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Refiners: Who would y'all suggest?

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BohemianLush Refiners: Who would y'all... 08-19-2013, 12:13 PM
NobleMetalWorks Who cheats you least? Most... 08-19-2013, 12:51 PM
Bear haha, good luck! haha, sorry,... 08-19-2013, 12:52 PM
travistemple202020 this must be a law only in... 08-19-2013, 12:56 PM
Bear good luck too with assembling... 08-19-2013, 12:58 PM
BohemianLush I consider asking my fellow... 08-19-2013, 01:16 PM
NobleMetalWorks The best way to make sure... 08-19-2013, 03:35 PM
CapitalRecovery Head hurts I'll just send my... 07-15-2017, 08:11 PM
travistemple202020 now I guess I am confused and... 08-19-2013, 01:46 PM
PartTimeScrapper For those of you who dont... 08-19-2013, 02:48 PM
pcscrapper I've opted out sending My... 08-19-2013, 02:49 PM
Mechanic688 Or maybe go over to the GRF... 08-19-2013, 07:56 PM
hobo finds You have so much stuff I... 08-20-2013, 10:21 AM
BohemianLush Thanks everyone for your... 08-20-2013, 10:41 AM
NobleMetalWorks If what you stated before... 08-20-2013, 12:21 PM
brandon I contacted a refiner once, I... 08-20-2013, 11:44 AM
BumpRacerX Take my experience as a... 08-20-2013, 05:19 PM
BRASSCATCHER Please name the refiner so... 08-20-2013, 06:07 PM
BumpRacerX Sipi Metals. If you... 08-20-2013, 06:52 PM
NobleMetalWorks I'm sorry to hear you got... 08-20-2013, 11:19 PM
Mechanic688 I guess as long as you got a... 08-20-2013, 07:10 PM
BumpRacerX I had no clue (and still... 08-20-2013, 07:24 PM
Mechanic688 Might want to heed Noble's... 08-20-2013, 07:30 PM
auminer That dude was a good resource... 07-16-2017, 07:26 AM
jimicrk So it's been 4 years since... 07-16-2017, 10:53 AM
  1. #2
    NobleMetalWorks's Avatar
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    Who cheats you least?

    Most refineries don't outright cheat you, it's more like they know better what's happening in the process than you do. And if they know, you don't know how your material should be processed, they are going to do what everyone does now days.

    If a woman takes her car into a mechanic and doesn't understand the work that is being done on the car, she will be overcharged in labor, and possibly the replacement of parts that didn't need to be replaced.

    People sell their gold bearing items on ebay because they know that the people buying are not educated and will most times, pay more than their recoverable values are worth.

    I can give many more examples of this same type of thing, but I think you get the point in what I am trying to express.



    So from the refiners point of view it is kind of like this. Because the market for processing precious metals is so competitive, and because so many refiners offer so close to spot prices, it creates it's own problem. So a refinery that pays 98% spot must make up their profit in some other way, usually in fees and sometimes in the recoverable values in the melt loss. What I mean is this, during the smelting/melting process there are small amounts of metals that are lost. This loss can be anywhere between 2%-8%. So if you are melting 100 ounces of gold, that means your loss could be as much as 8 ounces, of which 2%-3% is recoverable by the refiner. If for example, they smelt using different fluxes, or different temperatures, you will have different amounts of melt loss. Also, some of your values get caught up in the slag, so if you are not asking for the slag back, you could be loosing values in that.

    There are so many other ways that a refiner might capture some of your values, so if you are not educated in the process and understand how to properly represent your material, you will have a higher percentage of melt loss, than what you should. It's the mechanic charging more labor than is needed, same thing.

    I can guarantee you this, if you do not properly represent your material, you will be ripped off, there is no question about it. And dependent upon how you represent your material, you will have more or less of a loss.

    If I were you, I would hire someone that knows how to properly represent your material, and pay them a 1% of the yield as a fee, the better job they do the more they make. The return you get will more than pay for the 1% you are paying the person to represent your material. So more money in your pocket, and you get to work with someone that already understands and can help you understand exactly what is transpiring.

    You are smart to do truckloads, you get a much better deal the more material you process. 10k lbs and up is probably best, with 20k lbs being even better.

    Scott
    At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes--an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense. -- Carl Sagan

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