# Any experience with precious metal refineries?



## kwaish (Jan 8, 2019)

I made a post recently about buying some rather sketchy scrap gold on eBay. I have their protections on my side so I'm not worried as far as that goes. I got to thinking and found myself wondering where I'd sell such an odd piece- a lump of 9k gold if it checks out to be authentic by some miracle.

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but have any of you had any experience with any refining companies or others that would buy gold in such a form? My research turned up midwest refineries and prospectors gold and gems, but I thought I'd ask you kind people.

I ask this because I realize that my lcs may be weary buying gold in blob form if it can't be 100% authenticated. I just don't want to be unprepared when the package shows up as if it is fake, eBay needs to know within a certain amount of time so that I would get my money back.

I can remove this tomorrow if when I talk to my lcs they state that they'd buy it given the chance to authenticate it, as they pay out good prices from my experiences. Just wondering if there's any refineries that are worth my time since they could probably assay the sample better than the coin shop.

Tl;Dr: Where can I send my sketchy gold (if its real) if my coin shop won't buy it or lowballs me?

Thank you!


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## jimdoc (Jan 8, 2019)

Gold blobs on Ebay are a big gamble, if not merely charity to some scammer.
Don't bid more than you are willing to lose, and learn.

Also don't count on them getting your money back if it is fake.


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## rickbb (Jan 8, 2019)

A lot of those eBay blobs, bricks, bars are just various plated scrap all melted together. Low quality plated pins from computers are the usual source.

If it is a blob of electronics scrap it's very unlikely to have enough gold to be worth paying anything for it at all. 

While e-scrap does indeed have real gold and worth recovery, not after it's been all melted into a blob of 95% steel, copper, god knows what else, etc.

You have to ask yourself, why would they melt it into a blob in the first place? The only logical answer is to hide something.


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## saltbayfive (Jul 1, 2021)

It's easiest to think of precious metals refining as a method of recycling. The refining process takes products or byproducts containing precious metals (such as jewelry or dental scrap) and isolates the metals back into more purified states for recirculation.


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## ramanvid (Oct 28, 2022)

A precious metal refinery is a a facility where precious metals, like gold or silver, are separated from other materials, generally by recycling scrap that contains these valuable elements. This procedure is very complicated and requires the intervention of a professional precious metal refiner.  get-vidmate.com instasave


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## Custommetals (Oct 28, 2022)

They are very accurate at processing material and payin less a min. charge or a small % of total PM's is a mix of Silver ,gold and Plat. like a jewelers bench filings


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## goldshark (Oct 29, 2022)

There is probably a Gold buyer, of some sort, in any town USA. More in bigger cities. Try taking to a couple of places before deciding whom to deal with. Some are good and some are down right crooks. A refiner will generally take your Gold, refine it, then send you a check based on spot, minus a roughly 5% refining charge on small lots, sometimes full spot if the quantity is big enough. The bigger refiners are usually honest.
I had a 2 Troy ounce cone from a mold I had just refined. I took it to a pawn shop to see what I could get for it. I played dumb and said that I bought it at a garage sale, and was wondering if it was Gold, and how much it was worth if it was. 3 out of 5 said it was Brass without even testing it. The other 2 said it was Gold, but said it was 14 k according to their test solution. I had taken it through AR twice, so knew it was at least 2 9s. 
Long story short, there are a lot of unscrupulous people dealing with Gold. The best way is to know what you have. Either learn to refine or test it yourself, or be at the mercy of the greedy liars and cheats.


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