48027

Recovering scrap gold and platinum plated tweezers [California] 

March 1, 2008

I currently have a continuous supply of scrap tweezers that were plated with 50 microinches of gold and 80 microinches of platinum. Would it be worth my while to hold on to these and try stripping them later or am I wasting my time?

Gary Chien
hobbyist - San Francisco, CA, USA

If the whole tweezer is plated, that's a fair amount of gold and platinum. If it's only a selected area it might be worthwhile if you can cut that section off. Try to locate a refiner and see what they say about their interest in this.

Ted Mooney, P.E.  finishing.com Brick, New Jersey

The tweezers are plated as follows: 3/4 of the tweezer is plated with gold and the rest including the tip is platinum. How can I calculate how much I would be able to get from say a refiner and how can I locate one?

Thank you.

Gary Chien
hobbyist - San Francisco, CA

You know the thickness, so you must estimate the area to get the volume of precious metal. Multiply by the density and you have the weight. Multiply by the going price for the precious metals and you know what the recovered metal is worth is if they could get 100 percent of it. That gives you a upper limit number which you will obviously not be able to reach or exceed. Then you can talk to refineries and ask them to do a sample and negotiate a fair price. If you do a search for 'precious metal refinery' you'll see a lot of them.

Ted Mooney, P.E. 
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey

Thank you for your responses. Just one last question. Should I cut and seperate the tweezers in order to separate the gold from the platinum or will the refiner be able to recover both metals with no problems and with no extra fees?
Thank you.

Gary Chien
- SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA

Hi, Gary. If cutting the tweezers ought to be done, you have to do it yourself or expect to pay for it. But, sorry, I can't say whether the refinery can recover the metals easier if you cut them along the line between gold and platinum. I tend to doubt it though, as I expect they will try to recover both gold and platinum from both areas anyway. Good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. 
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey