Save your sweeps

In another thread about what is the smallest thing we scrap I started thinking about what I do when cutting fingers or any other precious metal bearing materials. This can be done for any metal.

After i finish cutting any batch of fingers I do a quick sweep of my work area. Collect all the small bits and run a magnet over the pile. What ever sticks goes into a 5 gallon bucket for shred.

The rest I put into a small container to be gone thru when full to sift out any gold that may have been scraped off.

Also take a damp coffee filter and clean what ever you use to cut fingers with. When you look at the filter you are going to find small bits of gold. Also save any little mlcc that get cut off of ram sticks. They may contain silver and or palladium.

Take all this and store it in a container or paper bag. Eventually you may have enough sweeps to take to a small refiner to have incinerated and assayed and paid out on. Jewelers do this on a daily bases and collect all their sweeps and polishings to sell. Eventually they take them in and get paid for it all.