Selling Impure Copper Versus Brass

Gold Refining Forum

Help Support Gold Refining Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Evan2468WDWA

Well-known member
Joined
May 22, 2014
Messages
65
Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've read I get the impression purity is vary important in the value of copper scrap because copper's main use is as a conductor, and very pure copper is the best for that. I'm under the impression some gold refiners have trouble selling their copper scrap because it is not pure enough, and copper refiners don't want to deal with a lot of small lots of copper with varying different types of impurities. It seem like maybe it would make more sense to turn that copper into brass before selling it off. Brass refers to a number of different alloys so I'm guessing it's impractical for brass recyclers to demand a high decree of pureness in regards to the brass scrap they collect. So I'm also guessing that selling brass is easier then selling impure copper. Although I'm unsure as to the financial viable of such a transformation.

I'm curious to hear someone's thoughts on this, or any corrections to any misunderstanding I might have on the subject.
 
Most brass that scrap yards buy is in recognizable forms, like plumbing pipe or lamps and such.
Any melted bar or blob will bring low prices, if they will buy it at all. Probably not worth the effort.
You can try it if you want.
 
Copper with zinc (brass) is a trashy product just like gold filled or sterling is. Therefore you get a reduced price. If you have enough copper they will pay you based on the actual copper content just like we do with gold and silver. The key is to have enough and often enough to get that kind of deal.
 
I guess this doesn't make any sense for big time refiners. I wasn't too sure about small time hobbyist refiners, but If scrap yards wont take it either then I'm guessing it's no good for that as well. I guess it's just a bad idea. At any rate thanks for the reply.
 
Every scrap yard is different, shop around until you find one that is the one for you.
If you have a bigger lot or other scrap to sell at the same time you might get a better price as they would like to get all scrap you have.

Göran
 
There are many different grades of copper scrap. If you have scrap copper, someone will buy it from you. Turning it into brass is a money loser for you.
 
I am guessing he was talking about copper powder, left over from refining. Like what has been discussed in the past.
 
jimdoc said:
I am guessing he was talking about copper powder, left over from refining. Like what has been discussed in the past.

Right, that is what I was thinking about (and maybe stuff from a chain mill latter). Truthfully this isn't really a problem I actually have, but just something I was just thinking about because I read other people talking about it. Right now I don't have enough copper to really worry about any of this, but something to think about in the future I guess.
 
Back
Top