Gold mining is a very profitable industry in the United States.  Found in several areas of the U.S., gold continues to provide both important employment opportunities for U.S. residents and money to the areas where mines are located.  No less important is the fact that gold is an extremely valuable export that contributes considerable amounts of money to the U.S. economy.

Several American states have estimable gold mining operations, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota and Utah.  Nevada is the largest producer of gold, accounting for over half of the gold mined in the United States, but Alaska, California, and Utah also produced significant amounts of gold.

There are three major types of gold mining active in the United States today: placer mining, hard rock mining, and by-product mining, all of which require entirely different methods of mining the ore, then extracting the gold that is contained within the ore.

Placer mining is the type of gold mining that most people are familiar with.  In placer mines, the seams of gold lie close enough to the earth that the gold can be found in the soil and in streams.  Placer mining is associated with gold panning in streams and soil. While gold panning is the easiest way to mine for gold, and results in instant gratification when gold is found, it is time and labor intensive, and is obviously not feasible for productive mining on any scale. Panning is more useful for locating placer deposits, and for gold-panning hobbyists.

Dredging is another historical method of extracting gold from placer seams.  In dredge mining, a machine is placed in a stream or other body of water known to hold placer deposits, and extracts the gold by suction.  Dredging is not widely used, both due to it’s detrimental effect on the fish and other water wildlife, and because it is a less productive method of gold extraction; however, some large suction dredges are still used throughout the world.

Sluicing, a more highly-developed method of panning for gold, is sometimes used for commercial gold mining.  In sluice mining, which is conducted in streams where placer gold is found, a sluice box is constructed to catch the gold as it flows through the stream. While this may seem only nominally more productive than gold panning, sluice mining is conducted on a large scale, with the sluice boxes spanning the width of large streams. 

Few productive placer mines are left in the United States; as a result, most of the gold mines in the United States are hard rock mines. 

In hard rock mines, the gold is encased in rock, deep in the ground.  This rock and gold combination is known as gold ore.  As with an other underground ore, there is no 100% safe or uncomplicated way to extract this ore from deep within the earth, making hard rock gold mining a difficult and dangerous process that is not without harm to the environment.

Although some of the hard rock gold mining in the United States is done through open pit mining, which involves opening up enormous areas of the earth to extract the gold ore found beneath,  most of the hard rock gold mining in the U.S. is accomplished through underground mining, in which the gold is extracted by digging underground tunnels into the ore, taking the ore out as the tunnels are created.  Both open pit and underground gold mining involve blasting out huge chunks of earth in order to get to the gold ore.

Gold does not come out of hard rock seams in nuggets or flakes, as it does in placer mining.  The gold must be separated from the rock it is embedded in.  This requires sophisticated, intricate processes.

In the United States, gold is most often extracted from ore using the cyanide extraction process. In this process, a solution of cyanide is mixed with the finely-ground rock that results from gold mining. The ground rock is then separated from the resulting gold cyanide and/or silver cyanide solution. Added to the gold cyanide solution is zinc, which extracts residual zinc along with the gold. Then, the zinc is removed using sulfuric acid, which results in a gold sludge that is smelted down into solid gold.

The cyanide extraction method has become safer over the years, but there are still dangers to both the environment and the people who work to extract the gold from the cyanide, making hard rock gold mining and extraction a risky, albeit profitable industry.

Gold is also mined in the United States as a by-product of other metals such as silver and copper, or as a by-product of minerals such as quartz.  This is typically hard rock mining, as well.

Gold is one of the most profitable industries in the United States, so profitable, in fact, that it has allowed the United States to tie with Australia as the second-highest gold producer in the world, following Africa.

As unlikely as it seems, the lowly catalytic converter that works with your car’s exhaust system contains one of the most precious metals known to man – platinum.

Why, you ask, does the catalytic converter contain such a valuable metal? First introduced into automobiles in the 1970s, catalytic converters, meant to reduce the amount of harmful emissions from gas engines, use a small amount of platinum to assist in this emission control. The platinum works to engine emissions that are harmful to the environment, such as nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide, into safer emissions, such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Catalytic converters also often contain rhodium, another precious – and very expensive – metal.

