Melting Versus Dissolving Is their a financial difference in

[benign01]

I receive a small amount of rolled gold every week ie gents and ladies watch bracelets,gold-filled pocket watch cases, metal core bangles etc, .mainly copper based, some stainless steel that I remove mechanically and so on. I melt this into a bar and get around $1.50 a gram when sold, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. I melt only about 1000 grams or 15+ ounces a week..

Would it be better for me to start dissolving everything and recover the gold that way. Would there be more of a yield ?

One thing to make clear. I sell the rolled gold bar purely on the basis of an xrf analysis (an averageof the readings reading done on each side of the bar ie 6 readings. fo. The refiner used to take drillings and then analyse but now just zaps the bar.

Obviously with dissolving the reading wouldn't be in doubt

I know it might be a piece of string question,but dissolving seems to me to be the long-winded route.Am I right?

For clarity I'm interested in the differences in return of melting versus dissolving in nitric then melting versus the whole dissolving refining process to get a pure gold result (as per Hoke's AR method)

 

[glondor]

The answer is simple really, if you refine it, you will know exactly what you have. Gold filled can vary greatly in recovery, so much so, I would never just melt it and sell. If you know what you have, it is much harder to be cheated out of it.

 

[Pantherlikher]

it's just my opinion...

If you are in it for the quick money turn around, why even melt it? Just weigh and ship and make the refinner account for every gram. They should be able to.

If you want the satisfaction of knowing what you give them to pay you, you'll have to do it the long way.

B.S.
... Sometimes the quick buck can cost more...

 

[Palladium]

How much of a variance is their between the 6 different xrf readings? Are the readings nearly the same or all over the board?

 

[niteliteone]

I feel that if you already have the equipment, chemicals and knowledge, You are better off processing the materials yourself and then selling the gold outright at close to spot value. That way You know exactly what you are offering and will easily know if they are paying you fairly for what you turn in.
This way you can also determine what types of GF material return how much gold, which will help you know how much to pay for what you are buying.
Necklaces suffer less wear than bracelets and watch bands contain various amounts of GF compared to base metals. It would be wise to know percentage of returns for each type of material acquired.
As an example I will pay out up to 30% of weight on women's watch bands but only 26% on men's. I will also pay less on each depending on filth contained within the bands.

This information is a lot more relevant that "melt or refine" in my opinion

 

[benign01]

How much of a variance is their between the 6 different xrf readings? Are the readings nearly the same or all over the board?

Not far off each other . Last reading of an 800g bar was
top 5%
bottom$.5%
side a 5.2%
side b 4.3%
side c 5%
side d 5.4%

What are you thinking?, Melt is always well stirred.

 

[Palladium]

I was just wondering how much difference in percentages their was.

 

[bswartzwelder]

I am assuming the bottom reading was 4.9%. If that is correct, then the average of the 6 readings comes out to 4.9%. Multiplying 800 grams by 0.049 equals 39.2 grams of gold. The price right now is $1298.2 per ounce. Dividing $1298.2 by 31.103 (number of grams in a troy ounce) reveals the price of gold per gram is $41.74. If my numbers are correct, 39.2 grams of gold at $41.74 is worth $1636.21. I hope that is somewhat close to what they paid you for that bar.

Several factors come to mind (my mind can't handle much more). 1. The cost of refining that amount by using AR might be high, since you would first have to dissolve ALL the metal. Precipitate the gold to leave the base metals behind. Then wash the gold as per Harold's instructions. Then re-dissolve and re-precipitate to get close to 99.9% purity. 2. If the material is only gold plated, the gold plating could be removed from the surface using an electrolytic cell fairly cheaply. While it would be pretty pure, it should still be dissolved and precipitated to get the highest purity. 3. When they sell their gold (your former gold), you can bet your bottom dollar they will be getting more than the spot price for the gold.

They are in business to turn a profit. If there is anything you can do (cutting out the middle man steps), you can put at least a part of that profit in your pocket and not theirs. If anyone sees anything wrong with my math or thinking, let me know.