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6 results for “metal detecting finds” in Industry
Industry · 2 July 2026
Nine Nines: Inside a Modern Gold Refinery
…s, aqua regia, an electrolytic cell and a chain of custody that is now as valuable as the metal itself. · Refining is two-stage: fast chlorination to ~99.5%, then electrolysis to 99.99% and above. · Fire assay, a technique older than the periodic table, remains the referee method…
Tomas Herrera · 12 min read
Industry · 4 August 2026
The Gold Inside Your Phone
…mps connecting silicon dies to their packages. At typical prices that is a few dollars of metal — negligible per unit, substantial across a billion units. · Why use gold instead of cheaper copper? Copper is a better conductor and far cheaper, and it is used wherever a connection…
Tomas Herrera · 15 min read
Industry · 6 August 2026
The Scrap Trade
…a chain of intermediaries that most sellers never see past the first counter. · Recycled metal typically supplies around a quarter to a third of annual gold demand, and its volume responds to price faster than mine output can. · Scrap is priced off spot, adjusted for assayed fin…
Ingrid Sørensen · 15 min read
Industry · 28 July 2026
Urban Mining: The Richest Gold Ore on Earth Is in Your Old Phone
…arily concentrated by mining standards. · The bottleneck is collection and logistics, not metallurgy; the chemistry has been solved for decades. · Informal backyard recovery captures a fraction of the gold while releasing the most toxic residues. · Recycled metal already supplies…
Tomas Herrera · 13 min read
Industry · 7 August 2026
How Fake Gold Is Detected
…ost tens of microns, so a plated or shelled fake reads as pure gold. XRF is excellent for detecting alloy fraud in jewellery and for confirming surface fineness; it is structurally incapable of seeing a core. · What does ultrasonic testing actually measure? The speed of sound thr…
Tomas Herrera · 15 min read
Industry · 7 August 2026
After the Cyanide
…ide degrades in sunlit water over weeks; the durable hazards at a closed mine are usually metals and acidity, not the reagent itself. · Acid mine drainage generates when sulphide minerals meet air and water, and can run for centuries without intervention. · Upstream-raised tailin…
Tomas Herrera · 17 min read