The three – to – seven grams of platinum typically contained in a catalytic converter may not seem like much, but as platinum’s price on the market soars, every gram is more and more valuable – and more and more attractive to thieves who steal catalytic converters in order to extract this platinum and sell it. With platinum going for approximately $2000 an ounce, theft of catalytic converters is increasingly a problem. Add to this the presence of rhodium, which sells for up to $6000 an ounce – and catalytic converters are a veritable gold mine for those who know how to steal them.

Because the catalytic converter is located on a vulnerable part of the car – often just underneath the rear, close to the muffler – it is an easy target for enterprising thieves, who use common mechanic’s tools to remove the converters, or, if they are in a hurry, small electric saws, which can cause damage both to the exhaust system and/or fuel lines on the targeted vehicle.

Thieves can get $800 – or more – from a catalytic converter by selling it to a metal dealer, who then extracts the platinum, rhodium, or other precious metal from the converter. The relative ease of stealing these converters, plus the high profit margin, makes it worth the risk for many thieves.

Vehicles most at risk for stolen catalytic converters include vehicles that have a high ground-clearance, such as four-wheel drive pickup trucks, SUVs, and vans, although a determined thief who knows a little about cars can steal a catalytic converter off almost any type of vehicle.

Having your car’s catalytic converter stolen is not only an expensive, troublesome event – it can also be dangerous. Because thieves often use cutting tools to get the converters off quickly, they risk cutting fuel lines or even the fuel tank itself, depending on where it is located on the vehicle. This creates a very real risk of explosion when the car is started.

How can you protect yourself from thieves intent on stealing these platinum and rhodium-laced converters? Unfortunately, there’s not a lot you can do to prevent catalytic converter theft without garaging your vehicle at all times; however, you can reduce the risk.

First, take care when parking your vehicle. Thieves looking for catalytic converters typically target crowded parking lots, where tightly-parked cars provide the perfect camouflage for a would-be converter thief. If possible, park your car in the less densely packed areas of these parking lots.

If you are parking in a large parking lot at night, take care to park close to building entrances, or underneath street lights.

Second, avoid street parking your car at night if at all possible. Although it’s not impossible for a thief to steal a catalytic converter from a parked car during the day, it is much easier at night when there is less traffic. Thieves have been known to hit entire streets at night, stealing a number of converters in one fell swoop. Don’t think a car alarm will protect you – they are usually not set off by action underneath the car.

Third, if your vehicle is one that thieves target – a pickup truck or SUV for instance – or if there has been a rash of converter thefts in your area, consider investing in one of the several devices available to deter catalytic converter thieves. Both the Cat Cuff and the Cat Clamp make it more difficult for would-be converter thieves to cut these valuable items off your car.

The platinum and rhodium that are contained in your car’s catalytic converter may not amount to much, but it’s enough that thieves are willing to risk stealing it. The few measly grams of platinum and rhodium contained in these converters add up to hundreds of dollars for thieves, and you should take pains to protect your car from converter theft, both for financial and safety reasons.

Gas prices are skyrocketing to all-time highs. Grocery prices are following close behind, making every trip to the supermarket painful. Your weekly food shopping trip is starting to feel it costs it weight in gold with all of these prices jumping.

The economy looks poised for a recession but it’s summer, time for a family vacation or getaway. Only this year, it may be difficult to find the cash you need to make that vacation a reality. Enter gold. Selling your old gold jewelry, scrap gold, and other gold items can make finding the cash it takes to take that vacation easy.

If you don’t keep up with the gold markets, you may not know that gold has recently reached historic highs. The demand for gold is up, and those who use gold in manufacturing, are looking to post-consumer gold, or gold that has been recycled, for their gold needs. For the consumer who has gold to sell, this means a high rate of return for items that are likely lying unused and unneeded around the house.

You may be surprised to find out just how valuable the old gold jewelry, gold dental scrap, and other gold items that you have in your home are. These items probably have little or no significance or use for you, but for a gold broker, they are indeed gold. Ugly jewelry, damaged jewelry, earrings without mates, broken necklaces and bracelets, old school rings, gold fillings, bridges, or other dental scrap, all of this may look like junk to you, but for a gold broker, they have value, value that translates into cash for you.

Selling these old gold items for cash not only makes you money, it saves you money. It saves you the money it would take to make any of these items useful again, the money spent storing them, and the money spent insuring them. The cash you receive when you sell your old gold jewelry, gold scrap, and other gold items is instant money; the money you save by ridding yourself of these unwanted items and the costs they accrue is money you will continue to save over time.

