Placer gold, also known as alluvial gold, is gold that has adhered to rocks and other materials. Can you recycle it and make money? In most cases you cannot, because the amount of gold that can be recovered from recycling placer gold materials is very small. Yet large industrial gold collecting operations have been able to generate profits from placer gold because of the large quantities of soil and sand they are able to gather. 

We have written on this blog that gold can be reclaimed from electronic devices such as computers, computer tablets, smartphones, and even remote controls that came bundled with televisions and other devices commonly found in the home. It seems that gold is waiting to be reclaimed in almost any kind of electronic device you find. 

Remember, gold can be found in various types of ores that occur in nature. Most often, you will find mining companies have set up operations to extract them from the ground. In other cases, those mining companies once had set up operations in those locations to mine gold but have since extracted all the gold they could from the ground and have shut down. 

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you already know that we believe that gold scrap is one of the smartest investments you can make, for this reason . . .

You can invest in gold scrap at advantageous prices (in other words, you can buy it for prices that are lower than the current trading price), then you can conveniently have us process it for you, then you will promptly get paid for your gold at current trading prices.

That explains why many smart investors are actively investing in gold scrap today – and making a lot of money doing it.

Canada is the fifth largest producer of mined gold in the world, following behind China, Russia, Australia, and the United States. A trip to Canada to look for gold in streams could be a good idea or, at the very least, a profitable and fun adventure.

Here’s some information that will add to your adventure and possibly your profits too.

We just read a terrific article, “50 Metal Detecting Tips that Find Gold,” on the Discover Detecting blog. It’s jam-packed with great advice on how to use a metal detector to find much more gold on every outing you make.

Whether you’re new to metal detecting or an experienced user, you will want to read this article, which contains advice from experts who really know the ins and outs of using detectors. Here are some of the tips and insights from the post – some of them unusual – that can dramatically improve your experience as a user of a detector.

Over the years, people have created a story – dare we say a myth – that it is possible to reclaim gold from plants and animals.

That legend usually goes something like this . . .

“The plants and animals that live around natural sources of gold like gold-containing streams and old gold mines absorb quantities of gold. If you harvest sufficient quantities of material from them, they contain gold that can be profitably recycled.”

With gold currently trading at $1,787.40 per troy ounce, this is a good time to look for and recycle even small amounts of gold.

Here are some easy-to-overlook places you can find small amounts of gold today – even in your own home.

Gold is trading for $1,900.90 on the London Fix. Just to put that price in context, let us mention that the all-time historical high trading prices for gold is $1,920. We are in stratospheric territory.

What is driving up the price? It’s more than the traditional law of supply and demand (which of course is at work too). Most analysts agree that the immediate driver of these high prices is the trade conflict between the U.S. and China. If things continue the way they are going, the flow of gold into the U.S. from China should slow to a trickle.

If you are a fan of the old TV sitcom Cheers, you remember what a classic role Cliff Clavin was. Cliff, who was played by the actor John Ratzenberger, was a know-it-all who either made stuff up or presented truths that nobody cared about. Usually, he preceded his revelations by saying, “Here’s a little-known fact.”

One example? Cliff once told his buddies at the bar Cheers, “2008 was the last time Ohio State lost the ninth game of its season.”

Last year, we visited the remarkable rare book collection at Saint Bonaventure University in Olean, New York. During that visit, we were privileged to get a close look at some extremely rare old books and manuscripts.

If you are in the business of demolishing buildings, you know that the first order of business is usually to “just knock it down . . . make it disappear!”

There is a reason for that. The sooner most old buildings are gone, the sooner they can be replaced with a new shopping center, apartment complex, parking lot, or other income-generating project. So you follow the instructions of the developer that hired you and as quickly as possible, that old building is reduced to rubble and trucks start to haul it away.

If you read this blog regularly, you have noticed that a lot of our blog posts give advice on where you can find little quantities of gold. We have written about how we can extract small amounts of gold from gold-plated jewelry, from old eyeglass frames, from printed circuit boards, and even from small piles of sweepings from factory floors.

...Presto! Gold plating has happened. It’s a simple process that has been used for years to apply gold plating to jewelry and other metal items. But today’s post is not about recycling those items. It’s about reclaiming gold from the tanks where the process took place. Let’s take a closer look...