The first and foremost issue in most people’s minds when they recycle their old, broken or unwanted gold jewellery is usually the extra cash they can earn to use for other things.
But recycling the precious metal also benefits the environment and there is a growing worldwide push to persuade more people to part with gold they no longer want or need, so it can be reused.
One of the major benefits of gold is that it doesn’t degrade – so if you have a 24 carat gold bangle to recycle, it’ll still be 24 carat gold once it’s melted down and can go on to be transformed into new gold items, such as wedding rings.
Ethical jewellery is becoming a big trend, so the demand for recycled precious metals is rising. It’s estimated that around 30 per cent of gold is historically recycled and used again. But figures show that if around three per cent of the world’s gold jewellery is recycled every year, then the entire global demand for the precious metal can be satisfied without having to mine more.
Three per cent doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you put it into context, it is. That’s because around half of the 170,000-plus imperial tonnes of gold that the US Geological Survey estimates ever to have been mined has gone into making gold jewellery. At the moment, miners are digging up around 3,000 tonnes of gold every year.
The green lobby doesn’t have a problem with gold itself, but environmentalists are unhappy about the effects that mining has on the planet. They blame the practice for generating huge amounts of toxic waste and pollution caused by mercury and cyanide. According to GreenBiz, gold mining is the top cause of mercury pollution and is one of the reasons why higher levels of mercury are now found in fish.
So every time you sell some scrap gold for recycling, you’re not only helping your bank balance, you’re helping the planet too.
The old, broken and unwanted gold that you sell for recycling in the UK has a new life in gold jewellery or as part of the hi-tech circuitry in mobile phones and computers.
But in India, it’s a different story. There’s a drive going on in India to persuade more people to recycle the old gold they have stored at home or gold that is kept in temples. It’s all part of the Indian government’s efforts to meet the demand for bullion, without having to pay duty on importing more and more of the precious metal.
One of the ways India is doing this is through gold buying schemes at approved banks, and much of the bullion that is brought in goes towards creating more collectible gold to be sold to investors.
Last year, India recycling a massive 80.2 tonnes of gold, and much of that was collected thanks to the schemes urging people to part with precious metal they had hidden away at home.
But that’s still the tip of the iceberg when it comes to demand for gold in India. The World Gold Council says that the country bought 849 tonnes of the precious metal in 2015, up from 828 tonnes the previous year. And demand was especially high in the last three months of 2015, when 233 tonnes was bought.
The Indian government is so keen on recycling gold because of the high import taxes it has to pay to bring bullion into the country. Earlier this year, it tried to pass some of that cost on to the jewellery industry by imposing a tax on gold items. That didn’t go down well with jewellers who staged a strike over the new payments.
Although the UK doesn’t have the same import demands for gold as India, which after China is the world’s second biggest gold buyer, it’s a smart move to recycle gold that you don’t want or need any more. And with the current strong prices for the precious metal, you might be able to earn yourself a nice little nest egg while you're at it.
Selling your broken, outdated or just unwanted gold jewellery is a brilliant way to make some extra cash, and help meet the commercial demand for the precious metal.
As we’ve seen, the electronics industry is constantly in need of gold for the technology we use every day, but one key market for scrap gold has really shrunk in recent years.
At one time, having a gold tooth – or two – was a real status symbol but just like a pair of 1980s earrings, fashion has moved on and people are less likely to want to flash a bit of sparkling precious metal among their pearly whites.
Around 67 tonnes of gold were used annually to mend or enhance people’s smiles 10 years ago, but today, the figure has plummeted. According to the World Gold Council, demand for gold from dentistry has fallen by around 60 per cent since the start of the decade. It says just shy of 19 tonnes of gold were used in dentistry last year.
The high gold prices seen during the recession and the passion for whiter than white Hollywood smiles is being blamed for the fall in demand in the last few years.
Lindsay Richards, dean of dentistry at the University of Adelaide in South Australia, told IOL: “We hardly ever use gold in front teeth now, almost never. I would’ve last done a gold filling 10 years ago in a front tooth. For the back teeth, it’s still an excellent material, but people don’t like the look of it.”
