How Much Money Can You Make by Investing in Base Metals?
We don’t write often about base metals on this blog. After all, we are a precious metal refining company.
But have we been failing to tell you how you can make a lot of money by investing in base metals like aluminum, copper, and brass? Today, we’ll find out.
Are Base Metals Increasing in Value?
Some common base metals have increased in value in the last year, others have not:
The trading price of aluminum has been fluctuating widely over the last year. One year ago, you could sell aluminum scrap for about $.86/pound. As we write this post, that has fallen to about $.80.
The trading price of copper has increased in the last year, from about $2.80/pound to nearly $2.90 now.
The trading price of zinc has also increased slightly in the last year, from about $1.08/pound to a little more than $1.10/pound.
The trading price of lead has also ticked up in the last year, from about $.87/pound to nearly $.92/pound.
The trading price of nickel has increased in the last year from about $6.37/pound to $6.45/pound.
Note: These prices can be found online at InvestMine.com
How Convenient Is It to Sell Base Metal Scrap?
It is comparatively more convenient to buy precious metal scrap, for a very simple reason – you will usually be dealing with only a few pounds of scrap, compared to hundreds of pounds or more of base metals like copper or aluminum.
Another difference is that when you want to sell large amounts of base metal scrap, you will be dealing with a scrap metal yard, not a precious metals refinery. Dealing with a scrap metal yard means transporting your scrap there, which requires a truck in most cases. Dealing with a precious metals refinery like Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners generally means packing up a few pounds of scrap and sending it to us. (Catalytic converters are the exception because if you want us to recycle them for you, you will have to send us 500 units or more.)
Can You Give an Example of Selling to a Scrap Metal Yard?
Yes, we can. A museum had been given a pair of doors, made mostly of bronze and aluminum, that had been removed from a bank building that was being demolished. They weighed about 200 pounds. The museum’s volunteers rented a truck, loaded on the doors, and drove them to a scrap metal yard.
They drove the truck onto a large scale there, which weighed the truck and its cargo. Then they drove into the scrap yard and unloaded the doors in an area that the scrap yard’s employees showed them. Then they drove the now-empty truck back onto the scale, where it was weighed.
The volunteers then entered the scrap yard’s office, where they were given $35.00 for the doors.
That is just one case study of what it is like to sell scrapped base metals to a scrap yard.
What Is a Good Strategy for Buying and Selling Base Metals?
One of the best strategies is to get your hands on large quantities of scrap metals for an advantageous price and then take them to a scrapyard. In fact, that’s just about the best strategy. And it is possible to do just that if you can find a building or a lot of machinery or vehicles that are being demolished and that contain scrap you can haul away.
For example, one scrap metal prospector hauled away nearly 500 lb. of old copper pipes that had been pulled out of a building that was being demolished. He paid the demolition company $600 for the copper and sold it at a scrap metal yard for a little more than $1,000. That was a nice profit, even though he had to rent a truck to do it.
What Is the Best Investment Strategy for You?
Because we are a highly qualified precious metals refinery, we are big believers that investing in gold, platinum, silver and other precious-metal scrap is the way to go for individual investors. But we don’t favor that strategy only because it is our business. We favor it because it offers higher profits and greater convenience due to the fact that investors need to invest in much smaller quantities of scrap.
Which strategy – base or precious – will work better for you? Remember, we are here at 800-426-2344 to answer your questions about making money by trading in metal and metal scrap. Why not give us a call today?