Precious metal scrap, including gold, silver, palladium and platinum, is sold for its weight and determined by purity and market price. Unwanted or broken jewelry, coins, and silverware can be sold. Dealers purchase scrap gold and sell it to refineries. Refineries liquefy and purify the metal before selling to various buyers.
Scrap of precious metals is generally defined as gold, silver, palladium and platinum that are sold for their weight. The price of precious metal scrap is determined by the purity of the metal and the current market price. Any piece of a precious metal may be considered scrap by its owner, but usually only items that are no longer useful for their original purpose are sold for scrap.
Unwanted or broken jewelry, pieces of silver or covered cutlery, gold dental fillings, and coins can all be sold for their weight. Typically, something that is new or still useful isn’t sold for scrap. The value of a new diamond and platinum necklace would far exceed the value of the scrap platinum, so it probably wouldn’t be sold for scrap. A silver lid from a lost sugar bowl, on the other hand, isn’t useful on its own, so it would be a good candidate for scrap metal. Virtually anything made of gold, silver, palladium or platinum can be scrap metal.
The price of precious metal scrap is determined by the daily market rate, which fluctuates regularly. The market price is determined per troy ounce, which is 20 pence (31.1 grams). Purity, or the percentage of pure precious metal in the item, also affects the price. Pure precious metals are typically too soft for everyday use, so other metals, such as nickel or copper, are added to make them harder. In gold, the purest form is 24 karat which is almost 100% gold. It has a higher price than 10-karat gold, which is only 43.5% pure gold.
Dealers, such as pawnshops and some jewelry stores, often purchase scrap gold. Typically, dealers do not reuse scrap gold themselves, but instead sell it to a refinery for a profit. Not all dealers pay the same amount of money for every penny by weight of precious metal scrap. Each retailer determines its price based on market value and desired profit margin. Unless a refinery is local, the dealer will need to ship the metal to a refinery. It takes several days or weeks for the seller to receive payment.
Refiners sort precious metals by type and then liquefy them. The molten metal is mixed with borax or soda ash to absorb impurities. The metal is tested for purity and then hardened into a shape. Refineries sell precious metals to a variety of buyers, including dentists, jewelers, investors, hospitals and laboratories.
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