We haven’t written about sputtering targets in some time. But it’s worth revisiting the topic because money can be made recycling them. Sputtering targets are a very specialized kind of platinum scrap – and in some cases, of gold and silver as well. 

We have written about sputtering targets before on the Specialty Metals Blog. To review, they are multilayered disks that contain several different metals. When they are secured  inside a plasma plating tank and electrical current flows through them, their uppermost layer of metal (be it gold, platinum, or another metal) is dispersed into the plasma inside the tank.  Due to the flow of electrons, it adheres to the surface of whatever metal object is being plated.

Without thinking, many people throw away old items that contain precious metals that can be reclaimed for dollars – often, for a lot of dollars.

Sometimes they toss precious metals when they do home upgrades or repairs. Sometimes they do when they have their cars repaired.

Sometimes a customer will call us up and ask how we can recycle items that are relatively simple and straightforward to process. If you have a platinum engagement or wedding ring, for example, you can send it to us so we can test it and retrieve the precious metal it contains.

Many precious metal investors believe that they will make a lot of money if they look for “one big win” in their investing. They will find one batch of gold scrap, platinum scrap or even silver scrap, make a lot of money from it, and then they will be set for life.

Of course, that does happen. (We could tell you stories about times when it has.) But looking for one big high-paying batch of metal is not the most effective way to spend years investing and ending up with a large sum of money from investments.

Our phone rang a few days ago. A woman on the other end of the line asked a question that seems to be on the minds of many people just now . . .

“I’ve been furloughed from my job and I could use some cash,” she said. “Now would be a good time for me to sell some old items of jewelry, but I can’t find any gold refineries that buy from the public near me. Even those `We Buy Gold’ roadside stores in my area have shut down during the coronavirus crisis.”

If you have precious metal items that you would like to refine for profit, “Where is there a precious metal refinery near me?” is a logical question to ask. The problem is, it might not be the right question to ask. Here are some of the reasons.

Are you interested in making money in platinum scrap? There are plenty of reasons you should be. The biggest could be that the new tariffs on items imported from China seem poised to raise the cost of platinum-containing items.

We’ve written about sputtering targets in the past, but a few recent calls made us think that this would be a good time to remind our readers that most used sputtering targets still contain precious metals that are worth extracting.