The metal refinery process separates valuable metals like gold and silver from other materials, usually recycling them. It is a challenging operation that requires the help of competent precious metal refiners. This technique separates all necessary elements in their purest form, allowing reintroduction in the market. These valuable metals get recovered from a range of products.

Some examples include dental trash, jewellery, implants, and gadgets. Here is a guide on the refinery process.

How does it work?

The refining process is complex and varies depending on the metals getting refined. When you submit your scraps to the precious metal catalyst supplier, you could expect the following processes:

Accepting the materials

When you deliver your precious metal to the factory, weigh the lot. If you choose nitro technology manufacturers products, the metal garbage opens in a secure room, weighed, and photographed. The lot then gets assigned a unique identification number and stored in a safe area until processed.

Stone ejection

The valuable stones are removed before the metals get treated when you send them in a batch of jewellery. It gets done with the help of Acqua Regia and a chemical technique. The precious metal company conducts this in a safe in-house laboratory, meticulously extracting the precious stones from your jewellery using Acqua Regia and acid digestion.

Processing and melting

Melting metals such as gold, silver, platinum, and palladium only refines them. They get dissolved in an induction furnace or through the blowtorch method depending on the metal. A purifying agent gets introduced at this point. The molten substance gets used for confirming that the sample is homogeneous and representative.

To guarantee that the sample is 100% homogeneous, the precious metal refiners take a sample while the metal is still molten. Then, the liquid metal gets poured into a mould and made to harden. Some refineries use a less exact drilling method and wait until the metal gets solid before taking a sample.

Fire assay and atomic absorption

This is the most common process that gets regarded as accurate and in line with industry standards. It is a lengthy process that provides two parts per thousand precisions.

Settlement

You are informed about the results and the final price based on the precious metal value. The lot arrives at the refinery once the precious metal manufacturing company finishes examining your materials. An authentic refinery provides analytic data on the findings, makes you feel confident that everything is done rightly.