This History of Hallmarking article is provided by the Birmingham Assay Office.

The history of hallmarking dates back over 700 years to a statue instituted by Edward I. Its purpose then was the same as it is today – To protect the public against fraud and the trader from unfair competition. It is, in fact the earliest form of consumer protection.

Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium are always used as an alloy in the manufacturer of precious metal jewellery, watches and silverware. The precious metal is mixed with other elements to give it the properties, such as flexibility and durability to produce a desirable article.

Even the most experienced jeweller or chemist cannot tell, just by looking at it, how much metal there is in the alloy or whether a thick plating of precious metal is masking a base metal core. This offers the unscrupulous a huge opportunity for fraud and there is a need to protect the public and honest suppliers.

Therefore all items, over the minimum specified weight, being sold as gold, silver, platinum or Palladium in the UK must be hallmarked to confirm that they meet the legal standards of the Hallmarking Act, 1973.
Hallmarking must be carried out by a UK Assay Office or an Assay Office belonging to the International Convention.

The Birmingham Assay Office was founded in 1773. Over the past 230 years it has built an outstanding worldwide reputation based on its established expertise and its total integrity and independence.

The Birmingham Assay Office, having embraced the latest technological developments, is now the largest assay office in the world and the leading UK provider of a range of services to the UK jewellery industry.

A follow-on to yesterday’s blog article Is There Gold in the UK? Anyone interested in UK gold mining history and looking to visit a mine may want to head over to Mine Explorer, a website dedicated to, well Exploring Mines!

The site is a portal for recreational mine exploration and features a database bursting at the seams with photos, videos and information on the 37+ gold mines located in and around the UK, featuring everything from mine surveys and maps to a bustling enthusiasts forum.  The Mine Explorer site hosts all the information you could possibly need to plan an trip to a mine, whether it be a remote disused mine in the Welsh Valleys or a National Trust funded visitor attraction Mine Explorer seems to have everything you could possibly need.

… and if you do happen to find any gold while your exploring, be sure to come back to Scrap Gold and let us know!

Disclaimer – We need to point out that mines are dangerous, NEVER enter a mine unless you have expressed permission to do so and are accompanied by an experienced and knowledgeable guide, and always let someone know your location and when to expect your return.

In 1998 the UK’s last operational gold mine ceased activity; the cost of extracting the gold from the Cononish Gold mine, close to the village of Tyndrum in Scotland made the business uneconomical.

Ten years on and in July 2008 the mine, owned by an Australian mining company trading as ScotGold Resources was survey to establish if the approximate 300% gold price increase in the intervening decade would again position the mine as an economically viable venture.

The village of Tyndrum in the Western Highlands is situated at one end of a rock seam with proven gold and silver producing properties.  The seam stretches west out from the Scottish coastline across the Atlantic towards Canada and North into Sweden & Norway.

ScotGold anticipate the mine could be viable for up to eight years, previous mining activity and initial geological surveys suggest as much as 150,000 ounces of gold and over half a million ounces of silver could be extracted from the mine. Even if only a fraction of the estimated figured is achieved, the current gold highs could make the project a profitable success for both the mining company and the local community.

Gold and silver maintain value thanks to their scarcity and global demand, to date only a small fraction of the earth’s gold and silver resources have been mined but as on-going demand increases the availability of easily extracted material in nearing exhaustion.  The inflation busting price surge of precious alloys in recent years has made even the more inaccessible alloy deposits once again an attractive and all the more viable consideration, and as mining technology improves, even the most remote and hostile environments become an attractive prospect.

Some Image copyrights ScotGold Resources Limited.

Today we wanted to use our soapbox to shout about a local Birmingham based company called Fair Trade Design who deals in the other side of the jewellery business.

Fair Trade Design was established in May 2006 to help raise awareness of fair trade.  As a BAFTS (British Association of Fair Trade Shops) member, selling jewellery sourced from producers abiding by fair trade principles such as paying fair prices to producers, Fair Trade Design and their customers purchasing jewellery are supporting social development projects, improving and support health and education facilities and encouraging environmental responsibility around the world – No small feat!

If you would like to learn more about Fair Trade Design, visit their Fair Trade Jewellery web site and if you do happen to order anything, be sure to let them know Scrap Gold sent you!

In that period, we’ve surpassed half a million site visitors (555,342 to be precise) and converted a healthy percentage into valued customers; something we feel is testament to our honest approach and transparent pricing policy.

