Refining Silver, what contains scrap silver?

B

BootyBandit

New Member
Id like to start looking for things that contain silver so i can refine it , i know theres silver to be refined in photography and xray film, was just wondering what would be the most profitable way to collect scrap silver? Would it be possible to go around to businesses that throw away potential refinable silver? If anyones knows what items contain the most amount of scrap silver or which items are easiest to obtain please post it here, thanks!
 
This has been covered many times. But basically there is little silver that is easerly obtained
X rays about 3.5 grams per sheet
To extract it you need aqua Regis very nasty acid. Think look mum no hands. What's 3.5 grams worth about $4
You would also need a very large supply.
Much easier doing some other kind of work and using the fiat to buy pm's
Besides who's going to buy your lump of what's the purity silver. Spot less ten percent if you can prove it. Another cost.
Just not worth it.
One last point if there was money to be made from this activity the Asians would be all over it.
Sorry for the downer
 
Chillidog said:
This has been covered many times. But basically there is little silver that is easerly obtained
X rays about 3.5 grams per sheet
To extract it you need aqua Regis very nasty acid. Think look mum no hands. What's 3.5 grams worth about $4
You would also need a very large supply.
Much easier doing some other kind of work and using the fiat to buy pm's
Besides who's going to buy your lump of what's the purity silver. Spot less ten percent if you can prove it. Another cost.
Just not worth it.
One last point if there was money to be made from this activity the Asians would be all over it.
Sorry for the downer
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THAT.
 
Whats 3.5 grams worth ON THE MOON????

You may have a point. This may not be a suitable way to acquire silver now but what if silver does go to the moon.

Regardless of the $ price you put on it that 3.5grams @ $4 is a loaf of bread. Its all very well saying go earn some fiat and but the silver. But what about @ 50% unemployment? what about when bernanke finishes supplying the world with toilet paper?

At what Gold/Silver ratio do you reckon it's worth learning? Right now would you give it a crack at 1:1? 1:10? where does it become "economical viable?

If you believe as I do that Fiat will fail, real money will prevail and gold is more than tradition. Silver recovery at that yield would definitively be worth learning.

SHTF and you got your aqua Regis ready and a break and enter plan for the xray room at the hospital. roughly 10 x-rays to an ounce? How many thousand in that room ?
 
RicHARD said:
Whats 3.5 grams worth ON THE MOON????

You may have a point. This may not be a suitable way to acquire silver now but what if silver does go to the moon.

Regardless of the $ price you put on it that 3.5grams @ $4 is a loaf of bread. Its all very well saying go earn some fiat and but the silver. But what about @ 50% unemployment? what about when bernanke finishes supplying the world with toilet paper?

At what Gold/Silver ratio do you reckon it's worth learning? Right now would you give it a crack at 1:1? 1:10? where does it become "economical viable?

If you believe as I do that Fiat will fail, real money will prevail and gold is more than tradition. Silver recovery at that yield would definitively be worth learning.

SHTF and you got your aqua Regis ready and a break and enter plan for the xray room at the hospital. roughly 10 x-rays to an ounce? How many thousand in that room ?
Click to expand...

Would it not be better to concentrate on acquiring more silver now then and avoid the rush later on ? aqua regia at a quick look is about $60 for 500 ml

Aqua Regia Kit, 500ml #011-195. Printable. Aqua Regia Kit, 500ml. Price: $63.95. Chemical Name: Aqua Regia. CAS Number: 20-05-01. Chemical Formula: ...
Click to expand...
www.chemical-supermarket.com/product.php?productid=556 -

so you are 2 oz down already , add to that the other cost's such as purifying your soup and disposing of the waste and things start to add up.

Much better off checking out garage sales and second hand shop's for overlooked bargains IE silverware, or converting old or unwanted belongings with a garage sale or an add in the paper to silver. It would be easier to collect aluminum cans or copper wire and sell that and then buy a nice Perth Mint pure silver coin then hunt down X-rays or rfid tags and risk a nasty chemical accident or long term poisoning.

Even your pocket change can become valuable if you know what to look for, My bro inlaw recently sold a single $1 coin for $400.00 on ebay and converted it to silver the next day, do some research on error coins, Silver ware, scrap metal prices, check out local markets or boot sales .

Plenty of easier ways out there to achieve the same aim without risking your health or having to scrape it up gram by gram.
 
India did try recycling gold out of old PC's
It wasn't even worth it for them
Now figure out what price silver would be to make it worth it :)
 
RicHARD said:
Whats 3.5 grams worth ON THE MOON????

You may have a point. This may not be a suitable way to acquire silver now but what if silver does go to the moon.

Regardless of the $ price you put on it that 3.5grams @ $4 is a loaf of bread. Its all very well saying go earn some fiat and but the silver. But what about @ 50% unemployment? what about when bernanke finishes supplying the world with toilet paper?

At what Gold/Silver ratio do you reckon it's worth learning? Right now would you give it a crack at 1:1? 1:10? where does it become "economical viable?

If you believe as I do that Fiat will fail, real money will prevail and gold is more than tradition. Silver recovery at that yield would definitively be worth learning.

