Thursday, November 06, 2003
What - You STILL Want To Refine Your Scrap???
Judging from the content of the messages in the FORUM, the most discussed topic is that of refining, especially electronics scrap. Despite my assertions that refining is a losing proposition and a waste of time and money for the vast majority of participants, there is clearly a huge demand for this information.
As I have flatly stated multiple times before, I am not a refiner, I have never been a refiner, and I do NOT promote, encourage, or advise you to attempt to do so. I am not qualified to judge or comment on the accuracy of anything having to do with refining or the use of any chemicals, supplies, equipment, or processes used in refining or purifying precious metals, or any other scrap materials. And any information I have published on the subject has been reprinted from original US Bureau of Mines reports, and with the sole intention of teaching you just how complex, expensive, environmentally hazardous, and potentially deadly these processes are.
Of course, that is only valid if you want to refine the RIGHT way - that is, using historically proven and traditionally accepted methodologies. One can certainly cut corners to decrease the expense and complexity, but my suspicion is that doing so only increases the environmental and health risks, and probably decreases you're the efficiency as well.
What little I do know about refining tells me this is an industry in which there is relatively little innovation and processes are done in a traditionally accepted way because that is what works best. You "professional" refiners and "certified" chemists can feel free to tell me otherwise, and I'll have to take your input with a grain of NaCl. Remember, "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog"
My point in this is, if you're going to forge ahead and learn the hard way, at least learn from the "masters". Determine that you're going to make the necessary investment in equipment and supplies, but especially in KNOWLEDGE, and follow the advice of a known quantity. Frankly, is it worth a few hundred dollars to learn the REAL techniques necessary to efficiently reclaim precious metals from scrap? Is your LIFE worth a few hundred dollars investment? If not, start working on your obituary, and skip to the next article.
If you see the wisdom in what I'm trying to impress upon you, you simply MUST invest in the works of C. M. Hoke and C. W. Ammen. They've been around since dirt and have always been the recognized and published experts in this area. Need an example? They are the guys that are referred to by no less than IPMI, the International Precious Metals Institute, not to mention Action Mining.
Their books are mostly out of print, and are NOT cheap, but are generally available from these sources:
http://home.att.net/~actionmining/STOREFRONT.html (scroll through the entire page for more treasures), or try this resource:
http://ipmi.org/publications/index_non.cfm (you'll possibly pay a lot more), but go here before buying to make sure you're getting the best price:
http://half.com
And NO, I am NOT an affiliate of any of these organizations, so you don't have to worry about me making anything from your purchases. Should you decide to ignore my advice and choose to experiment or follow the unproven advice of those you've heard about online, please have your loved ones cancel your newsletter subscription once you're gone, and don't bother having them send a copy of that obituary. Is that clear enough?
Blogged by: Scott D. Andrews
http://recyclebiz.com
(c)2003 - All Rights Reserved
