Pan gold and nuggets anyone?
 

I had a phone call from someone who is looking to sell a quantity of pan gold with some nuggets.

I primarily purchase used jewelry for melt and was wondering if I should be offering a premium for decent size nuggets.

Anyone here have any experience with reselling nuggets? Are they worth any more than gold melt?

TIA.

Re: Pan gold and nuggets anyone?
 

They are "if" you know someone who makes jewelry, but till you set up a market to resell I wouldn't touch them for more than melt.
I also think that as gold goes higher the premium will go lower- for instance say 1/2oz nugget pendent is worth say $1K today, next year "if" gold spot is at $5K think that 1/2oz pendant will be worth 10K? I don't. HH Mark

Re: Pan gold and nuggets anyone?
 

I only did a little research on this topic, but from what I gathered, most nuggets were around 80% pure as a general rule (had quartz, zinc, and other metals mixed in). I am sure others on GIM could expound on this further than I. Anyway, I concluded that it was a little risky unless you had good testing equipment to insure purity/content. The people you sell it to will certainly be testing it thoroughly, so you really need to be sure what you are paying for. People like midwest refineries typically pay between 90%-95% of spot, so you need to budget in the refining cost. As an example, if a guy has a 1/2 ounce nugget, and spot is $1000, this would be the calculation:

.5x1000 (spot)=500

then

500x.8 (purity)=400

then

400x.90 (10% refining/shipping cost)=360

so at $360 you would be just breaking even on that 1/2 ounce nugget. I would say you would want to pay around $300-$325 for that nugget to make a couple of bucks (as you need to subsidize the business). At $300, you are getting 20%, but 10% goes to general overhead (taxes on Midwest transactions, equipment, etc...), so you have a 10% (profit) margin. You can go to $325 on that nugget, but then your margins are lower. Most prospectors I know go direct to Midwest Refineries. After all, why pay a middleman as you can save 10% by not doing so??? The only reason I can think of is that they don't want a paper trail leading to their door.

Just thought I would post what I had found out about it. I could not speak to jewelry vendors/demand.


Regards

Re: Pan gold and nuggets anyone?
 

Thanks Mark.

This is for quick buy and melt, unless I see some larger pieces. At what size would they be worth saving from melt?

As far as a refiner, the people who own this just have a one time sale of an estate claim and have contacted me. They know nothing about the industry. I will turn around and sell it to a refiner if I get it.

I have acid tests, good scales and a couple GT3000's here for testing, so I am not concerned about the purity.

Re: Pan gold and nuggets anyone?
 

Decent size nuggets are rare; more diamonds are found then gold nuggets, and virtually all nuggets found before 1990 were melted for their gold content. Pre-1990 there was no particular appreciation for the rareness and uniqueness of a gold nugget.

Nuggets are worth more in their natural form. I would NOT melt them but rather develop a market. If they are large enough to serve as a pendant, they are worth about 3 x melt. A "picture" nugget (has the shape of something desirable i.e. a dog, ghost, tree, letter of the alphabet, etc.) is generally worth about 4 x melt but can sell for much higher depending on how much money somebody has and how bad they want that particular nugget.

Gold in different geological areas varies in purity. As I recollect the gold in VA, NC, SC, GA , and East-central AL generally assays out at about 22-23 Kt which is very high quality natural gold.

Re: Pan gold and nuggets anyone?
 

Thanks for your help all.

I am expecting them in this week and will post if I find anything interesting.

Re: Pan gold and nuggets anyone?
 

Pictures are always fun to look at too. I have a golddredger friend in CA that went to school to learn how to make jewelry. He takes small nuggets 1/10th inch and bigger and inlays them in rings, watches, etc...
HH Mark

Re: Pan gold and nuggets anyone?
 

http://www.akmining.com/mine/nug01.jpg

i had to look it up.

294.1 troy ounces, that one in the picture.

"#1 The Alaska Centennial Nugget - 294.10 Troy Ounces
The largest gold nugget ever found in Alaska. It was found near Ruby, Alaska in 1998 by miner Barry Clay as he operated his bulldozer. The nugget rolled off the pile of dirt ahead of the bulldozer blade. This nugget was sold and the current location is unknown."