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Old gold jewelry is recycled by sorting and weighing it, melting suitable scrap, testing a representative sample, and separating and purifying the gold. The recovered metal can then be used in bullion, coins, or new jewelry. The exact route depends on what is in the scrap: alloyed gold, stones, solder, and low-grade sweepings do not all go through the same process.
How old gold jewelry is recycled
A refinery processes scrap in stages so it can establish what the shipment contains and recover its precious metals. The sequence below combines a documented refiner’s handling example with the Royal Canadian Mint’s description of its own purification process; it is not a single universal workflow.
- Receive and track the lot. A refiner weighs and identifies the incoming material. Hoover & Strong says it photographs each lot and assigns it a unique tracking number. That is the company’s stated procedure, not a requirement followed by every refiner.
- Sort and prepare the material. The condition and composition of the scrap affect how it is treated. Hoover & Strong describes melting clean karat-gold scrap with flux. By contrast, low-grade jewelry sweeps may need combustible material burned off, then milling, sifting, blending, and representative sampling before assay.
- Melt and take a sample. For clean scrap, melting produces a more homogeneous batch. Flux helps the melt flow; non-metallic impurities can enter the slag as the metal settles. The refiner takes a sample to test the batch rather than assuming every item has the same gold content.
- Assay the sample. An assay estimates the precious-metal content of the tested lot. Hoover & Strong describes duplicate fire assays and says it remelts and resamples a bar if results disagree. The company also mentions X-ray fluorescence (XRF), but testing methods should not be treated as interchangeable in purpose or accuracy.
- Separate and purify the gold. The separation method depends on the feedstock and refinery. The Royal Canadian Mint describes chemically purifying gold to 99.5% purity, then casting anodes for electrolysis and assay testing. That figure refers to a stage in the Mint’s process; it is not the share of a piece of jewelry’s original weight that will be recovered.
- Put the refined metal to use. The Mint says its refined gold goes into investment products and collectible coins. Hoover & Strong says its refined recycled metal is used in jewelry products. These are examples of possible destinations, not a guarantee about what will be made from a particular item.
What refiners mean by recycled gold
Not all gold that passes through a refinery has the same history. The LBMA distinguishes old scrap—material from a previously made product that returns to the market as bullion—from process scrap and the reformatting of bullion. Old scrap can include jewelry and other products. As a result, a statistic that counts old scrap does not necessarily describe every kind of material a refinery handles.
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The LBMA describes high-grade scrap as typically containing at least 40% precious metal, with most material having a higher fine-metal content and coming almost entirely from old jewelry. Low-grade scrap can include jewelry sweeps, ash from electronic scrap, and cleaning materials. These are category descriptions, not acceptance rules for every refinery.
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Gold-plated items are different from solid gold scrap
A gold-plated costume piece is not equivalent to a solid gold ring or chain. The LBMA says the gold on costume jewelry and sunglasses is too dispersed for practical recovery, making recovery uneconomic or impractical. Do not assume that an item that looks gold-colored will yield recoverable gold.
How refiners test gold purity—and what an assay tells you
Jewelry can contain gold mixed with other metals, and a shipment may include items of different compositions. A representative sample lets the refiner estimate the precious-metal content of the lot being tested. In Hoover & Strong’s described process, fire assay is used for this purpose; the company also mentions XRF as an analytical method.
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An assay result is about the composition of the tested lot. It does not, on its own, tell you what a consumer will be paid: payment terms and deductions are separate from the measurement. Nor does an assay result establish how much gold was recoverable from each individual ring or chain when several items were processed together.
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There is no universal recovery yield in the sources cited here for a ring, chain, or mixed household jewelry lot. Results depend on the material being processed, and the Mint’s 99.5% figure describes the purity reached at a step in its process—not the proportion of input weight returned as gold. Market-wide recycling totals likewise cannot predict the yield or payout for one person’s jewelry.
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For context, the World Gold Council reported 366 tonnes of recycled gold in Q1 2026, up 5% year on year. Those figures cover global market supply through 31 March 2026, and the Council notes that supply data may later be revised. They describe market volume, not how much gold a particular item contains or how much a refiner will pay for it.
Why the amount of gold recycling changes
Recycling responds to prices and economic conditions. In its Q1 2026 report, the World Gold Council said high prices encouraged sales of old jewelry as global recycled-gold supply rose 5% year on year. The report also noted regional effects from exchange behavior, logistics, refinery capacity, and financing constraints.
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Longer-term figures need their period attached. In a 2018 primer, the World Gold Council said recycled gold had accounted for around 30% of total gold supply over the preceding 20 years and that roughly 90% of recycled gold came from jewelry. Those are historical estimates stated in that primer, not current annual proportions.
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Questions to ask before sending jewelry to a refiner
Terms for consumer refining services vary, and the sources here do not establish the offers or policies of particular providers. Before sending a lot, ask how the service handles the practical details:
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- Does it accept your type of scrap, and is there a minimum lot size?
- What assay method does it use, and will it share the results?
- How are stones and non-gold parts, such as clasps or other components, handled?
- What fees or deductions apply, and how is the final value calculated?
- When does settlement occur, and will you receive cash, bullion, or account credit?
- How are shipping and insurance arranged while the material is in transit?
These questions help distinguish the technical assay of metal content from the separate terms governing a transaction.
Quick Recap
Sources
- World Gold Council, Gold Recycling Primer (7 May 2018) — historical market context, jewelry share, and recycling drivers.
- Royal Canadian Mint, Precious Metals Refining — the Mint’s described refining process and product uses.
- LBMA, Chapter 2 – Profile of Recycling — scrap categories and practical recovery context.
- Hoover & Strong, The Refining Process brochure (2023) — company-specific lot handling, scrap preparation, melting, and assay examples.
- World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends: Q1 2026 — Supply (29 April 2026) — quarterly recycling-supply figures through 31 March 2026.
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