Scrap Silver Recycling
If you wish to Buy or Sell Silver Scrap, simply
ADD your inquiry
to the Inter-Continental Metal Exchange.
The exchange service has been successfully matching interested parties on-line since 1995.
Separating scrap Silver into the different
Grades & Specifications
will allow you to yield the best
value
for your scrap materials.
some additional miscellaneous Silver links
Silver Film Recovery
Prior to the technology of digital pictures, film based photography was a major source of silver content wastes.
Emulsion based silver was widely used on photographic films,
Xray
film and
lithograph
films.
Electrolytic recovery of photo chemical
fixer
solutions used in the development of films can recover
silver flake.
Once the silver has been recovered you are left with a plastic film base material,
typically a
PET
Polyester resin.
Sterling Silverware Scrap
Fine cutlery, tableware and tea sets that are typically referred to as Sterling Silverware are
manufactured with a 92.5% Silver and 7.5% Copper alloy.
If you wish to salvage
Sterling Silver Scrap
You may submit a listing to the Silver Recovery Exchange.
You may also list other
Silver Alloy Scrap
Silver Solder Scrap
If you wish to recover
Silver Solder Scrap
or Ag solder dross,
post your requirements on the Silver recovery exchange service.
You may seek to recycle
Lead Free Solder Scrap.
To meet compliance for the EU WEEE and RoHS directives manufacturers have switched to a lead free solder
which is
tin
based and commonly contains 3-4% silver and up to 1% copper or specialty low temp.
Indium
solder scrap.
Silver Contacts
Electric and electronic switches typically contain silver contacts.
These Silver Contacts may be affixed or soldered to a substrate base commonly in the form of a copper bus bar
or brass strip.
Sorted scrap
Silver Electrical Contacts
may be sold on a clean segregated basis or as a grade of
Bus Bars with Silver Contacts.
Some bus bars or supporting substrates may also be
silver plated.
Heavy Electrical Contacts and circuit breaker switches may contain
Tungsten Alloy
Contacts.
Electronic button or bead contacts, Electronic switches, Relay or Oscillators,
Crystal Oscillator Scrap and Micro Electronic Components with embedded or plated silver content.
Silver Circuit Scrap
Silver Circuit Scrap typically is found as a flexible plastic substrate with a silver content circuit and contact points
and is recovered from keyboards and touch pads. Sometimes this type of scrap is referred to as keyboard mylars.
Clean segregated
Silver Circuit Scrap
may be sold as is, or on a recovery basis.
Silver Plated Scrap
Silver Plate Scrap is most commonly found on a wide variety of electroplated items or roll plate silver materials
including ornamental silverware and electronics components.
The silver content on electroplated items may vary across a wide range and
Plated Silver Scrap
is typically sold on a recovery basis upon assay.
There are various methods used to recover Plated Silver Scrap, the most common method may be by simply incorporating
the silver content scrap in your Pyrometallurgical refinery feedstock.
Some segregated or rich plated scrap streams may be recovered via
Hydrometallurgical
leaching.
Yet another approach is to treat plated scrap by incorporating it into refinery anodes and recovering by
electrowinning
in an Electometallurgical process.
Silver Residues
If you wish to recover residues, sludges, slags or other low grade Ag materials,
make an inquiry for
Silver Content Scrap
to the Precious Metals Recycling exchange.
Low grade content items may be sent to a refinery or smelter to recover the values contained in the
precious metal residues.
Silver Recovery Methods
The recovery of Silver (Ag) from items that are difficult or impossible to manually segregate
may still be possible with a number of alternative approaches.
For items such as
silver plated
ornamental nicknacks and formal dining or table wear or for
materials like small electronic switches or buttons where the silver contacts are permanently affixed to supports
such as copper buss bars,
hydrometallurgy
may be an option.
By dissolving the scrap materials in a solution such as
Nitric acid,
the Silver may be accumulated and selectively segregated
from the other types of base metals contained in the mix.
Traditionally Hydrochloric acid has been added to the Silver Nitrate solution in a multi step approach
starting with particulating out the silver as a chloride salt.
But since your silver solution will most likely contain base metals such as copper,
if you just add additional copper to the nitrate solution you may be able to invoke a direct displacement reaction
to drop the silver as metal particles that can be filtered out.
Silver Recycling Information
For anyone seeking current information or research data on the silver recycling industry,
you may access and ask your
Recycling Questions
to a core group of experienced and knowledgeable recycling industry professionals.
Spot Market Price for Scrap Silver grades
Market Price Trends for Precious & exotic Metals
