GoldPaq

Gold Lasts Forever

Every gram of gold that has been mined from the earth is still in existence.

Pharaohs or Pirates?

The gold in your wedding band could have been used to decorate Egyptian Pharaohs or part of treasures stolen by Pirate ships.

Due to its indestructible nature, gold can be recycled over and over again without loosing any of its mass.

Purity Levels

Scrap precious metals are bought by gold dealers based on their purity levels.

The purer the gold the higher the value, essentially in laymen’s terms the more it weighs the more a seller can earn for it.

Because appraisal is not always an easy task, coins and high quality jewelry are the easiest to sell due to the fact that determining their worth is not generally a difficult task.

How They Do it

There are many ways to recycle gold for its reuse, this article offers a brief overview of each method and it’s basic process.

Cupellation

This is one of the ancient methods for refining gold to its elemental state. Cuppellation is also used to assay (test the purity of) gold

This is an old method, however that doesn’t make it an green one, cupellation emits toxic lead oxide fumes which pollute the environment.

The process
An alloy consisting of gold and other metals is heated to melting point, then frozen. The base metals are then separated from the gold as a layer of slag.

Through additional processing using both heat and chemicals, the alloy is continuously refined until it becomes a bullion of gold and silver which can also contain platinum

In order to reduce gold to its purest form additional steps are required.

Inquartation and Parting

This method is well suited for refining low karat scrap gold because the process requires adding copper and silver to reduce the alloy to less than 25% gold content.

Most poor quality jewelry has a large percentage of both copper and silver so it requires less overhead to refine.

On the flip side, this method is not a good choice for those wanting to refine jewelry of higher quality. This is because it requires such a high percentage of additional precious minerals to achieve an acceptable amount of gold in the mixture.

The process
Gold is melted and mixed with silver or copper to produce an alloy with less than 25% gold purity. This dilution in the mixture ensures that all base metals and silver can be dissolved out using nitric acid.

The alloy is heated to molten temperatures and the mixture is grained then covered in nitric acid to dissolve out all of the base metals and silver.

What remains is gold sludge, which is washed, filtered and dried.

Miller Chlorination Process

This is one of the oldest and most widely used refinement processes for large scale recycling operations. However it is one that requires some know-how to accomplish properly. This process also produces toxic chlorine gas fumes.

The process
The gold is melted to molten temperatures, then chlorine is bubbled through the mixture to seperate the base metals and silver from the gold.

Chlorine does not mix with gold, but binds to silver and base metals forming chlorides which float to the surface of the molten mixture or escape as gas.

In order to achieve a pure 99.99% gold, further steps are required.

Wohlwill Electrolytic Process

Another older and more established method utilized by major gold refineries, the Wohlwill Process is often used in conjunction with the Miller Process.

Like most of these larger scale processes, they are highly dangerous and require permits, a highly trained workforce and waste management requirements.

The Process
A hydrochloric acid-based electrolyte is used to dissolve base metals and silver in forms which can be collected for re-use.

As with many of these methods further steps are required to refine both the gold and the silver ore that results from this process.

Fizzer Cell Process

Similar to the Wholwill Process, the Fizzer Cell Process is also generally used in operations that refine larger quantities of gold.

The Process
In this process gold is bombarded by cathode delivered electrolytes which dissolves it into a liquid state.

The cathode is secured inside a porous ceramic pot which acts as a membrane.

Gold cannot permeate the ceramic membrane, so as the electrolyte process dissolves the gold, the silver and base metals permeate the clay separating themselves from the gold.

Aqua Regia Process

When used on a smaller scale this method is often done incorrectly, which can cost the refiner weight in gold. The Aqua Regia Process is better suited to larger scale operations.

The Process
A mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids (called aqua regia) is used to dissolve gold into a soluble gold chloride.

After this the dissolved gold must be further refined using harsh chemicals to eliminate impurities

Do It Yourself

Re-read the above again and just don’t.

You Could Just Give Us A Try

Refining gold can be a dangerous process, and its better for the environment if done on a large scale with proper waste disposal and fume ventilation.

Leave the chemicals to the pros, we offer an easy (and chemical-free) way for you to recycle your gold jewelry, you can even donate the proceeds.

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