Gold-plated connectors

Check the female side with a bright light — gold visible down the full contact length, on both mating halves, over a non-magnetic base. Then confirm with a magnet. Telecom DIN 41612 and mil circular connectors are the top of this category.

Au 0.3–1.0 g/lb wholeBase brass

eBay typical$113–136per lb

Refiner pays$3.1per lb

Metal in it$78.3per lb at 4 Aug 2026 spot

Confidencemedof the yield figures

How to spot it

Card-edge sockets, DIN 41612 backplane connectors with dozens to hundreds of gold pins, D-sub, SCSI, mil circular, header strips.

Metal content

Metal	Quantity	Notes
Gold	0.3–1.0 g/lb whole	0.8–2.0 g/lb for stripped contacts
Base metal	brass, phosphor bronze, BeCu, Ni

At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $78.3 per pound of contained metal — Gold 0.6 g = $78.3. A refiner paying $3.1 returns about 4% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.

Safe removal

Working temperature: Heat gun 400–500 °C

Heat gun 400–500 °C or hot plate 250–290 °C, then pull the whole connector off with pliers. Most refiners prefer them intact — de-pinning only pays if you have a shear and real volume.

Hazards

☠ Lead — dust more than fume

NEVER dry sweep or use compressed air on a scrapping bench. HEPA-vac or wet-wipe only.

☣ Beryllium copper

NEVER put BeCu in a grinder, a sandblaster, or a melt.

The common trap

Only 15–30 µin hard-gold mil-spec contacts reach the top of the range. Commercial 'gold flash' is 2–3 µin — ten times less. Gold-coloured bare brass is extremely common.

Questions

How much gold is in gold-plated connectors?

Gold: 0.3–1.0 g/lb whole. At current spot that is about $78.3 of contained metal per pound.

How do you identify gold-plated connectors?

Check the female side with a bright light — gold visible down the full contact length, on both mating halves, over a non-magnetic base. Then confirm with a magnet. Telecom DIN 41612 and mil circular connectors are the top of this category.

How do you remove gold-plated connectors safely?

Heat gun 400–500 °C or hot plate 250–290 °C, then pull the whole connector off with pliers. Most refiners prefer them intact — de-pinning only pays if you have a shear and real volume.

Related in Connectors & pins

Gold fingers (trimmed) Connectors & pins · $225–290/lb Au 2.0–3.0 g/lbBase Cu S Gold-fingered RAM Connectors & pins · $55–76/lb Au 0.3–0.6 g/lbAg 0.5–2 g/lbPd 0.01–0.05 g/lb A Gold-plated pins Connectors & pins · $180–280/lb Au 0.7–1.5 g/lb mixedBase brass A RF Coaxial Connectors (SMA/N/BNC/TNC) Connectors & pins · $15–35/lb Au 0.10–0.40 g/lb (SMA); 0.01–0.05 g/lb (N/BNC)Cu ~190 g/lbAg trace B Silver-Plated Copper Wire & Coax Connectors & pins · $8–25/lb Ag 2.8–6.8 g/lb as-received; 5.7–11.3 g/lb stripped conductorCu ~230 g/lbBase 40–55% PTFE/FEP B CPU socket (ZIF PGA / LGA) Connectors & pins · $15–35/lb Au 0.10–0.30 g/lb wholeBase phosphor bronze C

Get this offline → The full guide runs in your browser with no signal, and you can add your own photos.