For boardsort:
Quote:
if the pins are gold plate you’ll get a custom quote as pin board.
If pins are silver, copper, or nickel you’ll get peripheral rate
And the wire needs to be removed. At least the bulk of it.
Boardsort is a scrap metal dealer, not a refinery. There’s a lot of cleaning left in boards like this prior to the refining process. So when they ultimately sell tons of pin boards to the refiner that company still has to grind, separate, sort, and ultimately then refine by a chosen one of many options for that stage. All of that is part of what boardsort gets paid; and that differential is part of boardsort’s pricing.
Most in the scrap industry as a whole don’t put any premium on silver plated anything. It goes at the rate of the base metal of the plated items. Usually nickel or copper.
It’s why they offer custom quotes on gold plate but not silver plate.
For what it’s worth
Low grade copper breakage (motors) is currently at 8č-12č per pound and high grade breakage is sitting in the low 50č range. So the peripheral rate is well above what most yards would pay for such boards.
I fully understand your point, and agree. Unfortunately that’s not how the industry as a whole works things out.