How do jewellers capture every last particle of gold dust? (2017)
Workshop practices and dust capture
- Jewelers typically do not use sealed gloveboxes: intricate handwork, magnification, frequent torch use, and hazardous chemicals (sulfuric acid, cyanide fumes, ammonia baths) make full enclosure and gloves impractical and unsafe.
- Instead they rely on:
- Local suction at polishing stations and other dust sources.
- Leather aprons and carpets to trap fine dust; carpets and sticky door mats are periodically destroyed and refined.
- Collection of emery paper, polishing wheels, filters, doormats, and even floorboards for incineration and metal recovery.
- Specialized CNC and laser systems sometimes operate in enclosed, filtered environments, with controlled access to swarf bins.
Urban and secondary “mining”
- Stories of sweeping floors and sidewalks in jewelry districts (NYC, Karachi, London, India) and extracting gold or gem dust recur.
- Some examples and videos are praised as educational; others are criticized as marketing stunts selling “paydirt” or unrealistic dreams.
- Similar reclamation is reported for silver (e.g., film processing, even shower wastewater) and platinum-group metals from roadside dust.
- Commenters note landfill and old buildings may eventually be mined for concentrated metals.
Economics of scrap and resale
- Tiny scraps from ring resizing are low-value per job, but worth aggregating; some advise customers to request their own scrap, others see that as not worth the hassle.
- Dental labs and refiners report significant decade-scale payouts from burning carpets, but per-day value is small.
- Second-hand jewelry and stones have poor resale value; dealers often pay ~70% of gold spot for “salvage,” far less for stones and especially gold teeth.
- Many retail jewelry prices are driven more by brand, design, and sentiment than metal or gem content.
Health, materials, and side discussions
- Gold dust inhalation is noted; gold is described as largely biochemically inert, but actual health impacts are unclear in the thread.
- There is brief exploration of e‑waste recovery (gold, gallium, indium) and the idea that future cheap energy might enable large-scale elemental separation.
- Tangents include Manhattan Project silver loans and detailed debates over tons/tonnes and SI units.