Dismantler refining directly possible?

Originally Posted by Porsche993

Hello, New here but have been in the scrap business for over 15 years. I have been doing research for the last year and trying to answer a question I have. Is it possible for a auto dismantler to go straight to a refiner? Seems most dismantlers sell to "middleman" but I dont understand why. Why doesent a dismantler (know of 1) go and get a contract and send his scrap cats straight to the refiner to get refining value instead of "middleman price"?

The answer you seek grasshopper first off there's nothing to stop you from dealing with the precious metals refinery direct, if you have 10,000 pounds of materiel and your capable of meeting this quota every couple of months. the refinery's will welcome you as a customer.

The smaller scrap yards who purchase from walk ins will sell their inventory before meeting the necessary quota to deal with a refinery direct, for the simple reason the precious metals market is very volatile. if you hold your inventory to long and the market craters your screwed.

Removing the precious metals wash coat is relatively easy, I'm sitting on several thousands of dollars worth, the fluctuation in those graphs below show volatility which is the reason I'm unable to find a buyer.

Couldn't even buy a loaf of bread with my inventory of precious metals sponge's, would have been further ahead selling the cats. And I'm not even sure that's a good idea at the moment.

As the dominoes begin to fall, Record China Defaults in Focus as Modern Land Misses Payment

One year graph for rhodium, platinum and palladium.









.

Another answer to original question is the "middleman" is just the easier option

Originally Posted by mikeinreco

Another answer to original question is the "middleman" is just the easier option

He could sell his cats to our resident buyer - APA.

You may want to check on goldrefingforum.com

Originally Posted by Porsche993

Thank you for that info, So its not possible to find a refiner that will do a 1 off lot? Ive spoken to Legends Smelting and it seemed like they would but I dont know how much trust I shall have recommending them....

To the best of my knowledge there are only two smelters on the USA than handle the platinum group metals, regardless of their claim Legend is not one of them.

Kennecott has a copper smelter in Utah where they inject scrap e-waste circuit boards into the furnace, boards are ground up into powders assay taken before smelting. Customers is paid on assay.

In the news, Kennecott, https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news...-at-kennecott/

https://www.sibanyestillwater.com/business/americas/pgm-operations-americas/columbus-metallurgical-complex/

https://metallix.com/

My question is if you have one converter why bother

Originally Posted by Porsche993

Appreciate the info, So I take it there is a expectancy of the metals to be dropping in value?
Are there any cat buyers that work with refiners on this forum that would like to chime in?
The "middlemen" should know if a 1 off sale for refining is possible.

Lets play the numbers game, I'll pay you by the numbers inscribed on your cat.

That is the biggest scam going, city cats that spend their usable life on asphalt will assay with a higher value than sister cats which spent a lifetime on dusty rural gravel roads,

By the time those cats purchased by the numbers hit the refinery they've had the comb removed, shipped in super sacks. refinery works from assay results not numbers.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/sci...-highway-dirt/

If you try really hard, you can refine gold out of garbage old computer parts. But that's not the weirdest place you can find precious metals, not by a long shot. If you're looking for platinum, for example, you need look no further than the dirt on the side of a major roadway.

alloy, first...there are more than two. Hell one of them I live within an hour of. Second, those of you that think metals are going down? Do you think that because China is having a hard time digesting some debt conversions? Lets say thats the case. Most platinum is used in Chemistry anyways, not automotive. Automotive has been a relatively closed system of recycling for decades until very recently. And palladium, well the highest level of use is in modern high frequency multidirectional antennas, both in ground to satellite and tower to cell phone. (also the cell phone has palladium too). In fact the advent of 5g globally means palladium has seen an exponential increase in use. And rhodium? Well, pzev vehicles, tier 4 final emissions in trucks and prime movers, all of that uses rhodium. Gold is always a hedge, so its rise really does seem to stem from economic inflation. All of the above said, if you think anything is going to trend back down, let me know when you want to sell. Look around everybody, this is the only time when exports are much lower than expected worldwide and yet our commodities are still higher than average. Copper should be your biggest indicator of whats on the horizon for everything else.