If you have scrap gold or silver jewellery to sell, why not help us on our way to the magic million mark and complete our scrap gold form now.

According to Marcus Grubb, a senior World Gold Council official, robust investment in the West and strong jewellery sales in Asia will lead to higher demand than a year ago.

The Greek debt crisis has spurred Western investment demand in gold in the second quarter above the levels seen a year ago, Grubb said.

Jewellery demand in China is also set to rise in the second quarter, he added. However, the picture in India is mixed with the Akshaya Tritiya festival expected to boost jewellery sales but a weakened rupee making gold more expensive for locals. Nevertheless, full-year gold demand in India is expected to be stronger than in 2009.

Grubb declined to make gold price forecasts but said he agreed with the market view that gold would have strong support at $1,050-1,045 per ounce.

Towards the end of 2009 several reports came across our desk regarding a new phenomenon... gold parties - their overnight success and the pitiful price organisers were paying sellers attending the parties.

2009 was a bumper year for the gold price, with numerous almost constant television adverts publicising the high gold price, the whole country was fully educated to the new concept of selling their old, broken and unwanted gold jewellery, watches and anything with even a hint of gold content for cash! But how many people actually realise the true scrap gold price and how much their old gold jewellery was actually worth!

Dealers looking to cash in on the rising gold prices looked for new ways to reach an almost untapped primary target markets, women aged 25+ with draws, bags and jewellery boxes full of unworn and broken jewellery. The themed selling party model has been a proven success in this market demographic many times before, think Tupperware, candles and Ann Summers - So a social gathering based around a common interest in jewellery and making some extra cash would be an obvious success.

Gold selling parties have indeed been a hit in the UK, for the dealers anyway! Imagine a captive audience, plenty of peer pressure in the room and the offer of cold hard cash in the hand... Most people will openly accept the rudimentary assay of their gold and quickly grad the cash counted before them without really questioning the price offered. The opportunity to research the price and consider the offer simply isn't there, it's a cash now or never situation and the human impulsive nature kicks in.

We've seen reports of less than 18% of the true market value being offered to sellers at gold parties, with unsuspecting sellers more than satisfied with the seemly good price paid until they later have the opportunity to research the true value of the items they've sold! Many people are just not aware of how high the gold price has risen in recent years.

The gold party organisers aren't always the true source of blame either, many operate a form of franchise under a main stream gold dealer, many have paid an initial setup fee of up to £600 to purchase a 'Gold Party Kit' containing all the information and tools they require to look the part and make the deal. The very same gold dealers are often the ones that take the gold from the party organisers, again for a hefty percentage - or refining fee!

If you've been invited to a gold party, remember to do some homework before you go, use our scrap gold calculator to estimate the true value of your gold and if the price offered doesn't come close, hold onto your jewellery and send it in to us... We are Scrap Gold UK, a family firm with an honest price and hundreds of satisfied customers. You can sell your gold online using our online sell now form or call us directly on 0845 437 4469.

1. Scrap Gold UK are one of the original Scrap Gold Dealers - We built the band wagon!

2. We have a bricks and mortar office in the world famous Birmingham Jewellery Quarter - Just give us a call on 0845 437 4469 and we'll arrange an appointment to meet and assess your old, silver or platinum. Find our office on Google Maps.

3. We're a family company - You'll most likely deal with the same person every time you contact us!

4. We're part of Sabre Jewellery, an established jewellery manufacture with over 25 years in the industry.

5. We are honest and transparent about our price, weights and measures.

6. We have a huge loyal and well established customer history - Many of our customers have returned several times, some sending a small amount of gold initially to test the service.

7. We guarantee that if you are not entirely satisfied with our valuation, we'll send your package straight back without delay.

8. We don't do gimmicks - while our competitors are busy with expensive TV adverts, we're investing out time and effort in customer service and fair pricing.

9. We're a BJA member - The British Jewellers' Association is an industry body setup to recognise trusted and genuine companies within the jewellery industry.

10. We update our pricing daily - if not more often - so you'll always get a fair price relative to the ever changing live market value.

Use our Gold Calculator to find out how much your old forgotten or broken jewellery is worth.

