*How do we really get GOLD?
by Nicholas Black
Here's how it basically goes - a Refinery (like the one we operate in Texas) receives gold from a few different sources. Each day we receive RETAIL gold from a variety of clients (cash-4-gold dealers, pawn shops, private collectors, estate sales, etc.). It looks pretty much like this:
NOTE:
This is a mix of different types of gold jewelry for the most part. We would call that high-content (8 karat - 24 karat). We would melt this into bars (which still have the same alloy content, just all mixed together). Those bars would then be x-rayed and analyzed through mass spectrometry to give us the "Assay" which is how we pay for the gold.
Once purchased, we chemically refine the gold/silver/platinum/palladium/iridium/rhodium/etc. using a variety of very caustic acids to chemically separate the different metals.
We then reconstitute them by melting the resulting powder and pour them into 400 toz bars (Bank or "delivery" bars), which are then sold at the spot market, or we might sell futures contracts against them and deliver the bars to the Comex depending on where the market is.
We might also make "Prell" which are tiny little beads of gold that are sold to jewelers to use in jewelry making.
- Prell - roughly $50,000 USD
The other, less talked about path is buying from our "other" sources. It's a lot more like Blood Diamond, and there are much greater risks, but the payoff is much higher. We might get the gold for 5-8% below the spot market price, which is a massive discount considering we mostly charge a fee of about 1.5 to 2% on most gold refining.
Anyway, this involves some sketchy dudes from Africa or South America meeting us somewhere in Europe or South America with loads of what looks like dirt, but is actually 93+% PURE gold.
This is the real gold business. That bullcrap you see on those Discovery shows constitutes such a tiny amount of gold, it's practically a rounding error. Gold happens to live in dirty places, that's just the truth of it.
Why do these people sell it to us at a discount? Well, they could be attempting to keep the funds quiet from their government or warlords, family members, government officials, etc. They might be trying to disappear and start a new life in America. Maybe they're just dodging taxes, or who knows. Might be funding an insurgency. It doesn't really matter...gold trades everywhere, all the time.
There are ALWAYS buyers and ALWAYS sellers.
Anyway, this is how it is spit out the other end, making it's way either into bank vaults, depositories, jewelers, and maybe, eventually, into a piece on your girlfriend's neck or your wedding band, or whatever.
Gold, once converted to .999 purity (no such thing as 100% pure gold), has no fingerprint. All the sins and evil have been washed off with the refining process.
Anyway, I hope this quick little voyage was fun. Shoot me a follow if you like stuff like this.
This is a fascinating article that people should read. I love gold in every way, shape and form.
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We all love Gold, it's Gold
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The only thing more precious that is in reach is time and how we spend it. Thanks for this though. I like the breakdown on how it is recirculated.
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You're welcome, it's a pretty awesome field
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