New Member - "Who's the Best PM Refiner?"

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CMM

Active member
Joined
Jan 23, 2018
Messages
26
Howdy! Not sure how I found this forum, but glad I did.

Wanted to ask what people here think about Hi-Tech PMR?

Or ARA in Dallas? (Did I hear something bad about them?)

I spent a couple of hours last night reading an old thread. One member (with a 4 in his handle) was giving long and useful advice about how to make sure a refiner is being honest by watching your melt and taking samples, and some other stuff. Then a (now banned) member named rbrooks was ranting about computer scrap and other stuff. In the course of things, a rep name Miguel from Hi-Tech PMR was introducing his company, and sounded like the type of person i like to do business with.

But that was an old thread. And I don't know if anything has changed.

I'm a scrap gold (and silver) buyer. The gold I need to refine is mostly jewelry. I did this for a while, but kind of retired from it several years ago. We had more kids, and they keep getting more expensive, so I'm just now starting back at this biz.

Who's "trustworthy"? Who stands out?

Started with Midwest years ago. Moved up to Silvertowne. Tried Garfield once, but felt like Silvertowne paid better (but has an assay fee). I'm on the hunt. Guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Well I'm near Gastonia NC. But I'd be willing to drive several hours.

Nobody has any experience with the ones I mentioned?
 
What kind of gold are you mainly looking to refine? Karat or gold filled? How quick of a turn around do you need? What kind of volume and how frequently? Do you want gold back or to sell it?
 
ARA is no longer ARA. Miguel no longer at HTPMR.
Silvertowne just sends to a bigger refinery from what I can guess. I did use to sell them fine silver.

I don’t bother with karat scrap these days but I do have a standout gent I can recommend.
 
I have had good experiences with ARA.

https://www.aragold.com/

I was not aware of what Lou said about them not being ARA anymore. It's been a couple years since I used them.
 
1. Gold jewelry = karat gold, and silver varieties
2. Turnaround time: as fast as possible. If I can go and do it same day, all the better.
3. Volume: around 5 ozt to begin. More later.
4. This is a business: I need money for bills--not refined gold.

ARA is no longer ARA? They have a website? So that's all I'm going on. Whatever they were, are they okay now? And if Miguel isn't at Hi-Tech, are they okay nowadays?

Anybody in Charlotte? Raleigh? Atlanta? Knoxville? Anywhere in between those locations?

Otherwise, the best refineries where I can mail it would be okay i guess?
 
ARA was bought out by a guy who used to own another refinery.

High tech no longer employs Miguel or Amir.
 
Lou said:
I don’t bother with karat scrap these days but I do have a standout gent I can recommend.

If this is who I think it is, the op should contact you.

Rates are competitive with the big guys without the fees.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Lou said:
ARA is no longer ARA. Miguel no longer at HTPMR.
Silvertowne just sends to a bigger refinery from what I can guess. I did use to sell them fine silver.

I don’t bother with karat scrap these days but I do have a standout gent I can recommend.
ARA is still around. I did business with them just a few months ago.
They are really easy to work with, and their payout for gold is great. Around 98% for gold buttons
sent in.
 
That’s great Kerry—glad you had a positive experience—but it’s not the same ARA so far as I know. I didn’t say they closed but they have a new owner.
 
If all you want to do is pump and dump and you know the business as far as testing and yields i guess you could go with Elemental https://elemetal.com/location/charlotte
 
Okay, thanks for the ARA recommendation. I don't care who used to be in charge of these places, just need to know if they're good now. Or who's best.

I'm kind of surprised that nobody else gave any recommendations. It would be understandable if we all bought gold in the same city and were competitors. But isn't this the forum for this kind of question? Or maybe I didn't have a good enough title to attract attention? Or maybe something else I missed?
 
@palladium

I'll check them out. I missed your post. Thanks. But "pump and dump" sounds so cynical :) What else would I do with it? Melt it into bars and load up my shed, or what?
 
CMM said:
Okay, thanks for the ARA recommendation. I don't care who used to be in charge of these places, just need to know if they're good now. Or who's best.

I'm kind of surprised that nobody else gave any recommendations. It would be understandable if we all bought gold in the same city and were competitors. But isn't this the forum for this kind of question? Or maybe I didn't have a good enough title to attract attention? Or maybe something else I missed?

It's not a question of competition. The reason is we don't use refineries, we are the refiner!

Elemental use to be NTR. You can walk in and walk out in less than an hour with your money. Just make sure you doing your testing and know your yields so their is little room for error. They will usually melt your lot and shoot in with a xrf and pay out 98-99% based on yield.
 
CMM said:
@palladium

I'll check them out. I missed your post. Thanks. But "pump and dump" sounds so cynical :) What else would I do with it? Melt it into bars and load up my shed, or what?

It sounds cynical, but it's what it is...there's no shame in that.

Palladium is a refiner. He takes lots from jewelers, and gives them back fine gold that they use in their jewelry.

You don't necessarily need a refiner as much as just a collector. Someone that melts and has good analytics and analysts to get you out the door.

There is very little discussion of refinery drama on this forum...or even named refineries, or melt houses, etc. Much more about the processes therein.
 
@Palladium - Wasn't insinuating anything about competition. Just was trying to figure it out. So exactly what are you advising me to do before trying Elemental? Just doing the math to estimate my yield? Or something more complicated like I was reading about on this forum yesterday? I'm glad to learn anything you offer :D

@snowman701 - Thanks for clearing that up.

I'm definitely going to hang around here. Thanks folks.
 
Just make sure you acid test and verify the quality of your buys. Then know how to calculate the amount of gold that should be there so if you walk in and their numbers don't match yours you know something is up. If after they shoot the bar and you can't agree on the numbers pick your bar up and walk out. If you know someone with a xrf you can melt your own lot and have them test it before you have it tested at Elemental. I know several people who buy $25-50 grand a week in scrap and for a fast turn around on your money it's one way to go. How the lot is melted is also important to verifying it contents. But the most important part is on you to test and verify before you even walk in.
 
I've used Elemental in the past. I've taken 14k plumb into them and have never gotten better than 52% on what should have been 58.5% That said, most of the gold buyers around here are only paying about 65-70% of spot off the street, so they can afford to absorb some losses I suppose.
 
jwlrymkr said:
I've used Elemental in the past. I've taken 14k plumb into them and have never gotten better than 52% on what should have been 58.5% That said, most of the gold buyers around here are only paying about 65-70% of spot off the street, so they can afford to absorb some losses I suppose.

I'm not knocking any buyer, but there's no excuse for anything other than a transparent honest transaction...just because they are paying 65-70% doesn't mean they aren't working for their money. They've still got to put themselves out there and take risks, not to mention listening to the sob stories of people who are selling that gold.

But at a supposed 6 1/2% gold loss, you only have to be selling an ounce of gold before you could have bought a liter of the most expensive nitric and inquarted your karat scrap in some silver so that you are selling 99%+ Au.
 
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