Platinum Group Metals: Selling Labware
Posted by Luis Marini on Wed, Mar 30, 2011 @ 10:23 AM
The cash-for-gold industry often focuses on selling unwanted jewelry, silverware and other consumer items containing precious metals. But did you know that industrial pieces, such as dental scrap or thermocouple wire, are also valuable sources of precious metals and ideal candidates for selling to a precious metals buyer?
In a previous post, we discussed the platinum group metals (PGMs) and the properties that enable PGMs to be used in industrial pieces. PGMs include six metals — platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium and osmium — and are used in dental repairs, electronics, automobiles and more.
An untapped market on the industrial side of selling precious metal scrap for cash is labware.
Laboratory items containing PGMs are used to handle abrasive substances and high temperatures that softer metals, such as gold or silver, cannot withstand. Additionally, platinum-based materials can serve as catalysts for chemical processes like oxidation.
Types of Labware Containing PGMs
Chemists use equipment and instruments that contain various amounts of PGMs. Whether the piece is made primarily of a precious metal, or contains only a small amount, a laboratory’s old, damaged, unused or unwanted labware can be sold to a refinery that will extract, refine and resell the valuable precious metals.
Examples of labware that can contain PGMs include:
- Combustion boats
- Crucibles and lids
- Electrodes
- Evaporation dishes
- Filters
- Foil
- Gauze
- Inoculating loops
- Laboratory crucibles
- Mesh screens
- Molds
- Sheets
- Spatulas
- Sponges
- Stirring rods
- Trays
- Tongs and tweezers
- Tubes
- Wire
Why PGMs Are Used in Labware While purchasing platinum labware can be quite expensive, there are key benefits to using instruments made from PGMs.
The properties that make
PGMs ideal for use in labwareinclude:
- Minimal chemical affect on experiments, ensuring a more accurate and unaltered result.
- High resistance to chemical corrosion.
- Malleable and ductile.
- Resistance to high temperatures.
- Stable electrical conductor.
Selling Labware Although PGMs are highly resistant to wear and tarnish, their use in laboratory experiments expose the materials to extreme conditions. Cracks, dents and other damage require laboratories to periodically replace their inventory.
Labs can sell the damaged pieces to a precious metal refinery that will provide the seller with a cash return on their initial investments, which can then be used toward the purchase of new materials.
Unless marked by a stamp indicating the percentage of PGMs present, the refinery will likely require each piece be melted down in order to determine the precious metal content. This enables the buyer to provide you with the most accurate quote on its value.
For more information on current PGM pricing from Metallix, see the following resources:
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