“Using other people’s money to get rich” is a pretty appealing idea, isn’t it? That explains why the concept is so widely promoted in those “make a fortune in real estate” courses you see advertised around the country. You know what they are - they are big courses that are held in meeting rooms at roadside hotels. It costs nothing to attend them, then they try to get you to sign up for much more expensive courses that teach you to invest in real estate.

You might have heard rumors that the U.S. Government operates a secret program to recycle precious metals. That rumor holds that the government, unknown to U.S. citizens, is processing vast quantities of gold, platinum and silver.

You have a pile of mixed metal scrap - shavings, powder, scrapings, what have you. You know that the batch probably contains quantities of platinum, gold, silver and maybe even platinum family metals like rhodium and osmium.  And you also have a strong suspicion that your pile of stuff contains small quantities of stainless steel, aluminum, copper and other low-value metallic scrap.

Many people like to invest in bullion and coins that are made of gold, platinum or silver. The predictability appeals to them. They buy a pure piece of platinum, gold or silver that comes in a hard plastic case that they can either open or put in a safe.

There are lots of reasons to worry that the trading price of gold could fall. We can start by mentioning the trade wars and tariffs that have been introduced by the current administration in Washington. We could also mention escalating tensions between the US and a number of other nations, including friendly old Canada, which could restrict the flow of gold across borders.

Platinum has many wonderful properties. It is bright, shiny and resistant to oxidation.

But did you also know that platinum combines with a number of other elements to form chemical mixtures that are useful as catalysts in chemical processes, and also in plating and other industrial processes? And did you also know that in many cases, the platinum that those compounds contain can be extracted by a precious metal refinery like Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners?

If you go shopping for platinum jewelry, you are going to find an awful lot of it. You’ll find it listed in online local ads and on online auction sites. You might even find platinum engagement rings listed in ads in local newspapers. And if you peruse the display cases at an antique store or mall, you might see that is labeled as platinum.

The trading price of platinum is not about to go down. One reason? With every new year, platinum is finding new applications in healthcare and medicine.

Let’s take a closer look.

Maybe It’s Time to Protect Yourself

Have you ever seen the silent movie “The Great Train Robbery” that was produced by Thomas A. Edison back in 1903? Even today, it is an exciting film to watch, showing thieves stopping a train and making off with bags of money and jewelry that they take from passengers.

Not long ago, we had a call from a man who had bought a box of 16 rolls of gold-plated jewelry chain at an auction where the assets of a closed jewelry manufacturer were being sold to the public. “I weighed the box,” he told us, “it weighs about 12 pounds . . . so what is it worth?”

After you send your platinum scrap to Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners and we extract the pure platinum it contains, where will that platinum be used?

If you are a regular reader of our blog, you know that we like to offer advice on where to find platinum, silver and gold scrap in old factories. So we thought it would be interesting and informative to profile one such building - the old Tiffany manufacturing facility in Newark, New Jersey, that has now been converted to residential apartments. It is located at 90 Tiffany Boulevard - where else could it be?

For decades, people have wanted to know exactly what is being stored at Fort Knox, also known as the Fort Knox Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Platinum is bright, shiny and resistant to tarnish. It can be used to make beautiful jewelry, labware, and even the outside casings of implantable medical devices. For those reasons, many people believe that the only way to produce a piece of platinum - be it a ring, a lab crucible or anything else - is to cast it in one piece.

All precious metals investors like to be on the lookout for bright, shiny chunks of pure metal. Of them all, platinum jewelry, coins and bullion shine the brightest. They are white and shiny, with no tarnish. You look at them and immediately know they are valuable.

For centuries, gold has been thought of as the greatest, most beautiful and most desirable metal in the world. That concept has entered popular culture in many ways. When a product or commodity is spoken of as the best of its kind, it is called “the gold standard.” When athletes compete at the Olympics, the first-place winners are awarded gold medals. And through the ages, many events have happened because of gold. There was the Gold Rush of 1849. Centuries earlier, Spanish explorers sailed to the New World in search of El Dorado, a city made of gold.

Last month, a development firm from New York bought a vacant 50-acre manufacturing complex from Caterpillar in Milwaukee. And in the same month, the vacant 37,000 square foot Vista Pointe Industrial Plaza building in San Diego was sold to a California developer.  

...When You Recycle These Gold-Plated Items

While you’re poking around at the antiques mall you notice a pair of gold-plated earrings sitting in a tray. You could snag them for less than $10.00, but why bother? They are going to contain only maybe 50 cents worth of gold at best. So you walk on by and keep looking for more interesting items.

Gold is a heavy element. A chunk of gold is, in fact, more than seven times heavier than a piece of marble or even granite of the same size. And when gold is in a natural setting, it can be more than 25 times heavier than the sand or soil that surrounds it.

Are airplanes great places to look for gold, silver and other precious metals? Granted, the mechanical and electronics that planes hold often contain amounts elements of gold, platinum and silver. But tons of gold? Why would any plane contain that much precious metal?