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Refiners vary greatly in the minimum fees they charge and the rate of return they give. You should contact several refiners, and receive their pricing chart before deciding upon the refiner to use. Find a refiner whose pricing structure fits with the amount of scrap you have to process.
~ Brad
Design shop components to minimize clean up. Remember that any dust generated in the jewelry shop may contain gold particles. A clean shop increases profits through the recovery of that gold. It also makes the shop more visually appealing, thereby increasing productivity.
~ Brad
Workers should always wear an apron in the shop. This keeps gold from filing, grinding, and polishing operations from accumulating in their clothes and being washed down the drain. Thin leather with a tanned smooth surface is best. Cloth aprons, such as denim, are better than nothing, but they will accumulate precious metal down in the fabric. If cloth aprons are used they should not be washed, but sent to the refiner to be burned and the gold recovered.
Brad
A shop vacuum cleaner is a necessity. This makes clean up easier, and you will then be more likely to do it more often. This vacuum is for shop use only, and should never be used outside of the shop. Save all bags and send to the refiner with the polishing waste.
Brad
When it comes to recovering precious metal, nothing is worthless. However, when you walk into many repair shops you will find people behaving as if it were. Many people do not realize what a valuable asset their scrap is, and have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of additional revenues received from a refiner when a clean and orderly shop is maintained.
Brad
Place a piece of leather or matte board in the bottom of your lap tray. This will aid you in cleaning the sweeps out of your lap tray. Pick up the leather by the corners and dump the sweeps into the container. This also helps protect stones from the hard metal bottom of the lap tray when accidentally dropped.
Brad
Do not sell your scrap to a broker who comes into your store, estimates its value, and pays you cash. His margin more than exceeds the money you would save by cheating Uncle Sam on your income taxes.
Brad
Do not let gold dust walk out of your shop – sweep the floor of the shop daily and mop monthly. Dump the dirty water from mopping in a sink with a gold trap in the drain. Never dump the water in the toilet or other drain without a trap designed to accumulate scrap material.
Brad
A dirty shop affects profits, because of the high value of the metal that is lost. Small pieces of gold on the floor from filing, buffing, and other operations in the shop, cling to the bottom of shoes. If the floor is not swept regularly, the gold literally walks out the door of the shop. If not collected at the source, gold dust is spread around the shop. It is then carried out of the shop on workers hands, clothes, and shoes.
Brad
Always use your lap tray to collect metal filings and save these filings in a container to send to a refiner. Some refiners will supply you with a plastic jar with a screw top lid for these sweeps. Any type of container with a wide mouth top may be used; an old coffee can with a plastic lid works well.
Brad
