Well if you’ve got the odd bar of gold lying around the house or just some old, unwanted jewellery then now’s the time to cash it in! Gold prices have risen to double that of a few years back so now is a better time than ever to cash in on your old, unwanted gold jewellery.
No matter how many pieces of jewelry you have, the most important thing to know, is which type of karat each piece contains. The most common karats of gold are 10, 14, and 24. When you find a piece that is 24 karat gold, you are actually holding pure gold with no impurities. As your karat goes down, the amount of pure gold also goes down which makes it less valuable.
Another important item to check are for any gems that may be contained within your jewelry. If they are of value, then you should consider having them removed. They can then be reused in a custom piece of jewelry that you may order in the future, or you can sell them separately.
- Around 165,000 tonnes of gold have been mined in human history
- Gold can be used in food and has the E number 175
- About 50% of all gold ever produced has come from South Africa
- One tonne ore from a gold mine produces just 5 grammes of gold on average. One tonne of mobile phones when recycled yields up to 150g of gold
Firstly gold gets sorted depending on it’s composition and weight, the pieces are then smelted down to a liquid form under very high heat.
The ‘liquid’ gold can then be cast into standard sizes and weights, ready to be re-used.
Recycled gold is as useful as the day it was mined, and can be used in electronics or jewelery once again.