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Hi,

Just a question out of curiosity, but what do people guesstimate the full recovered value of these boards would be? I have speculated that payouts are about 30% of full potential recovered value. This is by no means any kind of complaint, but trying to get a better feel for the business.

This is 1lb of logic boards which currently is $7.25lb.

That entirely depends on what the method of recovery is.
Chris pays in the 88-92% range on known averages which is far above standard scrap rates and fairly average for pm recovery (Midwest pays 92% after fees for clean gold alloys) .
The worst method and what's you find on YouTube the most of acid separation will pay LESS in most cases than boardsort in final recovery material sales.

Most North American refineries use a ball mill system (turns it into power) and then a combination of electrical base separation and acid baths to recover various materials. What's left minus recovered metals is sent to -->

The largest international services utilise dozens of methods starting from the ball milled base that includes vacuum plasmatic oxidation and all sorts of really cool and complicated science to achieve nearly 95-99% recovery and tend to also be the buyers of slag from steel refineries and the waste from various escrap recyclers.
And they're far and away higher final values over boardsort but you need kilotons before they even talk to you!

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Lostinlodos, thank you so much for the info! I am really finding this E-Waste business to be fascinating.

I have been a computer programmer for 20+ years, and I think destroying the machines, ala Office Space gives me satisfaction :-)

Destruction...? Well there's that aspect too.
;)

Really though assuming you did absolutely everything perfectly and 100% legally the chance of walking away with a profit refining boards at home is practically zero.

If you really want to refine something in your basement or garage and make money the best thing is Chinese war trade dollars from the mid-late 40s/50s. Pre revolution post war. 66.3% gold one ounce coins can be refined for a major recovery profit.
Low grade Spanish and roman coins. Easy to find in vf 30 or below. Colonial gold (especially doubloons).
Buying at % spot is easy in those grades with out the numismatic taxes on value and all can be refined easily to 99% + using hardware store acids.

Leave the board refining to the billion ton industry setup to do so.

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