That time of year is here again, Christmas is upon us... the gifts, the food, the decorations - the cost quickly mounts up! Let's face it, Christmas is expensive! But don't panic, the answer may be closer than you think - tucked away in an old jewellery box, down the back of the bedside cabinet or hidden away in that draw that everyone has in their kitchen but doesn't dare open - crammed full of old batteries, screws and long forgotten gems! Your old unwanted gold and silver jewellery may be worth more than you think and stretch a bit further than just a few Christmas presents!

Scrap Gold UK are currently paying £8.39 per gram of 9 carat gold (Price correct as of 17-DEC-2009), with the 8% refining charge deducted, you'll receive £7.72 for each and every gram of 9 carat gold you send to us to put towards the cost of Christmas - Don't leave that old watch or unworn necklace lying around, send it to Scrap Gold UK and make some real money this Christmas!

In these times of recession, with multi billion pound bank bailouts and public spending cuts looming on the horizon the subject of the once healthy British gold reserve is probably not one the Labour Government care to highlight so soon before a general election...

Between 1999 and 2002 Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer and protector of the UK purse strings, took the ill advised decision to sell more than half of the UK's total national gold reserve. At the time of sale, the gold price was languishing in an a 20 year low and provided a yield of £2.2 billion, no sooner had the deal been signed then the gold price began its steady rise. The regular, almost daily newspaper articles reporting the ongoing gold price rise must be make uncomfortable reading for Gordon Brown over breakfast as at current market value of the now mostly liquidated gold reserve would today fetch more than £8 billion... a figure that would go a long way to plugging the national debt ailing public sector spending shortfall.

If unlike Gordon Brown, you want to take advantage of the current all time high gold price and have gold or silver scrap gold jewellery to sell, use our Scrap Gold calculator to estimate the value of your gold then package it up and send to the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter based Scrap Gold UK. Not keen on selling online? Call our sales line direct on 0845 437 4469 and we'll be happy to help.

The collect consists of 5kg of gold and 2.5kg of silver comprises of weapons and helmet decorations, coins and Christian crosses and is through to be the spoils from a 7th century raiding party of warring Mercian's.

While the treasure has remained buried beneath the soil for more than 1,300 years, it's certainly not considered scrap gold!

The find was first put on display in Birmingham before a final evaluation on the find this week put its value at £3.285 million. Birmingham City council now hope to acquire the treasure to put on permanent public display and are currently raising money to complete the purchase.

The find site remains a secret as archaeologists and a specialist search team from the Home Office scour the field for further discoveries though to date nothing further has been found. Experts think the treasure was brought closer to the surface this year as the field was ploughed deeper than usual.

The very fact that Harrods have made such a move to stock such high risk and valuable items demonstrates the huge demand for gold bars and coins in the everyday shopping market and the ongoing gold price climb hasn't deterred would-be investors from buying either - indicating many people feel the price will continue to rocket for some time and that gold is the preferred secure investment for many.

Harrods have undertaken a full range of gold bars and coins, ranging from 1 gram gold bars and a selection of gold sovereign coins right through to 12.5kg gold bars with a current market value of approximately £312,531.

To say the products are available off the shelf isn't strictly true - customers will need to visit the lower ground floor Harrods Bank where a display is available behind a secure reinforced glass wall. Anyone looking to make an investment in gold should visit sister company, The Gold Bullion Company before heading over to Harrods - The Gold Bullion Company supply a wide range of gold bullion bars and coins for secure next day courier delivery direct to your door.

If you happen to have any old Scrap Gold to sell before you make your purchase, don't forget to head over to our Scrap Gold Calculator to check out how much it's worth.

Scrap Gold are one of the original on-line Scrap Gold buyers with offices in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter and thousands of satisfied customers, so it's no surprise competitors see us as their main competition!

You may have seen Google adverts with titles similar to Scrap Gold UK which when clicked deliver users to other websites - We're not going to point fingers and name specific companies but would like to stress to all customers that if you are looking for Scrap Gold UK, either search for us directly or check the web address below the advert and ensure you will be delivered to www.scrapgolduk.co.uk.

If you are unsure and would like to speak to us directly, please call Scrap Gold UK on 0845 437 4469.

Our research indicated in a high percentage of cases, customers have been testing the service with a small quantity of goal, proving our customers are aware of the potential risk involved in sending.

We would stress that all new customers that are concerned about sending away their jewellery should take reassurance that we are one of a few scrap gold dealers backed by the BJA (British Jewellery Association), we also hope that our previous customer testimonials build some confidence in dealing with us. But the most overlooked safeguard of all - We ask that you send your jewellery to us via a post office counter using the Royal Mail special delivery service. The Royal Mail will provide you with a thirteen digital tracking number so you can trace the location of your package using the Royal Mail Track and Trace Service and your parcel is insured upto £2500.

