If you’ve been reading the Specialty Metals Blog over the last year, you know that we have been monitoring the increasing acceptance of hydrogen fuel cell cars, which promise to create greater demand for platinum. (Why? Because platinum is used to convert hydrogen to electricity that is used to power the cars.)

If you have been reading our posts, you also know that up until now, you have only been able to buy fuel cell cars in Hawaii and California, the only states where it is possible to buy hydrogen at a filling station.

What is the most powerful small metal detecting tool you can carry in your pocket? It’s your smartphone.

Only five or six years ago, we would have advised you to carry a small digital camera with you on your prospecting adventures. Now that is no longer necessary, thanks to the powerful cameras that are now built into phones.

But there are many more apps you should install on your phone, if you haven’t already, including:

. . . But Here’s Why You Should Carry One Anyway

Gold, platinum, and silver are the three precious metals that we write about most often on this blog. And as you know, a magnet will not be attracted to them. Why? Because they do not contain iron, which attracts a magnet. That’s another way of saying, gold, platinum, and silver are non-ferrous metals. (“Ferrous” means that they contain iron.)

There is a story behind every business that closes and liquidates its fixtures, equipment, supplies and assets. Sometimes the story is sad because a business failed. Sometimes it was in an industry that was no longer profitable. Sometimes the owner retired, and that is not a sad story.

Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCCs or MLCC chips), which are small electronic components made of alternating ceramic and metallic layers, can be found in many applications today.

When an armored delivery truck was robbed near Los Angeles on July 11, 2022, thieves got away with jewelry that was estimated to be worth more than $10 million. The truck was on its way to an event in Pasadena and somehow, thieves got the jump on the driver.

According to news reports, the jewelry was owned by a number of businesses and individuals. Brinks, the operator of the armored car that was robbed, has promised to repay all the owners. And given the excellent reputation that Brinks enjoys, we are sure the company will.

The 2021 Annual Crime Report published by the Jewelers’ Security Alliance, a nonprofit trade organization, is a free downloadable report that we all need to read. At least, everyone who is involved with jewelry or precious metals should download and read it. It reveals, in depth, exactly where jewelry-related crimes are taking place. Also, it explains how many of those crimes are happening, and whether those crimes are becoming more or less frequent.

We have written on this blog about recovering gold from sources like printed circuit boards, cell phones, remote-control devices, and digital cameras.

Today, let’s look at other sources of recyclable gold scrap that you might have overlooked.

If you take a look at your computer and work area, you will notice a major trend that has changed just about everything about the way you work, store data, use software, store videos and pictures, and more . . .

Most of what you do is now taking place on the cloud, not on your computer and local storage devices

While you’ve been driving around recently, you have certainly noticed a growing number of electric cars on the road. Yes, Teslas and other electric cars are gaining market share against gas-powered cars. But how soon will it be until gas-powered vehicles disappear?

As precious metal investors, we need to watch this trend, which will shape both the availability and the demand for different precious metals:

When you’re poking around an antique mall one day, you see a display of jewelry – rings, pins and other small items. All the pins and rings and other items you see are bright and shiny, except one. It’s a small cross on a chain, and it looks dull, chalky gray and tarnished.

So what are your eyes telling you? They are telling you that that cross is made of silver, while the other items on display are not. You see, silver tarnishes, while gold, platinum, titanium and other metals that are commonly used to make jewelry do not.

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.

Where should you turn for advice if you have gold or gold scrap you would like to sell?

Here are some options, with our expert advice on how and when to use them.

Small Pocket-Size Gold Testing Kits

These small, pocketable kits are widely available. They have a small abrasive stone and several small squeeze bottles that contain testing fluid. You rub the piece of gold or scrap you want to test on the stone, squeeze some testing fluid onto it, and get a quick reading on whether the item you are testing contains gold, and in what karat (purity) rating.

Silver is currently trading for over $20 per Troy Ounce on the London Fix. That seems like a ridiculously low trading price when you consider the trading prices of Rhodium, palladium, gold, and platinum.

It is tempting to say, “What, 20 bucks an ounce? Why even consider investing in silver?”

But don’t cross silver off your list of potential precious metal investments. The fact is, there really is a simple strategy for making a good return trading in silver:

Did you watch the show Meteorite Men on the Science Channel? It was on the air from 2010-2012 and it was fun and educational. It followed the adventures of Steve Arnold and Geoffrey Notkin, two adventurers, as they went hunting for meteorites in Canada, Chile, Poland, Sweden, as well as in Utah and other U.S. States.

The law of supply and demand is always exerting a force on the price of gold and other metals. To boil it down to its simplest truth . . .

When the demand for gold remains strong but the supply is limited, the price goes up

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.”

Your son or daughter will graduate high school or college in a few weeks. And you’re thinking, “Wouldn’t it be nice if I gave that grad an old item of family jewelry that’s been sitting around for years?”

It could be grandpa’s old gold pocket watch, or a wedding ring that once was worn by your mother. Well, aren’t you being generous? Yes, you are. But before you make that generous gift, here’s a piece of advice:

Will this emerging trend create new opportunities to recycle platinum?

Just when we were starting to think that enthusiasm for hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles was starting to fall, interest is picking up again. Learn more in this recent video about fuel cell cars that was shown on PBS News earlier this month.

Do you love making money by investing in precious metals? Do you have a son or a daughter who is interested in precious metals too, and who could potentially want to make a career working in the field?