chips

[@ProspectorTripp]

I recently processed some vintage ceramic chips. Yes sir it’s lead. I got exactly what you’re seeing. After the AR solution cooled.. lots of lead crystals. Thanks much sir Peace Prospector Tripp

[@garrettmillsap]

Thank you Mike for the upload. Appreciate it!

[@goranaxelsson1409]

I highly suspect the frit as the source of the lead chloride. The frit is soluble in nitric acid. As far as I know no radiation hardened chips came with lead in the ceramics. Radiation hardening was a part of manufacturing the die to include various processes to prevent latch up and short circuit when a transistor was hit by a ray. A popular way was to make chips with SOI, Silicon On Insulator. The die is made out of sapphire with transistors made as isolated components on top of the sapphire. I have a rad hardened chip with a few loose dies from around 1990 that I saved in my collection of stuff too good to refine. 😀 My preferred way to process this type of chips is to crack them along the frit and remove the legs. The top lid is just scrap and the frit is washed away with some nitric acid before I go to aqua regia. I never crush the chips, just leach them in hot or boiling aqua regia. You know that the gold is fully dissolved when the silicon die falls off, no worries if you got all of the gold leached from the powder. If there are gold bond wires in the chips then the legs are also thrown in with the dies, but if the bond wires are made from aluminium then the legs goes straight into the steel bin. To crack a chip along the frit I just put it on the short edge, slightly leaning, and tap it with a hammer on the other side. This usually shears the lid off clean.

[@omegageek64]

I suspect you are correct. From my knowledge of glass, lead oxide lowers the melting point of glass. That might be desirable for the frit to melt at a relatively low temperature during chip manufacturing.

[@jamesligon5732]

seems to me the first acid step would be just nitric. The base metals are more soluble in nitric than hydrochloric aren't they?

[@omegageek64]

You are correct that nitric acid would work much better. Thing is, nitric acid is expensive, and some people can't get it at all. I try to keep the process affordable and within reach of people who are limited in what is available to them. Note that I only needed a few ml of nitric acid for this process. The cheap and widely available hydrochloric acid works, it just takes longer.

[@kingjameson1318]

thank you sir I sure do miss and love your refining vids .

[@rockman531]

Hi Mike, Great video! You did a wonderful job explaining the process for ceramics chips! So much different from the plastic chips. I have to agree with you about the lead - I think it came from the sandwich material! I've put ceramic chips in the HCL bubbler & after a week most of the sandwich material was gone. I never considered lead as an ingredient in the sandwich. The .44 is a great result! Thumbs up! Have a wonderful day! Take care, Jim

[@keithrodman9318]

Great video as always. I know it most likely isn't feasible for mass production, but for small batches would it help to remove the legs manually before crushing and processing? I only have a small amount to process (a little less than you did here) so I figure it would only be less than half an hour worth of time for me to cut or break the legs off. Just wondering. Thank you!

[@goldensadventures1229]

Hey Mike Great video. I have only ever used my MM for chips. Recently I kinda by accident ran some water through my mill and discovered a surprisedly amount of gold and copper. Not sure how often you clean yours but the may be some metals trapped in there. Just a thought

[@southernoregonprospector9074]

I wonder if some fragments might be getting caught in between the shackle pin gap? Hmm...

[@colonialcharlie8702]

I wondered about the cleaning of these types or larger equipment for crushing grinding. I recall seeing a vacuum setup, but I was thinking some dissasembly and rinsing might be needed depending on if it's for a client or personal use 😂 This could be the "handling fee"

[@southernoregonprospector9074]

@colonialcharlie8702 there's a discharge tube add-on that hooks up to the mill door, and it's sized to accept 1.5" pvc, which makes it easy to use with a separate vacuum system to achieve "dust free" crushing.

[@southernoregonprospector9074]

Another great video Mike!

[@shaneyork300]

What's an estimated amount we should expect to pay for the mighty mill? Of course we know that it could be completely different when we go to buy it. 👍

[@southernoregonprospector9074]

Hi, I'm the maker of the Mighty Mill, and I sell them for $375 on ebay (website coming soon). The current batch will be completed on March 15th, and then I'll be taking some time off. More mills will be available in April.