If you have any questions regarding the posting and security of your package, call Scrap Gold on 0845 437 4469.

There is a common trend for the gold price to rise this time of year thanks to the pending Indian wedding season starting in October. Gold jewellery is traditionally a very popular gift at Indian weddings, friends and family purchase gold in the weeks leading up to the October wedding season, thus driving up the gold price as the global demand increases.

Our Scrap Gold purchase price closely follows the daily UK spot price, so with this annual price surge reaching its climax in mid to late September, now is an ideal time to release the value of you scrap gold jewellery and coins.

We've handled 744 scrap gold customer enquires over the past month - our highest number to date! As the gold price makes another surge we're seeing more and more people looking to take advantage of the current high gold price and trade their unwanted and broken jewellery and coins for cash.

We believe our customers have become more net savvy and actively checking several gold buying sites to compare gold price offerings before parting with their gold and aren't easily fooled by flashy companies spending excessively on prime time TV advertising! Our customers have identified Scrap Gold UK as an honest and reliable gold buyer with a proven track record, extensive customer history (Review some of our excellent customer feedback) and highly competitive gold price.

In its varying forms and uses, gold is often reffered to in several colour extremes. The differing colours of gold are created by the varying quantities of Gold (Au), Silver (Ag), Copper (Cu) and several other elements in the alloy.

White gold is the most common coloured gold and is a composite alloy with the addition of nickel or occasionally palladium - White gold is often used for jewellery thanks to its hard wearing property.

Red, pink or rose coloured gold derives its colour from the high copper content - Rose gold is usually 18 carat gold with a 3 - 1 copper to gold content ratio.

Purple and blue gold commonly contain around 20% aluminium (purple gold) or indium (blue gold). Bluish gold is less common as its alloy partner indium lacks the strength required to make it a feasible choice for jewellery.

Grey gold is relatively uncommon and contains a mixture of alloys, most notably manganese.

A 3 - 1 ratio of silver mixed with pure gold creates what is commonly known as green gold.

The value of coloured gold is dictated by the quantity of the pure gold content (the carat value). Coloured gold is most commonly found in decorative jewellery and so will often feature other elements such as precious stones which will add to its value.

For more information about the colour of gold and the value of your coloured gold jewellery, contact Scrap Gold on 0845 437 4469.

More evidence that the demand for gold is continuing to grow, news from the Royal mint yesterday that output as of April 2009 has almost doubled to keep up with the ongoing demand.

While the price has plateaued in recent months, now is a good time for anyone sitting on old gold jewellery and coins to liquidate their much in demand asset into cash!

We are currently seeking gold bullion coins and will soon be announcing a new gold coin calculator tool for our website.

If you have gold, silver or platinum to sell, visit scrap gold and complete the "I'm ready to sell" form.

Ian Murphy from London emailed to let us know...

"Thank you Scrap Gold UK. I was very happy to receive my cheque for £867.43 after only three days as I had previously sent my gold to a well known scrap gold company advertised on TV ScrapMYgold which did not offer a price per gram on its website and offered me only £430.00 for the same package which I turned down and waited 10 days for the return of my items. I hope I will be listed on your feedback page as I will be telling all my friends to check out SCRAPGOLDUK Kind regards Ian".

We're hearing similar stories on a regular basis and have ourselves uncovered similar issues when testing our competitors services (Read Scrap gold sellers BEWARE!).

If you've had problems with a Scrap Gold buyer and are not 100% happy with the service or price you've been offered, give us a call. We're a well established Jewellers (We're part of Sabre Jewellery) from the world famous Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, we don't spend thousands on flash television commercials and newspaper adverts - we genuinely believe that the ongoing success of Scrap Gold UK is largely down to our honest and open service.

Don't forget, we're always looking for more scrap gold.

In the UK, since 1300 the law has required anyone manufacturing gold or silver metal to ensure an accurate and legible hallmark is stamped on the item to provide an instant identification of the items purity and origin. The Hallmarking Act of 1973 introduced further guideline to clarify the process of identifying the items manufacture and make-up and to introduce a structure for hallmarking platinum metals. As of January 1999, all UK manufactured gold, silver and platinum must be identified with the marker or Sponsors mark, the assay office mark and the fineness code.