Gold is considered one of the strongest materials for repairing teeth, and unlike porcelain, it won’t crack and split. It’s believed to have been used as a long ago as 630 BC to mend teeth and was seen as a decorative as well as a practical enhancement.
But even if the dentistry market’s demand for gold has dropped, there is still a huge need for scrap gold for so many other purposes. And with the current high prices, it’s definitely worth converting your unwanted pieces into cash.
Now is probably one of the best times to dig out your old, broken and unwanted pieces of gold and convert them into cash, because gold prices have been steadily rising – and it doesn't look like they’ll be heading in the opposite direction for some time.
The gold price soared during the recession because big investors tend to consider the precious metal a safe place to park their cash when things are uncertain. However, when the economic recovery started to gather pace, investors looked around for the better returns that come from more risky investments and took their money out of gold. As a result, the gold price – and the amount you receive for your unwanted gold – plummeted.
But so far this year, we’re seen a big turnaround. The price of gold in the first three months of 2016 has rocketed, due to a combination of worldwide factors. Fears about the international economy and the threat of terrorism have sent investors looking for the ‘safe haven’ of gold again, and as a result, the price has recovered.
Figures from the World Gold Council show that the price of gold increased by 17 per cent in the first quarter of this year – that’s its best performance in almost 30 years. Although the price you’ll receive in return for you scrap gold hasn’t quite hit the heights we saw during the recession, many market analysts expect the gold price to continue rising. They say we’re in a ‘bull market’ for the precious metal, and depending on what happens on the world stage, the price could continue in its upwards direction.
The gold price changes minute by minute depending on trading around the world, and of course it does go down as well as up.
But if you’ve been having a spring clean or sort out, it’s a great time to find out what your unwanted or broken pieces are worth.
Selling your scrap gold jewellery for extra cash is easy – easy for you and easy for industry to get at the precious metal it contains and reuse it. But it’s hasn’t been such an easy job for people who are recycling gold from electronic waste – until now.
The tried and tested method of extracting scrap gold from old computers and mobile phones involves using dangerous chemicals including cyanide and acids which actually dissolve the precious metals. The gold is then recovered from the chemicals by passing an electric current through the liquid.
Cyanide, which is also used in gold mines to get at the bullion, can be a safety nightmare, with many levels of security put in place to stop the poisonous fumes from escaping.
But now a team at the National University of Singapore has come up with a safer and more environmentally-friendly technology that uses bacteria usually found in soil to do the job.
They’ve created big pools containing the bacteria that can remove gold from old electronic equipment in a week. Although the hazardous chemicals can do the same thing in an hour, the pools containing the bacteria can be used again and again. And they also have the benefit of leaving the gold whole – unlike chemicals, which dissolve it.
The team is three years into a five year project to prove the new idea and they’re working with Singapore electronic waste company Cimelia to refine it. The project itself is costing around $2 million (£1.4 million).
The plant manager’s, Mr Nagendra, told the Straits Times: "We have every intention to use this new technology in our electronic waste recycling process upon the successful completion of the project."
It just shows how badly the industry needs scrap gold if it’s prepared to spend millions on new ways to extract it.
So, if you do have any broken or unwanted gold jewellery tucked away that you think isn’t really worth anything, it might be worth reconsidering.
Obtaining money for ‘scrap’ gold jewellery – the unwanted or broken items lying in the back of a drawer – is great way to make some extra cash.
Such is the demand from industry for gold components, whether that’s for a new smartphone or for the circuits in a laptop, there’s no sign of the market diminishing any time soon. And because gold is currently enjoying some of the highest prices in years, the return you receive is also up.
The electronics industry is one of the major users of scrap gold. It’s reckoned that around £25 worth of gold goes into manufacturing a new laptop, and from a commercial point of view, it’s much cheaper for makers to use recycled precious metals than buy newly-mined gold ore.
Industry estimates suggest that around 320 tonnes of gold and 7,500 tons of silver go into making new computers and hi-tech devices annually. Although laptop circuit boards require the most, your tablet device contains around £10 of the precious metal and there is around £4 of gold in the average smartphone.
As well as sourcing gold from recycled unwanted jewellery, companies are now taking up ‘urban mining’ to remove the gold content from broken or outdated technology, Channel Biz reported.