Money isn’t the only thing you’ll save by selling your old gold items. You’ll save time if you choose to sell gold jewelry, dental scrap, and other gold items to GoldPaq, an online gold broker. There’s no need to waste money and time driving around town looking for a broker to buy your gold pieces. Using an online gold broker like GoldPaq means selling your gold without ever leaving your home or making any extra, gas and money-eating trips. Let’s face it gas is starting to become as costly as gold.

When you use an online gold broker to sell your gold items, it’s as simple as requesting a free gold kit, dropping your items into the insured gold mailer, sending your items in for appraisal, then getting your appraisal and/or cash. The whole transaction takes place in the comfort and safety of your own home.

Getting cash for gold is easy – deciding where to take your family on vacation with the cash you’ve earned is the hard part.

Take a cruise, retreat to a spa, go to the beach, visit family who live miles away. It’s your choice, and selling your old gold jewelry, gold scrap, and other gold pieces will give you the freedom to choose without worrying about having the cash to do so.

Will you take a road trip, driving along some of America’s scenic highways? The cash you get for your gold will leave money in your pockets even after you fuel up. Thinking a fun-filled vacation to a theme park or amusement park? Selling your gold will allow you to buy expensive day passes and souvenirs without breaking the bank.

The old gold jewelry and other gold items in your home are valuable, but not if you do not use them. Lying unused in your home, these items are costing you money and time that you would be better off spending on your family. Getting cash for your unused and unwanted gold items will allow you to make money that you can use for the vacation your family would love to take this summer.

Your gold items are valuable – but not as valuable as the memories you can make with your family by maximizing this value.

Do you love jewelry? Do you enjoy going to flea markets, thrift stores, or even pawnshops to look for interesting jewelry items? If so, then read on – you’re about to find out a way to both finance your hobby and get jewelry pieces that will be the envy of all your friends.

Let’s start with gemstone jewelry. If you love gemstones, then you know how expensive jewelry made with gemstones can be. When you buy a new piece of gemstone jewelry, you are paying for several things, including the design of the item, the metal incorporated in the design, and of course the gemstone itself.

If gemstone jewelry is your thing, then get thee to the pawnshops, flea markets, and thrift stores. What you’re looking for is this: gemstone jewelry for bargain prices, no matter what it looks like. That’s right. Look for the items that no one else would touch with a ten-foot pole. No matter how tacky, gaudy, out-of-style, or just plain ugly, look for the jewelry that contains the gemstones that you are interested in. Some good finds include cocktail rings, cluster rings, gemstone pendants, charm bracelets with gemstone charms, and, surprisingly enough, school rings. School rings are a particularly good find for gemstone hounds because they often contain large stones, and personalized items like school rings are often difficult to sell.

The only caveat in your jewelry sleuthing is to make sure the pieces you buy are set in genuine gold.

Why gold? The gold in these jewelry pieces is your key to new jewelry using the gemstones the items contain. Here’s how it works: you take the gemstone jewelry that you’ve picked up for a song to a jeweler. Have he or she take the gemstones out of the jewelry. Now, contact a gold broker like Gold Paq, and sell the gold. Chances are, the money you get for the gold will equal or surpass the amount of money you paid for the piece of jewelry, depending on how good your bargaining skills are. The money you make can now be reinvested in the gemstone, buying you the setting of your choice. Now you have a semi-custom or custom piece of jewelry, all for the price of an undesirable piece. Simple, right?

It’s simple as long as you make certain that the pieces that you are buying are genuine gold. Most fine jewelry is 10, 14, or 18 karat gold, and the higher the karat weight the more gold contained in the piece, which, naturally, translates to a higher value. The best way to find out whether or not the pieces are genuine is to look for the karat stamp somewhere on the jewelry. On a ring, the karat stamp is located on the inside of the band; on a necklace or bracelet, the karat stamp is usually found on the clasp or, if the item has a smooth underside, on the underside.

Knowing how to bargain with sellers can make this jewelry-remodeling hobby more profitable. Never pay the asking price; if you want the piece for 25% off, first offer 50% of the asking price – this gives you room to negotiate. If the seller refuses to negotiate the price, ask to have something else thrown in – for these purposes, a gold chain or bracelet makes a good negotiable point. You can sell the gold chain or bracelet along with the gold from the gemstone piece, and make a tidy profit.

