Industrial catalysts are substances – often metallic powders or screens that are used in industry to speed up, start, or facilitate chemical reactions. Catalysts also are sometimes used to lower the amount of energy that is consumed by chemical processes.

Absorbent materials are another form catalysts can take. They are chemicals that are used to absorb and remove certain chemicals from compounds where they are found. For example, BASF makes a variety of products that absorb and remove impurities from natural gas before it is distributed to consumers. They are catalysts of a special kind.

If you think there are a lot of electrical switches in your home – hundreds, probably, if not more – you would be amazed to learn how many switches can be found in a factory where any kind of manufacturing process is taking place. It doesn’t matter whether that plant is making mechanical components, chemicals, paints, solar panels or much of anything else, you are going to find switches everywhere.

Most people own at least one piece of jewelry that has broken. Do you?

I happen to own a watch that is damaged. One of the watch’s four lugs (the little bars where the watch band attaches) has broken off. I contacted the company that made the watch and a customer service representative told me that I could send it in and pay a $75.00 service fee to find out how much it would cost to have the lug soldered back on. But since the watch is not worth much more than $100.00, I just put it away, and there it sits.

What valuable metals can be found in scrapped cars?

If you ask the man in the street that question, chances are he will tell you, “There’s gold in the electronic components and platinum in the catalytic converters.”

And your man in the street friend is telling you the truth because those are two places where gold scrap and platinum scrap can be found and extracted for recycling. But what your friend is not remembering is that other metals and materials can be profitably recycled from cars.

You can find gold, silver and platinum objects in estate sales, in garage and yard sales, in old buildings, in your yard or on the beach – in lots of places. But there are other discoveries you can make when you are hunting for precious metals and precious metal scrap – discoveries that can dramatically increase the amount of money you can make from the objects you find.

Metal detector enthusiasts in the British Empire have been making remarkable discoveries lately. In Kent, England, a pair of treasure hunters found a horde of gold coins dating from the 14th century that are worth about $20,000. And just last week in Suffolk, England a butcher with a metal detector discovered about 750 Roman-age coins buried in a field. Their value? Priceless.

Whether you have bought beef, gasoline, milk, or home appliances lately, you already know that prices are going up. Inflation is very much in the news. But what effect will it have on the trading prices of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and other precious metals?

When a community pool reopened in a suburban town a few weeks ago, a pool service was called in to service the filtration system. Usually, servicing the pool is pretty routine. But this year, the technicians found more jewelry in the system than usual – jewelry that swimmers had lost last year. There were two platinum engagement rings, a bunch of earrings, and pieces of costume jewelry. And when the technicians removed a perforated drain cover from the floor of the pool, they found still more jewelry.

If you are replacing the central air conditioning in an older home, apartment building or factory, here’s something important to keep in mind . . .

Don’t toss parts of your old system that contain gold, silver, or valuable non-precious metals like copper and aluminum

Will this emerging trend create new opportunities to recycle platinum?

Just when we were starting to think that enthusiasm for hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles was starting to fall, interest is picking up again. Learn more in this recent video about fuel cell cars that was shown on PBS News earlier this month.

Are you just about to do some spring cleaning in your home, garage, or place of business?

That’s great. But spring is also a great time to make some new plans for profiting from precious metals. Here’s a checklist of ways to make sure that this spring and summer will be the most profitable time you have ever seen for collecting – and profiting from – gold scrap, silver scrap, platinum scrap and more.

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.

Where Can You Find Scrapped Airliners and Military Planes in the U.S.?, a post we published on this blog on March 7, 2022, included a comprehensive, state-by-state guide to airplane scrapyards in America.

Today, we would like to ask, what are the best places to find platinum scrap in the planes you will find in those scrapyards?

We want you to make money when you invest in precious metals.

Why? One reason is that if we can help you make money by using our testing and recycling processes, we will make more money too. But that isn’t the most important reason. The most important reason we want you to do well and make money is that we want to support you. Also, the more successful you become as a precious metal investor, the better it is for our entire business sector. That’s another way of saying that when more people make more money, everyone in the universe of precious metal investing benefits.

You have probably heard it said that now that there is war in the Ukraine, the flow of precious metals mined there will be shut off. Some people have even been saying that when that happens, the prices of platinum and other metals that are mined in Ukraine will rise exponentially.

If your precious metal recycling plans include pulling components out of scrapped airliners and military planes, you are thinking in a good way. A scrapped airplane is one of the best sources of gold, silver, and other precious metal scrap. Plus, a scrapped plane is also chock-full of copper wire, aluminum, and other base metals that can be well worth recycling, even though they don’t have the allure that precious metals have.

Now Open in the Paramus, NJ Jewelry Exchange on Route 4 West

For more than 40 years, Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners of Fairfield, Connecticut has been testing, recycling, and refining gold, silver, platinum, and other precious metals for individual and corporate clients. Now, after serving customers nationwide, Specialty Metals is opening its first retail store. Customers can make an appointment to stop by their booth at The Jewelry Exchange, (located next to Chuck E. Cheese) at 275 Rte 4 West, Paramus, NJ 07652 (when you walk in turn right and they are the first booth along the wall) for expert advice, advanced testing and refining services, or to sell precious metals, jewelry, or fine watches.

There are times when buying precious metals is a very clean business. One example? You walk into an estate sale and buy a set of sterling tableware in a wooden storage box. Then you carry it to your car and drive it home. Your hands don’t even get dirty, and neither do your pants.

One good thing about gold, silver, and platinum is that those metals are malleable and easy to reshape.

However, malleability can cause problems, because stolen items made of gold can be easily altered and sold. That neat little gold bar or pair of earrings you just bought could have been a stolen ring only a few weeks ago. Who knows? It is impossible to trace. And the same problem exists when you are buying items made of silver or platinum.

The words of a classic rock song by Bob Dylan tell us, “The times they are a-changing.”

They really apply if you invest in platinum scrap, gold scrap and silver scrap. Here are some trends that will cause major changes for precious metal investors in the next five years.