British Assay Office Marks

The Original
Scrap Gold UK are a part of Sabre Jewellery, a Birmingham Jewellery Quarter based company with a long history in the jewellery industry - Highlights in our years of business include presenting HRH Prince Charles with a set of cuff-links during a visit to Sabre Jewellery. Discover more about Scrap Gold.

British Jewellers' Association member
As a full member of the BJA (British Jewellers' Association) our clients have the peace of mind from an established industry association and an independent point of contact should you have any questions regarding our service. View our BJA profile.

Hundreds of happy customers
We've purchased scrap gold from hundreds of customers and many get back in touch with feedback on their experience, read some of our customers comments.

Insured Delivery
Using Royal Mail's parcel tracking system you can take peace of mind knowing that your package is insured by Royal Mail. Track your parcel now.

Fast payment
We aim to dispatch your cheque within 48 hours of receiving your package and we'll keep you informed at every stage of the process, from receipt to dispatch - and don't forget, using your Royal Mail Special Delivery tracking code, you'll know exactly where your package is... Sell your scrap gold now.

The steady rise in the price of gold over the past decade is common knowledge, the best way to demonstrate this increase is with a visual graph charting the price January 2000 and July 2009 - a period which has seen the price per ounce rapidly accelerate by more than 200%.

Gold is a sensitive commodity which can be affected in value on a minute-by-minute basis by supply, demand and financial market activities around the world - but how is the actual daily gold price set?

The widely accepted benchmark for gold pricing is controlled by the London Bullion Market Association. Twice a day, five members of the LBMA meet and 'fix' the gold price, this generally takes place at 10:30 and 15:00 each day.

The London Bullion Market Association was formed in 1919 and consited of the five principal London gold traders of the time - Rothschild & Sons, Samuel Montagu & Co, Mocatta & Goldsmid, Pixley & Abell and Sharps Wilkins. The first price fixing was set on the 12th September 1919 and was agreed at £4.9375 per troy ounce (18 Shillings and Ninepence in old money).

The five current day members of the LBMA responsible for fixing the price of Gold are Barclays Capital (Acquired Lehman Brothers in 2008), HSBC (The world's third largest bank), Deutsche Bank (Instrumental in building the original Northern Pacific Rail road), Société Générale (Paris based French bank with operations in over 77 countries worldwide) and Scotia-Mocatta (Part of the Bank of Nova Scotia).

Although the gold price is fixed twice a day by the LBMA, the price changes almost immediately as trades are made based on the new price fix - The fixed price serves as a point of reference or benchmark for financial institutions and related gold industries.

For further information on the London Bullion Market Association visit their website at www.lbma.org.uk.

Twitter seems to be taking over the world at the moment, one tweet at a time! So it's worth a mention that you can now follow Scrap Gold UK via www.twitter.com/scrapgold and stay ahead of the crowd on all matters scrap gold!

Gold to surpass $1,000 per ounce...

In recent days, several significant sources have indicated that now may be the last opportunity to purchase gold before the price begins to surge again.

Many believe that the ongoing fiscal output by the global economy, particularly in the US, will lead to a period of increased inflation. Trends traditionally indicate that as inflation rises, so does the price of gold.

(Please note: all prices below we're correct on the 18th June 2009)

In recent weeks we have seen a number of competitors offering impressive scrap gold prices - in some cases almost above the gold trade value!

Determined to discover how our competitors are offer such unrealistic and inflated prices, Scrap Gold UK posed as a customer and signed up to complete a test transaction.

The test...

We used our professional jewellers scales to weigh two identical sample 9ct gold items, our scales gave a reading of 15.2 grams. We selected two on-line scrap gold buyers advertising what we believe to be unrealistic 9ct gold prices - £6.70 per gram - then completed their on-line forms and sent the packages off.

After a couple of days, we received a call from one of our test vendors explaining that our 9ct gold had been weighed and found to be only 14.9 grams! (May be our jewellers scales are broken!) They also claimed the 9 carat gold was in fact only 30.72% and not the 37.5% that we tested at. So... instead of the £103.85 we calculated for our gold, we received just £5.72 per gram, giving a grand total of £87! a significant difference!

The really interesting point here is that our buying price for 9ct gold on that day was approximately 15% lower than both our test vendors - with their assessment of our gold, their final purchase offer price, taking into consideration their claims that the weight was incorrect and the purity of the gold lower, was unsurprisingly approx 15% less than their advertised price!

