Gold and other stuff in old computers, was Re: Australian rescue for DEC VAX 11/750, 730, and PDP-11?

[9000 VAX]

On 2/21/06, Roy J. Tellason <rtellason at blazenet.net> wrote:
> On Monday 20 February 2006 10:00 pm, C. H. Dickman wrote:
> > Jay West wrote:
> > >  Unfortunately, it could be to a gold smelter.
> >
> > Is there a financially significant precious metal content to old
> > computer equipment? When you factor in the hazardous materials disposal
> > issues such as lead, it would seem a losing proposition. I can almost
> > see a scrapper saying he would take everything except the boards.
> >
> > -chuck
>
> I had a guy who came to my shop back when that asked about scrap board, for
> that specific reason.  I didn't have any to give him,  figuring that anything
> I had kicking around I'd be pulling components off of,  but it's no surprise.
>
> Saw a thing on TV a while back about old cell phones and such where this stuff
> was packed up and shipped off to China,  where peasants were doing the
> extraction,  in nasty-looking chemical brews sitting outside on the ground.
> One of the comments in there was how they were drastically shortening their
> lives by doing this stuff,  but figured that it was worth it for their
> families.

It is in a perticular region in southern China named "Nanao". Local
peasants hire poor inland peasants. They do get rich, and they move to
other places to live like bosses. Those who shorten their lives are
poorly paid. The land that gets polluted does not belong to them
anyway. In China land belongs to the government.

Lets imagine there is a gold mine in the US national forest. Now you
hire Mexicans to dig the gold out, get rich, and are not punished for
the pollution, and do not need to obtain the property before you begin
to dig. I guess many will rush to the business.

vax, 9000

>
> --
> Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
> ablest -- form of life in this section of space,  a critter that can
> be killed but can't be tamed.  --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
> -
> Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James
> M Dakin
>
>