Other · Tier C

SIM & smart chip cards

The module must be gold-toned; silver or grey-toned modules are a nickel/palladium finish and worth less. Roughly 700–2,000 SIM modules per gram of gold.

Au 1.4–3.6 g/lb of punched modules

eBay typical$150–280per lb

Refiner pays$180per lb

Metal in it$326per lb at 4 Aug 2026 spot

Confidencelowof the yield figures

How to spot it

The ~1 cm² plated contact array (C1–C8 pads) embedded in a plastic card or SIM carrier.

Metal content

Metal	Quantity	Notes
Gold	1.4–3.6 g/lb of punched modules	~0.5–1.5 mg per module; whole PVC cards only 0.05–0.15 g/lb

At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $326 per pound of contained metal — Gold 2.5 g = $326. A refiner paying $180 returns about 55% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.

Safe removal

Working temperature: Cold

Punch or cut out just the module — a hollow punch, a die, or scissors. Refiners want modules, not PVC. Weigh and ship modules only.

Hazards

🧪 PVC and plastics

NEVER burn card plastic or cable jacket.

The common trap

The "8 g per kg" figure applies only to clipped contact plates. Quoted against whole cards it overstates by about 30×. "100 SIM cards = a gram of gold" is off by an order of magnitude.

Questions

How much gold is in sim & smart chip cards?

Gold: 1.4–3.6 g/lb of punched modules. At current spot that is about $326 of contained metal per pound.

How do you identify sim & smart chip cards?

The module must be gold-toned ; silver or grey-toned modules are a nickel/palladium finish and worth less. Roughly 700–2,000 SIM modules per gram of gold.

How do you remove sim & smart chip cards safely?

Punch or cut out just the module — a hollow punch, a die, or scissors. Refiners want modules, not PVC. Weigh and ship modules only.

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