With the gold price at its current high and with the current economic situation pushing more people to realise the value of their gold items, the number of scrap gold buyers has soared. We strongly recommend that anyone looking to sell their scrap gold look for a BJA registered company.

The BJA (British Jewellers Association) are a recognised trade body and have clear guidelines for their members to follow.

Scrap Gold UK and Sabre Jewellery are full members of the BJA and have a full BJA members profile available for review.

If you would like an honest, commission free quote for your scrap gold, complete the form on our website.

It might be a bit more than just 20p...

The London mint, responsible for minting UK pounds sterling coinage have mistakenly omitted the date from around 50,000 brand new 20 pence coins!

They have now issued a call back, offering the public £50 for each 20p coin they return missing a date.

The new 20p coin as shown below is missing the date stamp from the rear of the coin...

The error has come about because the new set of coins, including new set of £1, 50p, 20p, 10p, 5p and copper 1p and 2p coins have been created with a new design on the rear. In most cases the new coins only required a change to the rear of the coin - The 20p coins however required a redesign to both sides. The old 20p coin featured the date on the rear of the coin but with the new design this needed to be added to the front of the coin with the queen's head - Unfortunately, the Royal London Mint forgot to make the change and add the date before the first batch were coined and released to the public.

How to you claim your £50? The Royal London Mint has setup a web site to register any dateless coins at www.undated20p.com.

Similar to gold, silver uses a graded finesse value to chart the purity of the metal - These are commonly 999 for 99.9% pure silver, through 925 (92.%), 800 (80%) and 500 (50%).

Silver is denoted as Ag in the periodic table and is used in everything from jewellery and cutlery to dentisty and mirrors.

If you have silver jewellery, coins, cutlery, candlestick holders or any other silver items, use our scrap silver calculator to find out how much your silver is worth on the scrap silver market.

There is another driver in the scrap gold market - the environmental impact caused by the process of locating and extracting the raw gold alloy from the earth.

In 2005 the US geological survey estimated there is around 142 million ounces of gold resources remaining on the planet, with an average annual global mining effort of approximately 2,500 kilograms of gold.

The USA operates the largest gold mining operation, closely followed by South Africa and Australia.

Since the early days of gold mining and gold production (the process of extracting the gold alloy from the ore), harsh chemicals such as hydrogen cyanide have been used to ease the extraction of the raw gold material from the surrounding rock. Gold mining is now more chemistry than the Hollywood picture of the 'old west' gold rush portraying miners in small scale operations mining gold seams by hand.

As the demand for gold increases and the accessibility of gold and availability becomes scarcer, more advanced, scientific and chemical processes are being employed to extract the gold from the earth in ever more economic and cost effective methods. It is now estimated that modern gold mining achieves between 8 and 12 grams of gold per ton of material excavated!

Gold is now more commonly mined in vast open pits, excavating the ore using explosives and mechanical machinery feeding technologically advanced mining plants.

Environmental problems faced by gold mining include the disposal of the waste materials produced in the mining process. There are now many regulations in place to ensure that mining corporations restore the areas they mine back to their original state once mining is complete. The concern to many is who and how are these large multinational corporations - often operating in remote areas of the world - are policed.

But the largest, most alarming environmental concern is caused by the use of hydrogen cyanide to dissolve the gold alloy from the ore. Cyanide is just one of the many chemicals used and produced by the gold mining process which can potential be exposed to the surround soil and ground water causing a far reaching environment disaster.

There have been several recorded incidents; including a catastrophic event in 200 at the Baia Mare mine in Romania where thousands of cubic meters of cyanide laced waste materials were released into the local river during a winter storm. The effects were almost absolute destruction to the surrounding fish stocks, killing almost all fish in the local river. Over 2 million people had their water supplies cut to prevent human ingestion.

Further information about the history of gold mining, the modern techniques and environmental issues associated with the mining and production process, can be found on Wikipedia.

So what can I do? If you have Scrap Gold to sell, get in touch, calculate the value of your gold (or silver and platinum) and recycle your old jewellery, coins etc for cash! And if you're buying something gold - why not look for a recycled gold product.

If you have carat marked gold such as jewellery, coins or watches any would like to turn your old gold into cash, use our scrap gold calculator to get an estimated value for your gold and sell your gold.

... And don't forget, we also buy Scrap Silver and Scrap Platinum!