For even more savings – and a higher profit – consider sterling silver or gold-plated silver for the settings for your new gemstone jewelry items. White gold and platinum are increasingly popular metals for jewelry, and sterling silver is a great substitute that costs a fraction of the price. Sterling silver is a precious metal that is attractive and wears well; for fashion or everyday jewelry pieces, it’s a great option. While gold-plated items do not wear as well, they can be perfect for lesser-worn items, or for items that are not as exposed to scratching and rubbing, such as earrings or pendants. Using these metals will greatly increase the profit margin you see when remodeling old jewelry items by selling the gold content for cash.

When shopping the thrift stores, flea markets, and pawn shops, don’t dismiss or overlook broken or damaged jewelry items, which are a great way to increase your profits and have more money to use for your own jewelry creations. You can often get these items dirt-cheap because they have little or no value as jewelry; however, if your plan is to sell them to a gold broker for cash, the fact that they are not wearable as jewelry makes no difference at all. The idea is to buy them for the gemstones, not the jewelry itself. Pieces to look for include earrings with no mates, rings with warped or broken bands (very common in older jewelry pieces), pins with missing or broken clap mechanisms, bracelets that are broken or missing some stones, and, of course, broken necklaces. You’ll also find it easy to negotiate prices on these items, as the sellers are often aware that selling them as-is is unlikely.

Gemstone jewelry isn’t the only way to make money and get great jewelry for yourself by shopping the flea markets, thrift stores, and pawnshops. Don’t overlook heavier gold pieces in unfashionable or just unattractive designs that can be sold for cash to a gold broker. The cash you get for these items will help bankroll your own jewelry designs.

When buying gold pieces for resale, your best bets are definitely the pieces that are past their prime, personalized and/or no longer in style. Some of the usual suspects include anything with a gold nugget design, monogrammed or signet pieces, school rings, the heavier gold chains that have gone out of style, and pretty much anything else that is so unattractive that it’s unlikely to sell. While these items have little or no value as jewelry, they are just what gold brokers are looking for – post-consumer gold for a hungry gold market.

Probably the best secret weapon in your gold-digging jewelry hunts is buying multiple pieces. You are more apt to get a sizable discount if you buy more than one item; a mix of items with gemstones you desire and gold pieces that can be sold for cash outright will usually give you a good return on investment.

Whether you are buying in multiples or buying by the piece, look for gold sellers who are going out of business or liquidating stock. These vendors are often looking just to break even, and the markups are typically slim, if there is any markup at all. This is also another great opportunity to look for damaged goods; if you do not see any on display, don’t hesitate to ask.

The enterprising jewelry lover can grow a unique collection of jewelry that will virtually pay for itself by combing the thrift stores, flea markets, and pawnshops for pieces of jewelry that are ready for recycling. All it takes is a willingness to bargain-hunt – and a love for jewelry.

The Olympic Games hold a special place in the hearts and minds of many Americans. The interest in the Olympic Games is apparent both in the amount of press coverage the events receive, and in the amount of merchandising that appears along with the Olympic Games.

The U.S. Mint has given Olympic enthusiasts and coin collectors alike a common interest by producing a variety of commemorative coins to celebrate the Olympic Games. Although these coins have been produced in silver, some of the most prized coins in these series are the gold Olympic coins.

The first modern Olympic gold coin released by the U.S. Mint was the 1984 Olympic Ten Dollar Gold Eagle. As the Olympics were being held in Los Angeles, California, in 1984, commemorating the games with a gold coin made perfect sense.

The 1984 Olympic Ten Dollar Gold Eagle, designed by James Peed, features Olympic runners on the obverse, with the American Eagle featured on back. This coin was minted at the West Point, N.Y. U.S. Mint facility, and 2,000,000 were produced.

The 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, were commemorated with one of the most elegant designs in the Olympic coin series. The Olympic Gold Five Dollar coin is engraved with a likeness of Nike, the goddess of victory, overlaid with the word “liberty” on the obverse. The reverse is engraved with the two most enduring symbols of the Olympic Games – the Olympic flame and the five Olympic rings. Elizabeth Jones was responsible for the image of Nike, while Marcel Jovine contributed the Olympic flame and rings.

The Olympic Gold Five Dollar Coin was minted at West Point, N.Y., and was limited to a production of 1,000,000 coins.

For the 1992 Olympic Games in France and Spain, the U.S. Mint created the 1992 Olympics Gold Five Dollar coin which features an image of a sprinter on the obverse, designed by James Sharpe. James Peed returned to the drawing board for the reverse, which is engraved with the American Eagle and the Olympic rings.

