Mining vs. Refining
by Leo Hamel

With all the concern over preserving nature today, the jewelry industry shines as a bright light. Jewelry has always been recycled, from the tomb robbers of the ancient world to those who refine old gold into new today.
New gold is extracted from the earth by several methods, most of which cause some damage to nature. Gold panning (like the prospectors in the movies) is the least damaging as one sifts sand from a stream and usually puts it back in the process. Only small amounts of gold can be found this way.

Slicing and dredging to acquire larger amounts of gold displaces great amounts of sand and earth thus disturbing normal conditions in that part of the river and downstream. Hard rock mining involves crushing huge quantities of earth and removing the gold through a process that uses cyanide. Today there are regulations that limit harm to the environment, but in the old days it was not always so. If you ever travel to South Africa you will see mountains of earth around the city of Johannesburg from the gold rush days of the late 1800’s because there was just no place to put all the earth that was dragged up from miles below the surface.
With gold prices at record highs, many people are selling us their “old” gold. We then refine it back to pure gold and use it to make new jewelry. This causes almost no damage to the environment and is a significant source of gold today. Silver, platinum and palladium can also be refined and recycled.

Many customers bring in their old gold and ask us to make something new out of it, and we are happy to comply. We have four full time jewelers on the premises who can craft just about anything from a simple band to the most complicated computer-aided designs. This is a great way to keep the sentiment of that old piece of jewelry after it’s become dated or worn.

If you have any type of jewelry that you no longer use, we can often find a new home for it. Feel free to bring in whatever you have; we may buy it or trade you something else for it. So easy, and so ecologically sound!

Mining vs. Refining by Leo Hamel

Mining vs. Refining
by Leo Hamel