GOLD REFINERY
Gold recycling and where to refine your scrap gold
The concept of Gold Refinery has been around for thousands of years, given that gold has been considered a precious commodity since its first discovery.
However, gold refineries have evolved over time, becoming more efficient and productive with the new technologies, even if some basic procedures are the same that were used centuries ago.
What is a Gold Refinery?
A gold refinery is the place where gold is separated from other metals or residues. In other words, it is where it gets refined. These companies generally work with scrap precious metals, and they recycle them through the process of refining, separating them into their pure forms, and repurposing them.
Gold recycling
Gold refineries can recycle and extract gold from most metal scrap that contains it. Some examples are dental scrap, post-cremation implants, electronic devices, and old jewelry.
In this way, the gold that is already on the market is reused, and the impact of gold mining, which is a very polluting activity, is reduced. Also, the process of gold recycling is economically convenient over the mining process.
A little bit of gold history
Gold has been a treasured mineral since its first discovery, which happened in many different cultures all over the world. But near 4000 BC the smelting process was created and gold started to take many different shapes. The oldest gold artifacts made their appearance during this millennium in Mesopotamia.
But then Egyptians took charge and gold became a great part of their culture. They extracted gold at the banks of rivers through the sedimentation process, and archeological evidence shows refining and mechanical goldwork. The gold particles found in the sand were purified by a melting process and then molded, mostly into jewelry and idols they prayed to. Around 2000 BC Egyptians learned to purify alloys with salt to remove silver and get pure gold. This process is now called gold parting, and it is still used because gold and silver are often extracted together.
These techniques later arrived at the Roman empire and were passed to the European cultures, who kept developing them. With the discovery of the Americas, new gold sources were found and more industrial processes were created.
The truth is that gold refining still uses some of the oldest techniques, enhanced. The melting process is still similar, and the fire assay, which is used to determine gold purity and is the standard of the industry, was invented in 1350 BC by the Babylonians.
How does a gold refinery work?
It is important to note that a gold refinery is a precious metal refinery, so if you want to know more about the process of gold refining, check out this article where we explain what a precious metal refinery is and how it works.
On your side, we make the process very simple:
- Call us or fill out our form to request a free container (or multiple containers, depending on the quantity you want to send).
- We will send you the container/s for free with return shipping labels.
- Whenever you are ready, give us a call, and we will schedule a FedEx pickup.
- As soon as we receive the material, we will provide you access to our customer portal where you will be able to monitor and follow our process.
- In just a few days with a quick turnaround, you will receive a check (you can discuss with us your payment method; we can adapt to your needs).
How to calculate the value of gold scrap?
As we talked about before, scrap gold comes from many different sources, and its quality is different according to the industry. Gold from computers, electronic devices, dental scrap, implants, and jewelry all have a variable karat, depending on the object and the composition.
If you have any gold to refine and want to know its estimated value before sending it in, here we give you a couple of resources that can help you.
At the time of sending, if you know the purity of the scrap gold you have, you could use our scrap gold calculator and get a free estimation, and check the information here where we explain how easy it is to use the calculator. This way, you will get an estimation of the value of your material, with live scrap gold prices. Remember that it is just an estimation, providing a close to exact calculation, but then you need to consider that the gold refinery you use will have different charge fees. Depending on the volume of gold scrap, gold refineries charge different percentages or flat fees.
If you generate scrap gold, we could send you a container so that you can start recycling your gold with us.
The reality is that if you generate any type of scrap gold, it is possible that you could be adding other types of metals that are also valuable. Please connect with one of our experts to find out if your industry uses other types of precious metals and what we could do for you.
If you want to know how much your Gold Scrap is worth, check now our Scrap Gold Calculator, with live gold prices and easy to understand interface!
Where to refine your scrap gold? Choosing the best gold refinery
First, make sure you choose a direct gold refiner, because by cutting off the middleman, you will get higher returns. A middleman will take up to 70% of the value of the gold scrap from you.
Second, find out what their refining process is. At Core Scientific, we use the latest technologies and techniques. We have a page where we explain our process here.
Third, look for transparency. Many refineries will hide the information, like hiding parts of the assay report, or not providing weights after receiving your material. At Core Scientific, we provide you a customer portal available 24/7 online where you can verify the weights, see pictures of your material, follow our process, access full assay reports, and track settlements.
Fourth, and the last thing: credibility. We are an INC 5,000 company, one of the fastest private growing companies in the US. We are the leader in precious metal refining in North America, and we have tons of great reviews! We have a laboratory in-house and specialize in gold refining.
One thing we can guarantee at Core Scientific is that you will get the highest returns in the industry on your scrap gold.
If you are ready to start recycling gold scrap and earning money, contact us!
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