Only 500,00 of the 1992 Olympic Gold Five Dollar coins were produced at the West Point, N.Y. U.S. Mint Facility.

The Olympic Games returned to the United States for the 1996 Centennial Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. The U.S. Mint pulled out all the stops to commemorate the Olympics’ return to the United States, releasing an extensive series of Olympic coins in 1995 and 1996.

The gold coins released as part of the 1995-1996 Olympic series include:

• 1995 Centennial Olympics Stadium Gold Five Dollar coin, which featured an obverse image of the Olympic Stadium with a reverse image of bald eagle, limited to a run of 175,000
• 1995 Centennial Olympics Torch Runner Gold Five Dollar coin, featuring a torch-bearing runner on the obverse and the reverse image of a bald eagle, limited to a run of 175,000
• 1996 Centennial Olympics Cauldron Gold Five Dollar piece, which depicted the lighting of the Olympic flame on the obverse, with the mark of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games surrounded by laurel leaves on the reverse, and limited to production of 300,000 pieces
• 1996 Centennial Olympics Flag Bearer Five Dollar Gold piece, featuring a flag bearer leading a crowd, and also featuring the mark of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games design on the reverse, limited to a 300,000 run.

The 2002 Winter Olympics, held in Salt Lake City, Utah, were also commemorated with several coins. This series included a 2002 Olympic Winter Games Five Dollar Gold piece, which featured Donna Weaver’s designs of the Winter Olympics Crystal Emblem on the obverse and the Olympic flame and cauldron image on the reverse. This coin, produced at the West Point, N.Y. mint facility, had a small production of only 80,000 coins.

Those who are Olympic Games fans, or those who just enjoy collecting gold coins will find an array of gold coins produced by the U.S. Mint sure to intrigue and please. As far as hobbies go, few have as much intrinsic monetary value as collecting coins – especially when the coins are both commemorative of an important international event and made of gold.

We all know that recycling is important to the preservation of our environment. However, few know how important it is to recycle gold.

Gold, as one of the most precious metals known to man, is always in high demand. Like other precious metals and valuable minerals, gold must be mined from the earth, a process that is destructive to the mine site, and harmful to humans and as animals, as chemicals – including cyanide – must be used to separate the gold from the ore.

How You Can Help

The key to reducing the harm done to the environment by gold mining is to use recycled gold rather than new gold to produce gold items.

Much of the global demand for gold comes from the jewelry industry, and ecologically responsible jewelry manufacturers have responded to the destructive practices of gold mining by using post-consumer gold – recycled gold – in their factories.

Those who make jewelry are taking a stand to improve gold mining while also recycling gold. Ethical Metalsmiths, an organization that aims to assist jewelry manufacturers with ecologically responsible metals, outlines the dirty secrets of gold mining on their website:

> Metals mining is the most toxic polluter in the United States. It is responsible for 96 percent of arsenic emissions and 76 percent of lead emissions.
> Each year in the United States, mines generate an amount of waste equivalent in weight to nearly nine times the trash produced by all its cities and towns combined.
> A single gold ring leaves in its wake at least 20 tons of mine waste.

By recycling gold, we can minimize the impact that our demand for gold places on the environment and on the people who work in gold mines. If we recycle old dormant gold jewelry, old gold scrap, gold coins, and other gold items, we return gold that has already been mined to the gold market while decreasing the demand for new gold mining.

Buying post-consumer gold jewelry is one way that consumers can help support ecologically responsible goldsmithing, and finding this jewelry is getting easier. You can search google for post consumer jewelry or environmentally responsible gold jewelry.

The producers of ecologically responsible gold jewelry use post consumer gold and post industrial gold for their jewelery creations. This is returning unused consumer gold back into the gold jewelry cycle and reducing the environmental impact that new gold mining has. It is truly a win-win situation for everyone. The consumer retrieves the high value of their used gold jewelry, the environment benefits from less mining operations and business benefit by tapping into the unused gold that doesn’t come along with high mining costs.

Just imagine this all happens because consumers like you cash in their old, unused gold jewelry that has just been piling up at the bottom of your jewelry box. The forgotten and even damaged gold jewelry can be the key to reducing the impact of gold mining on the environment while also supporting the jewelry manufacturing industry’s need for gold.