Mark Hall from BusinessWaste.co.uk, based in York, said: “Verifiable destruction combined with the smart recovery of precious metals can now be achieved by companies with the right expertise and right equipment, and it’s these urban miners who are going to profit from British industry’s continuing need for up-to-date equipment and readily-available raw materials.”
So while there may not be gold in them there hills, there probably is in your old computer. However, the best – and easiest - returns for individuals are undoubtedly in the shape of your old gold rings, earrings and necklaces.
What do you do with your broken or unwanted gold jewellery? Selling it on to make some money from the items is a much better option than leaving it, forgotten in a jewellery box.
Sadly, that wasn’t an option for one woman, whose forgotten gold jewellery collection has now gone on display. The Fenwick Treasure is so called because it was found in a box buried beneath what is now the department store’s premises in Colchester, Essex.
The collection, which you can see in the town, dates back to Roman times and is believed to have been buried in the floor of a house belonging to the owner as Boudicca’s Iceni tribe advanced on Colchester almost 2,000 years ago.
It’s made up of gold and silver jewellery, including five gold rings, two gold bracelets, two silver bracelets, a silver amulet plus two pairs of earrings and 26 coins. It’s not known what the owner’s exact fate was, but she certainly didn’t come back to collect her jewellery. Archaeologists believe the house was burned down in a raid by the Iceni and the occupants may have been executed by the warriors, who attacked Colchester in AD61.
The hoard was discovered in 2014 by archaeologists on site ahead of the building of the town’s new Fenwick store.
Fenwick group trading director, Hugo Fenwick, told the Daily Telegraph: "There was always a very real possibility of unearthing a significant find in the centre of Colchester, with its antiquity and stature as Britain’s oldest recorded town.”
The jewellery collection has been described as “of national importance” and “one of the finest ever uncovered in Britain”.
Dr Philip Crummy, director of the Colchester Archaeological Trust said: “We had almost finished our six-month study of the site when we came upon a small tangled ball of metal that turned out to be jewellery that had lain there undisturbed since 61AD.”
There are 261 days left until the start of the London 2012 Olympics, but production of the 4700 medals has already begun.
At a Royal Mint facility in Llantrisant near Cardiff, Wales, the first of the medals has left the presses. Creating each one is a painstaking process.
A blank medal is placed into the giant press, known as Colossus, and the 10 hour process begins. Each medal is struck 15 times at 900 tonnes. After the 5th and 10th strikes, they are rolled through a furnace which heats the metal to a temperature of 750 degrees Celsius and allows the next stage of production to commence.
Once the process is complete, the Royal Mint is left with the biggest and heaviest Olympic medals ever created. Each one is 85mm in diameter and weighs between 412g (Gold and Silver) and 357g (Bronze). Security is extremely tight. The medals are stored in a special strong room that is guarded by Ministry of Defence police. It is such a secure location that only a handful of people know its location.
If making the medals is an arduous process, then choosing the design was even more so.
A shortlist of ideas submitted by the UK’s leading artists, sculptors and designers was drawn up and the final decision was made by a selection committee. In the end, a design by Professor David Watkins was chosen. He worked closely with Chief Engraver Gordon Summers to create a medal that features Nike, the goddess of victory, on the front and the London 2012 logo and the River Thames on the back.
Royal Mint officials are confident the project can be completed on time.
"We have a very long history of making military medals, and medals for the Queen's honours lists as well as the coins", such as the 2012 Gold Sovereign.
Great Britain's medal performance at the 2008 Summer Olympics was its best in a century and hopes are high that London 2012 will see just as many of these Welsh-made medals awarded to British athletes.
If you’re a regular reader of financial and investment articles and reports, you’ll often hear gold being referred to as a commodity, which by definition is classed as ‘an item of value with a consistent value regardless of source’, something which is the almost perfect description of Gold, a product that in its raw, refined form is bought and sold in uniform weights and measures and in its processed state sold according to a globally recognised carat scale.
But, gold isn’t technically a commodity, throughout history, almost since the birth of mankind, gold has been used as a currency – the only currency that maintains a central, singular value across the entire world.
