Everyone knows that the scrap metal business can be lucrative. What most don’t know is that there are ways to increase overall profitability in our scrap. One of those ways is finding gold in scrap metal and selling that too.
If you haven’t noticed, and if you are an avid scrapper we know you have, but the price of gold has sky rocketed over the years. With that, it seems that more and more people who scrap have found that looking for gold (not mining) is another way to reap the rewards of searching and scrapping. The beauty of recycling gold, is that it is more cost effective than mining for it. So it’s in demand in any form.
Many electronics, computers and cell phones and other household items contain small amounts of gold. Gold is used as a conductor in electronics, on circuit boards and in wiring and wiring harnesses . Gold does not rust, therefore it makes a terrific contact point for electronic components. Gold plating is used in high-quality electronics, where some companies may use copper instead (which is still very valuable).
Old Jewelry is a constant standby for gold. Scrapping for old jewelry can be a chore, if you read our last article, about metal detecting, that’s a tried and true way to find gold jewelry that has been lost or discarded. Most jewelry is 18 or 14 karat, there are some 10 karats. The lower the number, the less gold the jewelry contains. You don’t have to worry about perfect scrap gold either, total weight is all that counts, it is all melted down and recycled anyway.
The most important thing to remember is that if you are scrapping as a hobby or for a living, it is important to separate all of your metals prior to selling. Plenty of profit can be lost by not taking the time to separate your scrap.