Of course, supporting “green” gold jewelry manufacturers is not the only way you can help reduce the demand for gold mining. By recycling your unused or unwanted gold jewelry, gold scrap, gold coins, and other gold items. Not only will you be reducing gold mining’s effect on the environment, you will also be earning cash.

By selling your old gold jewelry and gold scrap to a gold broker, you reintroduce “dormant gold” into the gold market and allow jewelery manufacturers to buy the gold they need to make new jewelry without resorting to purchasing from the gold mining industry. What’s more, gold recycling is as easy as contacting a gold broker like GoldPaq who will buy your dormant gold to resell.

The harm done to the environment by gold mining can be reduced. For jewelry manufacturers, it means buying post-consumer gold and using greater amounts of this post-consumer gold in their products. For the consumer, it means putting dormant gold back into the market by selling this gold. Gold can be green, but only if we make it happen.

What’s more valuable, or more desirable than gold? Very little. But, lest you forget just how wonderful gold is, here are a few new spins on memorable phrases that will keep gold on your mind.

We have taken forty of our favorite ad slogans and replaced the original product with “gold”. How many ad slogans can you remember what the original product was? To help you, we have added some image clues. Bonus points if you can remember the musical jingles that accompany the original ad slogans. Feel free to test your friends.

1. Gold – Good to the Last Flake.
2. A Taste for Gold.
3. Mama’s Got the Magic of Gold
4. You Can Do it When You Gold it.
5. Gold, Take Me Away!
6. Gold is Forever.
7. See the USA with Your Gold.
8. Think Once, Think Twice, Think GOLD.
9. What’s in Your Gold?
10. I’m Stuck on Gold, Because Gold’s Stuck on Me.
11. Gold Works Wonders.
12. Sharing the Gold of Your Life.
13. Happiness is Gold.
14. You Like Gold, Gold Likes You.
15. Bring Out the Gold and Bring Out the Best.
16. Gold – Don’t Leave Home Without It.
17. Gold – It Brings Good Things to Life.
18. Where’s the Gold?
19. Better Living Through Gold.
20. The Incredible, Indelible GOLD.
21. You’ve Got Gold.
22. We Know Gold.
23. Are You in Gold’s Hands?
24. Choose Gold.
25. Got Gold?
26. Unleash the Power of Gold.
27. For all You Do, Gold’s for You.
28. Good, Better, GOLD.
29. Gold – It’s the Real Thing.
30. I’m Cuckoo for Gold!
31. Gold is it!
32. You’ve Always Got Time for Gold.
33. Did Somebody Say Gold?
34. Experience Gold.
35. See What Gold Can Do for You.
36. Mmm Mmm Gold.
37. Think Gold.
38. Make Money, Live Better – Gold.
39. Gold is a Terrible Thing to Waste.
40. If Only Everything in Life Was as Reliable as Gold.

We hope you enjoyed this and our apologies to the brilliant marketing people who created the original ad slogans that we love and cherish. Let us know if we missed any of your favorite ad slogans!

If you are considering selling your old gold jewelry, old gold scrap, or old gold coins, then you are lucky enough to be selling in one of the best markets for gold in recent history. Gold values have reached astronomic levels recently, which translates to excellent returns for those who wish to sell their gold.

But why is gold so valuable now? There are several factors that affect the value of gold, but the two largest factors are the gold market, and the financial markets.

The gold market is affected by many different variables, variables that are tied directly to the value of gold in the financial market. Among these variables, two that affect the gold market most are the cost of mining gold the cost of refining and shipping gold.

Mining New Gold Isn’t Cheap

When the costs of mining and shipping gold rise, the price of gold will inevitably rise in response. The same costs of doing business that you see rising in America, which include higher fuel and electricity costs, are rising throughout other countries (including America) where gold is mined. Because gold mining is an inherently expensive and difficult undertaking, it is very closely tied to the costs of fuel, electricity, and manpower.

Consider: gold is a rare and precious metal. It appears in the earth’s surface in very low concentrations. Thousands of tons of ore must be mined to produce a significant amount of gold. The cost of mining these thousands of tons of ore is high; it takes expensive and sophisticated machinery to create gold mines, machinery that is completely dependent on both electricity and fuel. Furthermore, once the ore that contains gold has been mined, the gold must be separated from the ore using a chemical process that is both time-consuming and costly both in terms of the cost of the products used to extract the gold, and the manpower required to do so. Thus, as fuel, electricity, chemical, and manpower prices rise, so too does the cost to mine gold.

