Our Recycling & Precious Metals Recovery Process

At TechHaulers, we don't just recycle electronics — we recover the valuable materials inside them and return those resources to the manufacturing supply chain. Here's a transparent look at how we process eWaste and extract precious metals.

Why Precious Metals Recovery Matters

Your old electronics contain surprisingly valuable materials:

• Gold — Found in circuit board connectors, CPU pins, and edge fingers
• Silver — Used in solder joints and electrical contacts
• Copper — The backbone of wiring, circuit traces, and heat sinks
• Palladium — Found in multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) and connectors
• Aluminum — Cases, heat sinks, and hard drive platters
• Steel — Chassis, brackets, and structural components

Recovering these metals from eWaste reduces the need for environmentally destructive mining and keeps valuable resources in the domestic supply chain.

Our Processing Pipeline

Stage 1: Intake & Assessment

Every piece of equipment that arrives at our facility is logged, inventoried, and assessed. Items with resale value move to refurbishment. Everything else enters our materials recovery pipeline.

Stage 2: Manual Disassembly

Before any mechanical processing, our team hand-disassembles equipment to separate high-value components:

• RAM modules — Pulled for resale (working) or gold recovery (non-functional)
• CPUs — Pulled for resale or precious metals extraction
• Steel and aluminum panels — Separated for scrap metal recycling
• Copper wiring and heat sinks — Sorted for copper recycling
• Power supply boards — Stockpiled for separate copper recovery
• Circuit boards — Cut to size and prepared for grinding

Stage 3: Mechanical Processing

Circuit boards and other precious-metal-bearing materials go through our mechanical grinding process:

1. Primary grinding — Material is reduced to smaller pieces
2. Secondary grinding — Further reduced to 30-50 mesh particle size (fine powder)
3. Gravity separation — Using a wet gravity shaker table, heavy precious metals are separated from lighter base materials

This mechanical process is environmentally clean — no harmful chemicals are used in the separation.

Stage 4: Refining

The concentrated precious metals fraction is shipped to a certified refiner who extracts pure gold, silver, palladium, and other metals. These refined metals re-enter the manufacturing supply chain.

Stage 5: Remaining Materials

Nothing goes to waste. After precious metals are extracted:

• Copper — Sold to domestic scrap metal processors
• Aluminum and steel — Recycled at local scrap yards
• Plastic components — Sent to appropriate recycling facilities
• Non-metallic PCB fraction — Repurposed as composite material filler

What Metals Are In Your Electronics?

Our Commitment

• ♻️ 100% landfill diversion — Every component is recycled, recovered, or repurposed
• 🇺🇸 Domestic processing — All work done at our facility in Fort Mohave, Arizona
• 🌱 Clean processes — Mechanical separation, no chemical waste
• 📄 Full transparency — We're happy to discuss our processes with clients

For Business Clients

When your organization recycles equipment with TechHaulers, the precious metals and refurbishment value of your old tech contributes to our 25% proceeds-back program. Your old equipment doesn't just get recycled — it generates value.

Learn More

• 📞 (928) 251-8656
• 🌐 techhaulers.com