How to identify rare metals

How do you identify magnesium, nickel and other rare metals and How do you sell it? I mean How do the scrapyard tell wich is wich?

Originally Posted by miyamuto

How do you identify magnesium, nickel and other rare metals and How do you sell it? I mean How do the scrapyard tell wich is wich?

Go to https://www.scribd.com/ and grab yourself a copy of "Hokes Testing Precious Metals"

If the scrapyard buys them it's because they have a test there, or perhaps an XRF gun. When you find a buyer for them they can tell you how to test and best prepare your loads.

apparently I found out today silver looks like zinc sorta but is really soft and heavy. if you file it the file tears into the metal pretty deep compared to zinc. wish i woulda known that when i was running the metals room. I used to just chuck that stuff in with the zinc or lead.

I think Magnesium is worth less than Aluminium, I just put it in with my Aluminium since it's a metal that's Alloyed into most grades of Aluminium anyway.
( Now I will probably get told I can get better $ for it, & Mg is not a good alloy for Aluminium. Lol)

Silver often has a sort of rainbow look to it's tarnish, a touch of blue to it.
The only place I have seen Silver is in electrical contacts, they also contain Cadnium, so don't breath in its fumes if you heat it.
Older Tantinum capactors have Silver casings, look for the [ + ] sign on Tanti capactors, other capactors only have the [ - ] sign on them. The Silver ones have a phenomenal value. Only in older electrical stuff.

Zinc ? I have only seen it in the sacrificial anodes on boats.
Tin ? Car wheel weights, labeled [ Sn ] for Tin.
Nickel. Not by itself, it's in nonmagnetic Stainless Steel though. That makes it worth more than Steel.

Originally Posted by eesakiwi

I think Magnesium is worth less than Aluminium
Tin ? Car wheel weights, labeled [ Sn ] for Tin.

Real tin is over $8 /lb
Magnesium scrap was $0.01/lb last I looked ... ~$260 /ton wholesale
Let me look to see current wholesale prices ...

Wholesale postings in the last week ...

Magnesium scrap [sell] 1000 tons $280 ton

Dirty aluminum scrap [sell] 40 tons $360 ton

Aluminum UBC scrap [sell] 1600 tons $180 ton

Aluminum 6063 scrap [sell] 700 tons $220 ton

Some other listings for retail aluminum
Irony aluminum retail scrap is $0.07/lb
Aluminum rims with tire retail scrap is $0.10 /lb

You could probably get better wholesale prices ... i do not have the time to dig through 1,000's of websites for current information