As you might have guessed, the price of mined gold is also affected by transportation costs. When the expense of transporting gold rises, the price of newly mined gold reflects this increase, which is reflected in the market price for gold. Therefore, when the price of mining gold goes up, so does the cost of gold to those who would use it in manufacturing.

When Financial People Worry - Buy Gold!

Gold values are also tied to the financial markets. When the financial markets are viewed by experts to be unstable, then gold, which is considered to be a relatively stable commodity, rises in value. For instance, when the value of the American dollar falls on the international markets, the price of gold will often rise. This is due to the perception that gold, which is also considered a currency, is a more stable currency than the American dollar or other countries’ currencies.

Furthermore, when there is a fear that a period of inflation is on the horizon, as many financial experts are forecasting now, the price of gold will often rise. Many financial experts use the price of gold on the market as a harbinger for an inflationary period; when the price of gold begins to rise, inflation is sure to follow. In fact, the last time the value of gold rose as it has recently was the inflationary period the U.S. Suffered during the late 1970s.

So what does all this mean for those who have gold to sell?

When gold becomes more expensive to mine, the value of existing gold goes up, as well, because there is a greater demand for gold that can be recycled. Existing gold will always be less expensive to use in trades that rely on gold for manufacturing. However, it becomes more profitable to sell for those who have it.

Gold scrap is especially valuable for those who use gold in manufacturing, not only because it is much less expensive to purchase than mined gold on the market, but also because it is easier to procure. The demand for gold scrap, such as that contained in old gold jewelry and dental scrap, is easily recycled for the needs of manufacturers, which contributes to its high demand in the marketplace.

If you have considered selling your old gold jewelry and gold scrap, but just haven’t gotten around to it, do not hesitate. Contact a gold broker like GoldPaq today, while gold is selling at historic highs. You’ll be glad you did!

If you have considered selling your old gold jewelry or other gold items, you have probably researched the process enough that you have seen the term “gold scrap” in association with gold brokers more than once. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of gold scrap, you may be surprised to find that you probably have gold scrap in your home – gold scrap that can be turned into cash.

So what is gold scrap exactly?

Gold scrap is typically gold that is not in coin, bullion, or usable jewelry form. This encompasses a great many items, items that you may have in your home, unwanted, unused, or perhaps unusable.

Much of what is considered gold scrap originated as jewelry. This includes broken or otherwise damaged gold chains or bracelets, damaged pendants or rings, pendant or ring settings that have broken prongs that can no longer hold gemstones, broken or damaged gold charms, or even the gold that was left over when a ring, bracelet, or necklace was cut down in size. Gold earrings that have lost their mates are also considered gold scrap. Gold jewelry scrap can also include gold watches that no longer run and have been deemed unrepairable, and gold watch chains.

Most of us have this type of gold jewelry scrap in our homes. If you check your jewelry box – or, more likely, junk drawer – you will probably find jewelry that is damaged beyond repair, or gold earrings without their mates. This kind of gold jewelry scrap, which is doing you no good, can be sold to a gold broker for cash that you can use.

What are other sources of gold scrap ?

Another source of scrap gold is gold dental scrap. Although gold is no longer popular for dental use, it was once common for dentists to use gold for dental work. If you are of a certain age, and have ever had a gold filling, gold crown, gold bridgework, or gold cap removed by a dentist, then he or she probably returned this gold scrap to you. This gold dental scrap is of little use to you in its current form, but if you sell gold to a gold broker for cash, you can turn this unusable scrap into money.

If you or someone in your family has ever had a hobby or craft that involved precious metals, such as jewelry or wire crafts, there may be gold scrap in the form of gold wire, gold shavings, or gold dust, flakes, or sweeps lying unused in the garage or at the workbench. These gold scraps may not seem to be of much worth to the untrained eye, but to a gold broker, they are gold with value. Gathering these scraps to sell to a gold broker can turn them into useful cash.

Gold scrap can come in many forms, and most of use have in our homes gold in some of these forms. While they are of little use hidden in jewelry boxes or junk drawers, they can easily be turned to cash by selling them to a gold broker.

You may find that your local gold buyers, which in all but the largest markets are usually jewelers and pawnshops, have little use for the gold scrap you have. However, a professional gold broker like GoldPaq, who is accustomed to dealing in gold scrap will see the value in your gold. They know selling gold makes people wealthier .

