I knew of a company, just down the street from a place I worked at years ago, that all it did was bid on military facilities demilitarized electronic equipment. Either from a facility closing, or equipment that was being replaced. They'd recycle (scrap) what the could but the main goal was to melt the electronic components down for the precious metals.They are now long out of business as most recycling in this, I believe, is done overseas. I remember seeing a doc(shock)umentary not too long ago, about a poor Asian area, where they were removing IC's from electronic boards, to be ground and melted for precious metals. No factory, or even a roof, just along the side of the road. Paid by the kilo. Seem to also remember that there was some question of the legality in exporting, from the US and other countries, certain types of recyclables. (??)