SHTF and you got your aqua Regis ready and a break and enter plan for the xray room at the hospital. roughly 10 x-rays to an ounce? How many thousand in that room ?
Click to expand...

Man that is one complicated SHTF strategy. Even if S hasn't HTF, that's complicated. I can find a better way to make more money with a lot less effort... such as stealing all the meds at the hospital you just broke in to.
 
Well my dads mate did this and he got over 25kilos of silver out of it( yes i saw it ) , this is why i want to know more, im obviously not going to get 1 xray sheet n refine that, thats why i said is it possible to go to companies to get the stuff in bulk eg. hospitals to get the xray sheets, then send it all down to a refinery n let them do it, id pay the refining costs and then get them made into bars ect..
 
BootyBandit said:
Well my dads mate did this and he got over 25kilos of silver out of it( yes i saw it ) , this is why i want to know more, im obviously not going to get 1 xray sheet n refine that, thats why i said is it possible to go to companies to get the stuff in bulk eg. hospitals to get the xray sheets, then send it all down to a refinery n let them do it, id pay the refining costs and then get them made into bars ect..
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From what I understand refiners want handle anything less than 50%
 
Some people don't think others should do what they wouldn't do, same as they think others should DO as they do. I don't ride motorcycles anymore, but I'm not telling people it's too dangerous or not worth their time. IMHO, do what you want, as long as it doesn't infringe on others right to life, liberty or pursuit of happiness.
That's philosophy, now for economics and maybe a little chemistry;
10 sheets is an ounce, figure out how much solution needed per 10 sheets, then the time involved to see if it's worth it. 10, 20, 50 bucks an hour? Everyone has their own idea.
As far as handling and using Aqua Regia, people do and have done it forever. Not saying it can't be dangerous, but one; nearly everything we do is and two; I'm a pretty avid news hound and I not seeing people carted off to hospitals from refining gone bad.
That's it, my opinion.
 
In the what if silver went to the moon senario. Maybe I would think different but in the real world today it's not feasible.
Modern X-rays don't use film but are printed and contain no silver. So learning to extract the silver is not going to help you if and when the SHTF.
But who am I to stop you.
Show us what you can do.
 
Well that seems to settle that. One thing I forgot to add regarding the argument of selling hand poured ingots. I see them sell sometimes for more than shiny new ones from well-known mints.

Chillidog said:
In the what if silver went to the moon senario. Maybe I would think different but in the real world today it's not feasible.
Modern X-rays don't use film but are printed and contain no silver. So learning to extract the silver is not going to help you if and when the SHTF.
But who am I to stop you.
Show us what you can do.
Click to expand...
 
I recently had an MRI done. There must be about 30 sheets and they are huge. All the other xrays over the years (me wife and kids) I reckon there must be at least 12 ounces of silver. on xray sheets. anyone wanna make a bid???:D
 
Thanks for the replies but i was actually just using xrays as an example, my question was what other things could i use that has more silver content in it that would make it more worthwhile for a refiner to refine? This would be a weekend job kinda thing so the time consumption would more be of a hobby .

Question:

What are a list of things that have refinable silver content in them?
 
Dirtbikepilot said:
I recently had an MRI done. There must be about 30 sheets and they are huge. All the other xrays over the years (me wife and kids) I reckon there must be at least 12 ounces of silver. on xray sheets. anyone wanna make a bid???:D
Click to expand...

Just send them to the link provided ;)
 
I'm not dissing you for thinking it, I just think your resources could be better spent is all, the same amount of effort invested into garage sales or aluminum cans or copper would get you more of a return as apposed to a toxic soup you would need to learn and then deal with.

The end result is to obtain more Silver unless I am mistaken, my pov is no new education or trial by error to get started, Aluminum cans would beat trying to chemically reduce trace amounts of silver on both ease and profit margin hands down.
 
Here is some thoughts on xray film (I have worked extensively in medical Imaging (xray) departments for many years).
Film used to contain silver. Chemical changes to the silver in the film using developing chemicals is what makes xray films black. Most film processors (developing machines) had an attached silver recovery unit which continuously recovered the silver from the developing chemistry, which in some departments could recover kilos per year. Xray film also contained silver. Culled film (examinations that are no longer required legally to be retained) were collected periodically by the silver recovery companies who then extracted the silver by whatever methods they use.
This is all history. Most departments now use digital imaging and archiving, so there is no film. There is no silver in the film that is printed, including your 30 sheets of MRI images in much the same way as there is no silver in printing on your computers printer.
The majority of hospital film archives have been destroyed as they have been transferred to digital archiving. Additionally you would not be permitted to cart it off if it remained, when it is due to be culled due to patient confidentially reasons and because contractors have already been engaged.
Any department that still uses film containing silver and developing chemicals will have a tiny throughput and will not have a silver recovery unit.
Private Practice medical imaging departments will all use digital imaging methods and do not store patient films in an archive.
The bottom line is, xray film and processes are no longer a source of silver.
I suspect also that when we view the industrial uses of silver and see photography and xrays as a large consumer of silver, this is out of date information. Who doesnt have a digital camera?
 
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