GoldPaq can help you maximize the value of gold that you no longer have any use for. If you choose to use an online gold broker, you will find the process of getting cash for your gold as easy as a few trips to the mailbox or post office.

An online gold broker like GoldPaq will make selling your scrap gold quick and simple. You just request a gold kit – an insured mailer that protects your gold scrap from loss or damage in the mail – and send your gold scrap back to us for appraisal. After we have appraised your scrap gold for free, we will contact you with a cash offer for your items. If you find the appraisal to be satisfactory, you need only to let us and your cash will soon be on its way to you.

Gold scrap is of little use to most of us, but cash is something everyone can use. Old, broken, or unrepairable jewelry, dental scrap, and other assorted gold scrap lying around your home is doing you little good, but the cash that you can receive for these items by selling them to a gold broker is sure to come in handy. Try selling your gold scrap today!

Do you have a ring with a gemstone that you really love, but a setting that you can’t stand? How about a charm bracelet that has lost its charm? Maybe you even have an old engagement ring or wedding ring that you no longer wish to wear. Turning old gold jewelry into cash is a great way to transform your jewelry collection while also getting a bit of extra cash.

Let’s start with your gemstone jewelry. Chance are, if you are a jewelry lover, you probably have several rings, pendants, or even bracelets that contain beautiful gemstones that you love, but have settings that are no longer in style or attractive to you. You love the gemstones, but you find yourself bypassing these items in your jewelry box for items that have more attractive settings or are more stylish.

Lucky for you, “recycling” these jewelry items is an easy way to make turn these gemstones into jewelry that you will love to wear. Here’s how: take your gemstone jewelry to a trustworthy jeweler, and have the jeweler take the gemstones out of the unattractive settings for a nominal fee. Then, sell the old gold jewelry settings to a gold broker. Gold Paq can make the process simple and easy for you and offer a substantial cash payment for this gold that you no longer need.

Now comes the fun part. Once you’ve sold your gold, and have your profits to reinvest in your jewelry, start looking around for jewelry designs that are attractive to you and that use gemstones similar in size, shape, and quantity to those that you have. However, do not stop at just one design; unless you have experience with jewelry design yourself, you may not be able to judge just exactly what can be done with the gemstones you have, and the jeweler that you select to reset your stones may need several designs to choose from in order to find one that works. This is a wonderful way to use the money you have earned from selling your old gold jewelry settings to create custom or semi-custom designs yourself.

However, if you do have some experience with jewelry design, or wish to begin designing jewelry as a hobby, taking your less precious gemstones out of the old settings and selling the gold is the perfect way to start. The tools to design your own jewelry are readily available and reasonably priced. Jewelry Television’s a great starting point, and have many of the relatively inexpensive tools you will need to begin designing your own jewelry using these gemstones that you have now freed from the old gold jewelry settings you had. They offer tools that can help you determine the metric size of your gemstones, which will allow you to then select new settings for these gemstones, and tools to help you set the stones yourself. If you are a beginner, you may want to begin with the very inexpensive sterling silver settings that Jewelry Television offers, including easy to use “snap-in” settings that require no tools at all.

If you have an old diamond and gold engagement ring that you no longer find attractive, or an old diamond and gold wedding set that you no longer wear, selling the gold in these old items is one way to remodel this jewelry into something you will be thrilled to wear.

Again, start by having the diamonds and other gemstones taken out of these engagement and wedding sets by a trustworthy jeweler. Keep the diamonds and gemstones, and sell the gold GoldPaq. Then, using the profits from your gold sale, have these gemstones reset in a style that you desire.

Having an original, less than impressive engagement and wedding sets remade by taking the diamonds and using them alongside larger diamonds or other gemstones makes an excellent, and sure-to-be treasured anniversary gift. For those who have divorced, taking these diamonds and resetting them into other jewelry, either for yourself or your children, is a great idea to remake gold jewelry that you no longer plan to wear.

Remodeling your jewelry by keeping the gemstones and selling the gold for profit that you can then use to have the gemstones reset into your own designs is something that any jewelry lover or budding jewelry designer should consider. Selling the gold settings will allow you to reset the jewelry in a ring, pendant, or bracelet that you can be proud to say you designed yourself. And you may find yourself with a little cash left over, to invest in other jewelry, of course!