Read and Learn from Our Most Popular Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners Blog Posts Published in 2022

As 2023 kicks off, we would like to share a list of the most popular, most-read posts that we have published in the last year. 

Thank you, readers, for making our blog one of the top-performing, most often-read advisories in the Precious Metal industry. 

Here are the posts you read most often.

And by the way, these are only the most popular posts we published in 2022. They aren’t the most popular posts we have ever published, which go back nearly a decade. So stay tuned because, in a few weeks, we will publish a list of our most popular posts of all time. 

Why Platinum Prices Are Poised to Surge In 2022 and Beyond (January 6, 2022)

Excerpt . . . 

“The World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) said on Wednesday the global platinum market would see a much larger surplus this year than it previously forecast and another big oversupply in 2022.”

“Platinum Market Heading for Biggest Surplus in Years: WPIC,” The Business News, November 24, 2021

If you are one of our regular readers, you know that we have often pointed out that platinum is scarce. Because it is not mined in many regions of the world, demand for it is high, and is likely to remain so . . . forever. Therefore, we have recommended investing in platinum scrap and having us reclaim the platinum it contains.

Are Collectible Coins You Buy on TV a Good Investment? (January 20, 2022)

Excerpt . . . 

“Over the last few years, my mother has spent about $500.00 to buy collectible coins she has seen advertised on television. They weren’t made by the U.S. Mint and seem to be base metal coins covered with an ultra-thin layer of gold or gold-toned metal. She is sure they are going to appreciate in value because they were advertised as rare. Should I tell her that she has made a bad investment or just wait for her to find out when she tries to sell them?”

-        James, from Columbus, Ohio

Dear James . . . 

We cannot advise you about what you should tell your mother. If she has her “collectible” coins in a display cabinet or tucked away for safekeeping and enjoys having them, then there is probably no need for you to upset her by pointing out that she made a bad investment. 

But for the rest of our blog readers, we would like to explain why the kind of coins that James is describing are not a good investment.

How Much Gold Can You Carry with You When Flying Internationally? (September 19, 2022)

Excerpt . . . 

If you’re about to fly across international borders and go through customs when you land, how much gold can you carry with you?

The Simple Answer Is . . . 

Go online and research the rules and import regulations that apply to the country where you’ll be arriving – because they differ. 

Where Can You Find Scrapped Airliners and Military Planes in the U.S.? (March 7, 2022)

Excerpt . . .  

If your precious metal recycling plans include pulling components out of scrapped airliners and military planes, you are thinking in a good way. A scrapped airplane is one of the best sources of gold, silver, and other precious metal scrap. Plus, a scrapped plane is also chock-full of copper wire, aluminum, and other base metals that can be well worth recycling, even though they don’t have the allure that precious metals have.

Looking for “Boneyards”

A “boneyard” is a junkyard that scraps airplanes. It’s a funny word, but it’s the term to use if you go looking online for the location of airplane junkyards that hold hundreds, or even thousands of planes.

Where Are Gold Prices Headed in 2022? (January 3, 2022)

Excerpt . . .

“The gold price dropped from $1,783.90 an ounce at the end of October to $1,763.90 on 3 November, as the US Federal Reserve indicated in a statement that it would `begin reducing the monthly pace of its net asset purchases by $10bn for Treasury securities and $5bn for agency mortgage-backed securities.”

“Gold Prices Forecast for 2022 and Beyond: A Buy, Hold or Sell?” by Nicole Willing, Capital.Com, December 9, 2021

Where are gold prices headed in the coming year? 

If you invest an hour poking around online, you will find that the general consensus is that investors are hoping that the trading price will rebound by about 15%. 

Will Rampant Inflation Drive the Value of Precious Metals Up or Down? (June 13, 2022)

Excerpt . . . 

Whether you have bought beef, gasoline, milk, or home appliances lately, you already know that prices are going up. Inflation is very much in the news. But what effect will it have on the trading prices of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and other precious metals? 

Other questions are probably on your mind too, including . . . 

• Is this a good time to buy gold, silver, and platinum, or have prices already risen too high

• Should you hold onto the precious metals and scrap you already own and wait for prices to rise even further before you sell them?

• Do other kinds of investments offer a better potential return right now than precious metals do?

