MICROSCRAPPINGE-waste field guide
Mil round pins2 × 14 mm
Header pins2 × 9 mm
Tin pins — reject2 × 9 mm
Brass — not gold2 × 9 mm

Drawn to true relative scale — the variants above are directly size-comparable.

Connectors & pins · Tier A

Gold-plated pins

Three checks. (1) Look inside the female sockets with a light — full-depth gold beats tip-only flash. (2) Magnet test — gold over nickel over brass/bronze is non-magnetic and is what refiners want; gold over steel sticks to a magnet and gets discounted or refused. (3) Pale, brassy, greenish or tarnished means brass, not gold.

Au 0.7–1.5 g/lb mixedBase brass
eBay typical$180–280per lb
Refiner pays$5per lb
Metal in it$144per lb at 4 Aug 2026 spot
Confidencemedof the yield figures

How to spot it

Round or square pins and sockets from D-sub, IDE/SCSI headers, DIN 41612 backplane connectors, MIL-DTL-38999 circular connectors, IC test sockets.

Metal content

MetalQuantityNotes
Gold0.7–1.5 g/lb mixedmil-spec round pins 1.5–3.0 g/lb; thin modern headers 0.3–0.7
Base metalbrass, phosphor bronze, BeCu

At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $144 per pound of contained metal — Gold 1.1 g = $144. A refiner paying $5 returns about 3% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.

Safe removal

Working temperature: Hot plate 250–290 °C / heat gun 400–500 °C

Preheat the connector body on a hot plate or griddle at 250–290 °C (or heat gun 400–500 °C, kept moving) until the plastic softens and solder flows, then pull pins with pliers or rap the connector face-down on a bin edge. For through-hole headers, preheat the board from underneath to 230–260 °C and pull the whole header first.

Hazards

☣ Beryllium copper

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

☠ Lead — dust more than fume

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

The common trap

Refiners pay about $5/lb for bulk pins. eBay asks $180–280. Good pins hold 0.45–1.4 g gold ≈ $60–180 of metal. That spread is the widest of any category — sell, don't buy. Also: pin lots routinely contain tin-plated and bare steel pins that look identical.

Questions

How much gold is in gold-plated pins?

Gold: 0.7–1.5 g/lb mixed. At current spot that is about $144 of contained metal per pound.

How do you identify gold-plated pins?

Three checks. (1) Look inside the female sockets with a light — full-depth gold beats tip-only flash. (2) Magnet test — gold over nickel over brass/bronze is non-magnetic and is what refiners want; gold over steel sticks to a magnet and gets discounted or refused. (3) Pale, brassy, greenish or tarnished means brass, not gold.

How do you remove gold-plated pins safely?

Preheat the connector body on a hot plate or griddle at 250–290 °C (or heat gun 400–500 °C, kept moving) until the plastic softens and solder flows, then pull pins with pliers or rap the connector face-down on a bin edge. For through-hole headers, preheat the board from underneath to 230–260 °C and pull the whole header first.

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 connectors Connectors & pins · $113–136/lb Au 0.3–1.0 g/lb wholeBase 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

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