After Hanukah and Christmas, most people have tons of stuff to toss out and recycle. Whether you live in a residential neighborhood or an apartment building, you know the scene. Recyclable wrapping paper, ribbons and other “stuff” get hauled to the curb or put in receptacles.

Yes, it will. Why? Some of the reasons will surprise you.

Inflation, which everyone is worried about, can actually make it more profitable to invest in precious metals. There are several reasons. One is simply that the prices of precious metals will rise, along with the prices of everything else, due to inflation. Another reason is that manufacturers of electronic devices, jewelry, thermocouples – and everything else that contains precious metals – will be paying more for the precious metals they need to make their products. So your gold scrap, platinum scrap, and silver scrap will be more in demand and will therefore rise in value.

Have you visited a jewelry factory recently? Or the business place of a jewelry maker who repairs jewelry?

If you have, you have noticed that they are noisy places. Grinders, polishers and other pieces of machinery are whirring away. And do you know what? The specific places where that noise is coming from are the same places where you are most likely to find small amounts of gold, platinum and silver dusts and powders that can be worth much more than you suspect.

We don’t know exactly how much gold and silver are contained in a Tickle Me Elmo, but we are certain some can be found in the little guy’s printed circuit board. What about a Cabbage Patch Doll? We don’t think so.

But the fact is, all the electronic items that you and your family members got at the holidays in years past do contain silver and gold – as well as small quantities of copper and other non-precious metals. You could let those old gifts gather in your house and clutter up your closet. Or you could gather them up and send them to Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners to be recycled.

Holiday gift-giving season has started. You could give the people on your list all kinds of great presents – kitchen appliances, car accessories, actually anything you think they would like.

But if you are in a generous mood, we have a suggestion for you . . .

Cobalt is used in batteries that power phones and other rechargeable devices. It is also used in the batteries that power electric and hybrid cars. It could be the precious metal scrap of the future.

How much cobalt is found in, say, a battery that powers a Tesla? According to that carmaker, cobalt makes up only about 5% of the weight of its batteries. Furthermore, Tesla and other makers of electric vehicles are trying to reduce their use of cobalt because it is scarce and doggone expensive. Tesla is trying to find ways to eliminate cobalt entirely and shift to lithium-ion batteries. Why? Because although lithium is scarce, it is not as scarce as cobalt.

Do you have $25.00 to spend on a gift for that precious metal prospector on your holiday shopping list? Or do you want to spend $50.00, $500.00 or more?

No problem. We have some great gift selections to choose from.

With gold currently trading at $1,787.40 per troy ounce, this is a good time to look for and recycle even small amounts of gold.

Here are some easy-to-overlook places you can find small amounts of gold today – even in your own home.

Wires are one of the most common kinds of scrap. The majority of them contain very little gold, silver or platinum. But some do. In today’s post, we’ll explain how to identify wires that contain precious metal.

Where to Look for Wire

Road & Track magazine reports that in 2024, a company called Forze Hydrogen Racing will enter the historic 24-hour race that is held every year at Le Mans. Forze’s racecar is being built by a group of engineering students, who are developing the car with the help of Hyundai. It will compete at Le Mans in a new class that will be created that year for fuel cell cars.

“. . . the future might be closer than it appears,” Road & Track asks, and that could be true.

“When I was looking at a small box full of metal pellets, I just knew they were made of platinum,” says a man who has spent years investing in precious metals. “There were only about 25 of them, but something about them convinced me they were platinum beads that had probably been used in plating operations. So I bought them up, had them tested and sure enough, I was right.”

“The EPA estimates that, in 2009, US consumers and businesses discarded televisions, computers, cell phones and hard copy peripherals (including printers, scanners, faxes) totaling 2.37 million tons. Approximately 25 percent of these electronics were collected for recycling, with the remainder disposed of primarily in landfills, where the precious metals cannot be recovered.”

- Source: “Cleaning Up Electronic Waste,” The United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Okay, You think you know all there is to know about precious metal scrap, here’s a question for you . . .

What precious metals are found in a regular old gas-powered automobile?

Chances are you can answer that question without thinking too hard about it. A gas or diesel-powered car contains gold (in the printed circuit boards that are onboard), some silver in them too, and a small quantity of platinum in its catalytic converter.

Let’s say that you have just finished pulling the printed circuit boards out of 100 old laptops and you’ve packed the boards up and sent them to Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners to be processed. Or let’s say that you have pulled the circuit boards out of cellphones, old stereo components or even old televisions.

Falling Prices and Better Technology Make this a Great Time to Upgrade Your Prospecting Drone

We have written about drones before on this blog. They could be the greatest devices ever invented to look for precious metals.

What is the most unusual thing about gold? If you think about that question for a minute, chances are your answer to it will be, “Gold is beautiful.”

Of course, that answer is right. Gold really is beautiful, which explains why it has been the most sought-after metal on earth for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians and Assyrians loved it, as did the Vikings, the Incas, the king and queens of Europe, and everyone else through the ages. Chances are your grandparents and parents had gold wedding rings and if you are married, chances are you and your spouse have them too. And if pure 24K gold weren’t beautiful enough on its own, it can be made into rose gold, white gold, and even green and pink gold by adding other metals.

Over the last few years, people have become skeptical about importing and exporting just about anything.

Due to high tariffs on goods imported into the U.S., doing so has become less attractive and more difficult for American companies. Plus, simply transporting foreign goods into the U.S. has become more difficult. Off the coast of California, ships carrying all kinds of goods from Asia, including semiconductors, electronic devices and even automobiles, are waiting to dock. Although that delivery holdup is lessening, the slowdown that was caused by the coronavirus pandemic is still exerting a negative effect on U.S. manufacturing and commerce.

In a recent post on this blog, we explored the many ways that silver is used in manufacturing. Today, let’s explore the many ways that platinum is used too.

You might be surprised to know that platinum, an inert element that resists interacting with other chemicals, plays a central role in manufacturing.

Silver is used more in industrial and manufacturing processes than any other precious metal. That means that silver is, and will remain, a great metal to invest in.

In today’s post, we will explore how silver is used in a variety of manufacturing processes. But before we do, we should state that silver is used in two different ways in manufacturing:

A man in Delaware emailed us recently to ask, “Are there any scrap gold buyers near me?” He explained that there were plenty of companies in his area that would be happy to buy gold jewelry, bullion, and coins from him if he walked through their front doors. But nobody in his area was in the business of buying the kind of gold scrap he wanted to sell – a bunch of old circuit boards and used sputtering targets that contained gold.