How Gold Is Refined After You Sell It
How Gold Is Refined After You Sell It
With the recent surge in gold prices, you have likely seen television commercials and online advertisements encouraging you to sell your gold. Many people have done so and converted their gold watches, rings, pendants, coins, and scrap gold into cash. These items typically end up at a refinery for processing. In fact, you should only sell your items to buyers who operate their own refineries.
Have you ever wondered what goes on inside these places? Have you ever been curious about the process your scrap gold goes through after you sell it? In this article, we’ll give you a rare glimpse behind the refinery’s doors. While each refinery follows a slightly different process, the basics are similar.
Standardizing The Material
There are very few items that are pure gold; pure is defined as 24 karats. Any item with a lower karatage is considered impure. Most earrings, bracelets, clasps, and other types of jewelry actually contain other metals. For example, there are usually traces of silver and copper present. There may also be traces of nickel and palladium. Refining your gold items involves removing these impurities. This is done by melting the items in order to standardize the material. Then, the resulting molten material is often placed into a tank filled with cold water.
Separating The Gold
The next step is to separate the other metals from the gold. This involves using a number of chemicals. Nitric acid is used to produce a reaction from the copper and silver. The metals dissolve over a period that can span several hours, resulting in the material being turned into a reddish-brown liquid with an acidic quality. Urea is applied as a neutralizing agent for the acid. Then, the liquid is exposed to sulfur dioxide, causing the gold remnants to fall (this process is often performed in a bath or tank). The remaining non-gold material is pumped into another tank.
The gold that dropped from the original material still contains tiny traces of silver and copper. In order to remove these persistent impurities, the gold needs to be cleansed with sulfuric acid. Once exposed to sulfuric acid, the remaining material is funneled through a filtering mechanism. This produces a powder that is officially “pure gold.” The powder is melted at temperatures that exceed 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
What About The Other Metals?
The copper and silver that were pumped into a secondary tank are treated with chemicals to increase their PH level and eliminate the ammonia contained within. Then, the metals are filtered and carefully extracted, leaving little else but water.
The process described above must be performed by a refinery whenever you sell gold that is less than pure (or, less than 24 karats). A few top-tier refineries have begun to integrate state-of-the-art systems that allow them to reduce the level of waste produced during the refining process. Ultimately, that translates into higher prices they are willing to pay for the scrap gold you sell.
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