Helter Smelter . . .
What You Need to Know about Modern Smelting and What We Do
As we wrote on this blog back on February 24, 2014, “Smelting has now evolved into a modern, sophisticated process that uses very advanced equipment to separate precious metals from a wide variety of compounds and chemicals, not only from rocks.”
That is still true – the art and science of smelting have continued to evolve. In the earliest and purest forms of smelting, heat was used to separate a metal from ore that came from mines. Our Bronze Age forbears, for example, would toss copper ore into a hot wood fire and then sift through the remaining ash afterwards to reclaim the nuggets of pure copper that resulted.
And bear in mind that smelting has been used over the centuries to separate iron, zinc, copper other metals – not only precious metals – from ore that was mined from the earth.
So in brief, how has smelting evolved since the ancient days when our early ancestors used primitive smelting technologies to obtain quantities of pure metal from ore? Let’s take a closer look . . .
Modern Smelting Is Clean and Largely Non-Polluting
When we smelt metals in our state-of-the art facilities, virtually no pollutants are released into the water supply, the soil, or the air. Plus, smelting operations can be used to extract very small amounts of previous metals from very small quantities of material. So think of today’s smelting operations as small, targeted procedures that are performed with near-surgical precision.
Modern Smelting Can Be Done on Many Kinds of Scrap, Not Only on Mine Ore
Today’s smelting techniques can be used to extract gold, silver, platinum and other precious metals from mixed lots of scrap, from industrial waste, and even from batches of old gold-plated and other jewelry. Smelting sounds like an ancient technology, but it has really evolved.
Smelting Is Only One of the Techniques We Use to Separate Precious Metals from Your Scrap
How will we separate the gold, silver, platinum or other precious metals from the scrap material that you send us? The answer is, it depends on the nature of your scrap and the precious metals it might contain.
To learn more, call Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners at 800-426-2344 and speak with our consultants today.
Related Posts
How to Pick the Best Precious Metals Recycling Company
Some Fascinating – and Potentially Profitable – Facts You Never Knew about Refining Gold
Gold Refining: Why It Takes an Expert to Evaluate Your Gold-Plated Items
Can You Extract Gold, Silver and Platinum by Burning Things?
Why Recycling Gold Jewelry Requires the Services of an Expert Gold Recycler
Which Precious Metal Investments Cause the Least Environmental Harm?