Does it actually matter how we classify and regard gold? Yes… While other precious metals like silver and platinum are most certainly commodities, gold, being a currency is subject to different market forces which manipulate its value. Supply and demand effects all precious metals, gold included but being a trans-border currency, gold is bolstered by additional economic factors.
Over time, the price of primary precious metals such as Silver, Platinum and Palladium tends to trend in a similar pattern to rising gold prices yet are more volatile to economic market pressures. During an economic downturn, many investors will look to gold for assurance, while other precious metals, traditional used to a higher degree in manufacture and industry see a decline in demand and a resulting reduction in value.
So while gold is traded as a commodity, it will almost always behave like, and should always be considered a currency.
Tesco’s have jumped feet first into the Scrap Gold market with the launch of the Tesco’s Gold Exchange! The arrival of yet another mega UK brand name is a clear indicator that the retail greats of the UK High Street are convinced the Scrap Gold business is still onto a winner!
Like other high street scrap gold buyers, Tesco’s offering is something short of competitive! While writing this article our Scrap Gold Prices are currently £10.04 per gram of 9 carat gold, Tesco are just managing a rather poor £7.81 – We pay 28.5% more! Like H. Samuel and WH Smiths (Post Gold For Cash), Tesco’s are relying on un-researched, non-savvy regular customers, the 7 club card points Tesco’s are throwing in to sweeten the deal most certainly won’t be the deal clincher!
Scrap Gold UK’s advice? Don’t be a high street moron, research the true value of your gold before your make your decision, we appreciate the Tesco’s brand name provides customer with a feeling of security and confidence in what is quite a big ask – to post personal valuables to an unknown source! But with some basic checks, or a phone call to speak to us in person, you could end up with a significantly better price for your scrap gold, silver, platinum or palladium.
But don’t just take our word for it; use our Scrap Gold Calculator to compare our prices to the Tesco’s Gold Exchange website.
The chairman of the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) has indicated that China’s gold imports rose 480% between January and October compared to the same period last year.
Although China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange holds over 1,054 tons of gold, Wang She, general manager of the SGE, noted that government purchases were not behind this latest surge. This confirms news reports that the increase in demand has been fuelled by retail investors seeking a hedge against inflation.
China is currently the world’s second biggest consumer of gold (its imports represent about 10% of global gold production) and the biggest producer.
It is likely that inflation concerns will continue to fuel Chinese demand for precious metals. The China Securities Regulatory Commission also recently approved the nation’s first Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor fund, which is a scheme that allows financial institutions to invest in offshore markets such as securities and bonds. With similar products in the application phase, domestic investors will have greater access to overseas gold markets.
We have quite a few people asking how they can accurately weigh their own gold before sending it in to us and also to enable them to use our online calculator more accurately.
While we do stress that we are a long established reputable scrap gold dealer with a big emphasis on honesty and transparency, we appreciate people are always wary of sending something of value to an unknown company without knowing all the facts. We certainly don’t take any offence to people making such requests and actively encourage getting an accurate reading of weight before sending in items.
To get an accurate weight measure and price quote, you’ll need to use digital scales and accurantly identify the metal purity. Digital scales are a must as they will give priciest weight grams, traditional scales, or kitchen scales with a dial are often far from accurate and very difficult to read when you’re only weighting items of a few grams. All gold, silver and platinum items should have an identifying purity hallmark, for gold, these will range from 375 for 9 carat gold to 999 for 24 carat purity. Silver hallmarks range from 800 to 999 and platinum from 850 to 999.
If you’re regularly selling scrap gold or your items are of reasonable value, it may be worth investing in a set of digital scales to weigh your goods before sending them in to us and you’ll be pleasantly surprised when we provide the exact weight you were expecting!
You can buy a perfectly acceptable set of digital scales for around £5 on Amazon or eBay; we’d recommend looking at digital scales on Amazon – Don’t forget you may incur some shipping charges on top of the quoted price.
Also worth remembering when weighing gold, or silver, platinum or palladium – we are a precious metals dealer and only interested in the precious metal weight – Any stones or other attachments to the item that aren’t gold, silver, platinum or palladium that you feel have additional value or wish to keep should be removed before weighing your items and sending in to us.