[@southernoregonprospector9074]

$375 with free shipping inside the US.

[@garrettmillsap]

​@@southernoregonprospector9074 just wanted to say that I think it's awesome that you come on here to help and give up to date information on your awesome product. One of these days I would love to purchase your mill. Much respect from a fellow Oregonian!

[@southernoregonprospector9074]

@garrettmillsap I love Mike's videos! He does a great job showing his processes in depth, and I'm just happy that the mill works so well for his purpose...especially since I never had e-waste processing in mind when I built it. Greetings from Cave Junction!

[@shaneyork300]

@@southernoregonprospector9074 Can you send me your email address so I can inquire / purchase a MIGHTY MILL?

[@thewhalsons7624]

Thanks Mike!

[@sorcererstan]

That's awesome, about $30 in gold from that small amount of ceramic chips. I can't wait to see what comes from the fully plated chips.

[@kevinlatulippe6944]

You like working for 1 dollar an hour

[@johnusg]

@@kevinlatulippe6944 Yeah - it's BS. They are trying to set friends up who can get batches of these chips and sell for big profit. Reality is this is very dangerous. The amount of gold he said he had was not gold. It is black. So even if it was gold the amount of impurities in the gold he showed would be almost worthless. Don't be a mug like someone I know has invested a ton of money into this.

[@rixismetals]

Great video as always , I Collect all the chips when I micro scrap , think I need to go through mine and separate if there is any ceramic ic chips mixed in with the plastic ones

[@shaneyork300]

Great Video! Did you get a weight on the ICs before the processing??

[@shaneyork300]

Nevermind. I should've waited till the end of the video before posting, because you did state you wished you would've gotten a weight before!! 😂

[@ProspectorTripp]

Stannous Chloride testing. I’ve seen people dissolve a 5 gram 14k gold ring and test the solution for gold 😳🤪😂 Like you.. I test when appropriate and or necessary. Peace Prospector Tripp

[@Edward-ju1vj]

How old were the chips? Did any of the e proms have gold bond wire? Or was it all just gold brazing?

[@dukeman817]

Could the chips be old enough to have lead in the solder ???

[@2001pulsar]

Great video. That mighty mill is nearly $500 kangaroo dollars including shipping, which puts it a bit out of reach for us poor lads down under.

[@anomicxtreme]

Does price include the DeWalt?

[@2001pulsar]

@@anomicxtreme hell no, that's just for the welded bit and the spinny thing inside

[@anomicxtreme]

​@@2001pulsar

[@2001pulsar]

@@anomicxtreme yes, I could too, but I'm pretty lazy when it comes to things not essential. I have a grinder/ chopper that works.

[@anomicxtreme]

@@2001pulsar NINJA! Lmao 🥷

[@jeromedumalin9954]

The frit would have some lead in it, maybe antimony to lower its melting point

[@jamisontaylor878]

So the sulfamic acid did do the trick this time

[@empirefinds]

Awesome Mike I wish you had weights next time buddy 😊

[@SteveBlevins-y3q]

Why don't you do the plastic ones the same way???

[@watarom]

I feel bad for Iron. Mike be like it's just steel it's just steel. :-( #allmetalsmatter

[@kevinlatulippe6944]

That is 40 dollars of gold at least 10 dollars of material and all that time not to mention the energy for heating and fans

[@rockman531]

First!

[@mattlevesque5927]

Pesky lead

[@jamesperryman2375]

Hold your breath

[@jamesperryman2375]

Getter dun

[@johnusg]

You didn't seem to get any gold. I think what you had was purest black. Come on - explain yourself. Don't fall for this BS.

[@dannysearcy3373]

I have a question. I've used copper to drop silver, I've used lye and sugar for silver chloride, I recently used a piece of aluminum and a bit of sulfuric on silver chloride, I like the aluminum process, what are the drawbacks to using aluminum? There aren't many videos on this, I absolutely do not like the lye and sugar method.