I want to sell my fines

[Desertman50]

Hi...

Anyone know of a FAIR place to sell my fines? I have 7.5 grams I'd like to sell and as far as I know, there is no place here in Lake Havasu, AZ who offers more than 50% of market value!

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[Oakview2]

Should you be in California, Gold Rush Trading Post in Mariposa pays 80% of spot for fines or pieces... Happy Hunting and best of luck

[s.c.shooter]

ARA or Midwest refinery. Google them. They pay around 90% of spot.

[Astrobouncer]

ARA or Midwest refinery. Google them. They pay around 90% of spot.

Yes Midwest refineries. Jeweler Dave is a member here and works there. They pay 95% of the amount of PURE gold though, not spot. I would wait to sell though, gold is dropping now but it will be back up in the winter.

[Desertman50]

ARA or Midwest refinery. Google them. They pay around 90% of spot.

Thanks for the replies! Since this will be the first time I sell gold, I want to be sure I understand the terminology. I know what "spot" refers to (current retail market value), but are there places paying, in this example, 90% of spot, without having the gold assayed first, to determine purity? Or is it always implied that "90" of spot" is based on assayed purity?

[Treasure_Hunter]

They will melt down all your gold, 10,12,14,18k and so on together thetn test for purity and pay on that based on spot on day of melt. If they don' t assay it they have no way of knowing purity as markings mean very little till tested...

[nuggetshooter323]

Over 3oz they refine and give you a report, under 3 and they issue you a check for 93% spot.

[russau]

sell to a local club and save some $$. clubs want nuggets and fines for whatever they need it for,raffels.door prizes etc.. or sell it on ebay in a bag of sand for even more money!

[brandwilson]

Is there anyone who has much idea on gold purchase

[Desertman50]

sell to a local club and save some $$. clubs want nuggets and fines for whatever they need it for,raffels.door prizes etc.. or sell it on ebay in a bag of sand for even more money!

No go here, already asked the local org.

[Desertman50]

Odd thing just happened. I located Midwest refineries (Precious metals buyers, smelters, refiners of gold, platinum, silver scrap metals, dental gold scrap, platinum thermocouple wire, crucibles, silver scrap. Gold refiners, platinum scrap buyers, recyclers karat gold jewelry. Sell gold, platinum and sil) and they had no idea who "Jewler Dave" was. Regardless, the guy I spoke with, Gary, seems to be on the level, offers 95% of market value after assay and their shop has been in business for 65 years. Unless anyone has any horror stories about this place, I think I'm going to package up my fines and mail them off to MI.

NOTE: All I initially typed inside the parenteses was the url to midwest refineries. Not sure how all the keywords replaced that!

[Roger]

Thanks to everyone for this very important info

[Stand Watie]

Yeah what Roger said. Thanks to all who replied because I had the same question as Desertman50 and was going to ask it soon. Now I need to figure out how to tag a thread on here so that I can find it later. Maybe I'll just bookmark the whole page.

[greydigger]

Thanks 50, let us know how that works out.
I suppose there is a minimum to assay.
Then the percentage test.
Makes sence.
I just got some gold from a "Dirt Bag" bought from a Gold Show and learned to pan.
Well, it is gold but not sure what % it is.
As I understand, Gold from Placer mining can be different percentages of pure gold.
and other stuff.
That makes a difference.
Grey

[russau]

And im sure these refineries state that there are several choices when you want to refine your material! you can pay for just recovering the gold,you can pay for recovering ALL of the precious metals (gold/silver/plat.) or just sell it to them and get a check in the mail.it all costs for each type of recovery. some people forget about the "other" metals in the cons! that could be a costly mistake!and im also sure that the refinery dont miss it when you did!