Conspiracy Theories About Gold? Just Ignore Them (February 28, 2022)

Excerpt . . . 

Conspiracy theories seem to crop up about topics and celebrities that people find fascinating. 

• JFK? He didn’t really die . . . and conspiracy theorists know he is coming back. 

• The walk on the moon? . . . it never really happened.

• The world’s money supply? . . . it’s all controlled by a secret society that’s headquartered in Switzerland or under the Great Pyramid.

Okay, you can doubtless add more conspiracy theories to that ridiculous list. But we want to add some others of our own to it. They are all conspiracy theories, or at least crazy theories, about gold. 

They are all false, and most are crazy. But for your information, there they are anyway.

Sobering Statistics on Jewelry-Related Crimes (July 28, 2022)

Excerpt . . . 

 The 2021 Annual Crime Report published by the Jewelers’ Security Alliance, a nonprofit trade organization, is a free downloadable report that we all need to read. At least, everyone who is involved with jewelry or precious metals should download and read it. It reveals, in-depth, exactly where jewelry-related crimes are taking place. Also, it explains how many of those crimes are happening, and whether those crimes are becoming more or less frequent. 

Here Are Just a Few Statistics You Will Find in the Report

• Jewelry theft is a big business. The dollar losses from crimes against U.S. jewelry firms reported by JSA for the 20-year period 2002 to 2021 totaled $2.2 billion.

• Covid may have caused a drop in crime. The number of crimes committed against U.S. jewelry firms in 2021 was 1,687, a decrease from 1,718 in 2020. But the number of crimes in 2021 represented an increase of 17.3% from 2019, pre-Covid when there were 1438 crimes. 

• “Grab & Run” thefts in jewelry stores are on the rise. Thefts increased from 581 in 2020 to 842 in 2021, an increase of 44.9%. 

Are Earrings, Rings and Other Pieces of Jewelry Hiding in Your Drains? (May 16, 2022)

Did you just see a ring or an earring disappear down the drain in a sink, a bathtub or a shower? You know where the lost item is hiding, and now you need to retrieve it. 

And sometimes, you are not the person who lost the items. Maybe they were dropped there by a previous occupant of an apartment or a house. The bottom line is that the older a sink or a shower is, the greater the likelihood that some piece of gold, silver, or platinum jewelry will be down there awaiting your discovery. 

So, how are you going to retrieve those items? 

If You Want to Retrieve a Piece of Jewelry that Is in a Bathroom or Kitchen Sink Drain . . . 

You are going to remove the trap, a U-shaped piece of pipe that sits below the sink. Because of its shape, items that are lost in drains are almost sure to end up sitting in the lowest part of them. So in order to find that lost ring or other item of jewelry, you are going to need to remove that trap. 

What You Need to Know about Recycling Exhaust Gas Purifiers (August 15, 2022)

Excerpt . . . 

When someone mentions devices that clean exhaust gas, chances are you think, “I know what they are . . . they’re catalytic converters that are installed on cars.”

If that’s your first thought, you are correct. Catalytic converters are the most common devices used to remove pollutants and harmful gases from the exhaust. They have been used on cars and trucks in the U.S. and Canada since the mid-1970s. They are relatively simple devices that contain platinum and other screens and pellets; when exhaust gases pass through them, they effectively “clean” the exhaust and remove certain noxious gases and chemicals before it is allowed to exit from the car. If you have been reading this blog in the past, you already know that it is possible to make money by recycling catalytic converters. But you also know that the “golden age” of making money by recycling catalytic converters has come and gone. One reason is that automotive junkyards, as well as muffler shops, now have programs in place to reclaim and recycle the units before they ever fall into the hands of individual precious metal recyclers. 

But there are other kinds of exhaust gas purifiers that can be recycled profitably – varieties that you might not know about. They too can contain platinum, rhodium, and even palladium. We’ll give you a quick course on what these other kinds of exhaust gas purifiers are and how you can make money reclaiming them by having us recycle them for you. 

Keep Reading Our Blog to Be Sure 2023 Will Be Your Most Profitable Year Ever in Precious Metals!

Don’t forget to call our precious metal consultants with all your questions about investing in precious metals! Our number is 800-426-2344 and our experts are here for you!