Understanding the Scrap Gold Market

The process of recycling broken jewelry, damaged coins and other items that are no longer wanted is what is referred to as Scrap Gold.

When you are selling scrap gold or jewelry, it is much different than buying or selling gold on the open market. Scrap gold buyers will usually have a pre-set rate for each type of gold that they will purchase. For example, they will have a set rate for 10 karat gold, and a different rate for 24 karat gold. The higher the karat, the more value it will hold.

Scrap Gold Prices

It's important to note that the price offered for your scrap gold jewelry will be lower than the current gold market price as there is a significant process involved in smelting your gold items into raw gold material. When buying and selling gold on the open market, you are dealing with true market prices, where the gold you buy is usually only available in a few select formats like a 10-ounce gold bullion bar. Don't forget 24 carat pure gold will fetch a far higher price but we're interested in all gold, from 9ct to 24ct.

When you sell your gold jewelry to a refiner, you are essentially paying for a service. They must melt down your gold or silver jewelry to get the true value from it. Unless you have your own crucible to melt down your jewelry, then the only way to see the most amounts of cash for the jewelry you no longer want is by selling it to a refiner.

Why Recycle Gold?

Gold mining has a huge environmental impact, the process of excavating and extracting the gold ore - the raw material from which gold is derived, is very environmentally intensive, involving damaging chemicals such as cyanide and sulphuric acid.

Scrap gold is jewelry that is broken, damaged or unwanted but still has value. Many people believe that their scrap gold is worthless, but as one can find, turning it into cash is quite easy. Many of us have jewelry that is either damaged, missing a part or just sitting in a box unused.

Scrap Gold has become a huge business, motivated by the surge in the price of gold and the current global economic environment. Selling gold jewelry has enabled people to liquidate their assets into cash, a more versatile form of currency in modern life.