[greydigger]

"And im sure these refineries state that there are several choices when you want to refine your material! you can pay for just recovering the gold,you can pay for recovering ALL of the precious metals (gold/silver/plat.) or just sell it to them and get a check in the mail.it all costs for each type of recovery. some people forget about the "other" metals in the cons! that could be a costly mistake!and im also sure that the refinery dont miss it when you did![/QUOTE]

The only place I know near me only wants gold.
Be it found or already in a worked style.
They melt down your old ring and such, find the % and pay you.
Not sure where black sand with other material can be tested/bought.
Grey

[Desertman50]

UPDATE: I mailed my fines to: Precious metals buyers, smelters, refiners of gold, platinum, silver scrap metals, dental gold scrap, platinum thermocouple wire, crucibles, silver scrap. Gold refiners, platinum scrap buyers, recyclers karat gold jewelry. Sell gold, platinum and sil and they stated they pay 95% of spot, once purity is determined. They estimated my clean fines to be only 72%!!! A guy who has been mining the same stretch of desert as I do, but for 30+ years, said his fines always come out to 80-90% pure. On blind faith, I mailed my fines to Midwest, from MI, who stated they do not assay for quantities less than 3oz., so in my case, my fines were "melted into a button and x-rayed to determine purity". This is purely subjective and needless to say, I was disappointed with the results and the amount of the check. I'm sure I'm not the first one to make such a statement! Since I live in AZ and did not have the option to take my gold home with me , I asked them to reevaluate their subjective assessment of my fines. They did not budge! What I learned was that if you cannot physically bring your gold to a refinery and be there in person for the purity evaluation and to haggle, be prepared to be low-balled! Duh...right?

[TheHarleyMan2]

If it was me I would keep my fines, THere are some people out there with microwave smelters and melt their own gold. I saw a few youtube videos on how manufacturers smelt gold, in different stages to determine what percentage of gold, silver, or other metals are in hard rock, or gold assy's but it is a smelting process.

I am not going to send my gold out, until I get a couple of ozs, which may take me quite a few several years at the rate I am finding gold in Texas!

I know there are people that prospect who will buy gold from other prospectors, just because it is gold, one may want to add more gold to build up his stock on hand and one may sell it because he/she needs the money.

You could try that option.

[Desertman50]

TheHarleyMan2;2803413]If it was me I would keep my fines...... and one may sell it because he/she needs the money.

I'm exactly opposite, I keep my pickers and sell fines, due to the rarity of anything bigger than fines. I sold them because I needed the money. Sure could have used the xtra $100.00 I was expecting though!

[Jeffro]

UPDATE: I mailed my fines to: Precious metals buyers, smelters, refiners of gold, platinum, silver scrap metals, dental gold scrap, platinum thermocouple wire, crucibles, silver scrap. Gold refiners, platinum scrap buyers, recyclers karat gold jewelry. Sell gold, platinum and sil and they stated they pay 95% of spot, once purity is determined. They estimated my clean fines to be only 72%!!! A guy who has been mining the same stretch of desert as I do, but for 30+ years, said his fines always come out to 80-90% pure. On blind faith, I mailed my fines to Midwest, from MI, who stated they do not assay for quantities less than 3oz., so in my case, my fines were "melted into a button and x-rayed to determine purity". This is purely subjective and needless to say, I was disappointed with the results and the amount of the check. I'm sure I'm not the first one to make such a statement! Since I live in AZ and did not have the option to take my gold home with me , I asked them to reevaluate their subjective assessment of my fines. They did not budge! What I learned was that if you cannot physically bring your gold to a refinery and be there in person for the purity evaluation and to haggle, be prepared to be low-balled! Duh...right?

Nothing against your friend, but everyone always thinks their gold is more pure than it really is. Desert gold is typically lower in purity than the stuff we get in the rivers, as the water and scrubbing action helps get rid of impurities like copper, say.

I've never heard a bad word about Midwest in the six or so years I've been on here. Matter of fact, they have one of the best reputations in America.

Sounds like this is the first time you've sold fines to a refiner. This is how it goes the first time. People will always expect more than what there actually is, it's just simple human pride. Reality is placer gold is impure to varying degrees and next time you sell you will be aware of this and not expect as much.