Last year we published a list of the most popular blog posts that we ran in 2014 – the ones that had been viewed by the most people and that had generated the greatest number of comments. We’ve created a different list of best posts this year. They are posts that contain the kind of useful information that can quickly put a lot of money in your pocket – maybe even in time for the holidays. 

Recycling precious metals often involves analyzing and refining big messy batches of mixed materials. People who own these mixed lots of material know that gold or silver or platinum is “in there” somewhere, but don’t know where it is, what it is, or how much of it is present. 

We don’t have a crystal ball that lets us see what precious metals you now own – either in bullion, in materials that you haven’t yet recycled or elsewhere - but we’re willing to guess that most of your metals investments fall into the mid-term category that FINRA defines: you’re going to have them for between three and 10 years, so they should be investments that offer stable long-term growth.

It’s overwhelming. How are you going to figure out what you have and what it is worth? How will you know when the right time comes to sell it? Should you wait until prices hit the right levels, and how will you know when that happens? And while you’re trying to answer those questions, you do nothing.

If you’re interested in collecting and recycling catalytic converters for a profit, the arrival of all these high-tech vehicles can get confusing. Which of them contain cat converters, and which don’t?

If you have been waiting to recycle or sell your gold until trading prices rise, we invite you to consider a Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners Pool Account.  Our Pool Account offers significant benefits, including the ability to sell your gold when prices rise in the future.

If you called a precious metals refinery for an over-the-phone appraisal, you would be pretty excited to hear the words, “Your scrap could be worth an awful lot of money.” And you should be happy. The problem is, those words could lure you into one of the precious metal scams that are happening today.

When you send us old catalytic converters, sputtering targets, dental scrap or other items to be processed, we recover precious metals from them that were mined from the earth years ago. Those same metals will then be reused in new applications that can include jewelry making, medical technologies, electronics manufacturing, and many more. What could be more efficient?

More and more towns and cities across America are holding recycling day events to collect old electronic devices. Electronic recycling days provide a needed service to individuals, who often do not know how or where to responsibly recycle old electrical devices. Whether you are a company that already has stockpiles of electronics to recycle or a company that wants to do something good for your community, you should consider getting involved. By doing good, you could also have an opportunity to earn income.

Chances are that you only find small quantities of the valuable secondary platinum group metals (palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium) hiding in recyclable items that you think are made only of platinum. How can you tell if these rarer metals are present?

Someone called one of our expert consultants at 800-426-2344 last week and asked, “Is lithium a precious metal?” He had a lot of old printed-circuit boards that had batteries attached to them and was wondering if he would get paid for the lithium that they contained if he sent them in to be recycled.

The lesson for real estate developers is to make sure to recover precious metals from appliances – or at the very least, to work out a deal with the scrap metal recycling company to share the value of precious metals.

What emerging technologies will impact on the prices and demand for precious metals in the coming year? Here are five trends to watch.

Recycling precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium can be a complicated business. There could be treasure hiding in the most unusual places, and businesses and consumers alike are always on the lookout for tips, tricks and advice. Our top blog posts, as determined by our readers, represent a collection of knowledge you may find just as worthwhile to read as they have.