This History of Hallmarking article is provided by the Birmingham Assay Office.
The history of hallmarking dates back over 700 years to a statue instituted by Edward I. Its purpose then was the same as it is today – To protect the public against fraud and the trader from unfair competition. It is, in fact the earliest form of consumer protection.
Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium are always used as an alloy in the manufacturer of precious metal jewellery, watches and silverware. The precious metal is mixed with other elements to give it the properties, such as flexibility and durability to produce a desirable article.
Even the most experienced jeweller or chemist cannot tell, just by looking at it, how much metal there is in the alloy or whether a thick plating of precious metal is masking a base metal core. This offers the unscrupulous a huge opportunity for fraud and there is a need to protect the public and honest suppliers.
Therefore all items, over the minimum specified weight, being sold as gold, silver, platinum or Palladium in the UK must be hallmarked to confirm that they meet the legal standards of the Hallmarking Act, 1973. Hallmarking must be carried out by a UK Assay Office or an Assay Office belonging to the International Convention.
The Birmingham Assay Office was founded in 1773. Over the past 230 years it has built an outstanding worldwide reputation based on its established expertise and its total integrity and independence.
The Birmingham Assay Office, having embraced the latest technological developments, is now the largest assay office in the world and the leading UK provider of a range of services to the UK jewellery industry.
A follow-on to yesterday’s blog article Is There Gold in the UK? Anyone interested in UK gold mining history and looking to visit a mine may want to head over to Mine Explorer, a website dedicated to, well Exploring Mines!
The site is a portal for recreational mine exploration and features a database bursting at the seams with photos, videos and information on the 37+ gold mines located in and around the UK, featuring everything from mine surveys and maps to a bustling enthusiasts forum. The Mine Explorer site hosts all the information you could possibly need to plan an trip to a mine, whether it be a remote disused mine in the Welsh Valleys or a National Trust funded visitor attraction Mine Explorer seems to have everything you could possibly need.
… and if you do happen to find any gold while your exploring, be sure to come back to Scrap Gold and let us know!
Disclaimer – We need to point out that mines are dangerous, NEVER enter a mine unless you have expressed permission to do so and are accompanied by an experienced and knowledgeable guide, and always let someone know your location and when to expect your return.
In 1998 the UK’s last operational gold mine ceased activity; the cost of extracting the gold from the Cononish Gold mine, close to the village of Tyndrum in Scotland made the business uneconomical.
Ten years on and in July 2008 the mine, owned by an Australian mining company trading as ScotGold Resources was survey to establish if the approximate 300% gold price increase in the intervening decade would again position the mine as an economically viable venture.
The village of Tyndrum in the Western Highlands is situated at one end of a rock seam with proven gold and silver producing properties. The seam stretches west out from the Scottish coastline across the Atlantic towards Canada and North into Sweden & Norway.
ScotGold anticipate the mine could be viable for up to eight years, previous mining activity and initial geological surveys suggest as much as 150,000 ounces of gold and over half a million ounces of silver could be extracted from the mine. Even if only a fraction of the estimated figured is achieved, the current gold highs could make the project a profitable success for both the mining company and the local community.
Gold and silver maintain value thanks to their scarcity and global demand, to date only a small fraction of the earth’s gold and silver resources have been mined but as on-going demand increases the availability of easily extracted material in nearing exhaustion. The inflation busting price surge of precious alloys in recent years has made even the more inaccessible alloy deposits once again an attractive and all the more viable consideration, and as mining technology improves, even the most remote and hostile environments become an attractive prospect.
Some Image copyrights ScotGold Resources Limited.
Previous Posts
Guide to Gold Melt Value: Understanding the Intrinsic Worth of Your Precious Metals
Scrap Gold Laws and Regulations in the UK: What You Need to Know
How to best negotiate a price for your scrap gold
How much is 9ct gold worth?
Can I sell broken jewellery?
What’s My Jewellery Worth?
Christmas 2023 Operating Hours
How to get the Best Price for Your Gold Jewellery
Selling Scrap Gold in the Aftermath of Her Majesty The Queen’s Passing
Business Closure for the State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen
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