{"id":419208,"date":"2011-05-06T21:37:11","date_gmt":"2011-05-06T21:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/06\/gold-recycler-makes-a-mint\/"},"modified":"2011-05-06T21:37:11","modified_gmt":"2011-05-06T21:37:11","slug":"gold-recycler-makes-a-mint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/gold-recycler-makes-a-mint\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold recycler makes a mint"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"133.391902215\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.cdn.turner.com\/money\/2011\/05\/03\/smallbusiness\/gold_silver_prices_American_Recycling_Associates\/ara-smelting.top.jpg\" alt=\"ara-smelting.top.jpg\" width=\"475\" height=\"307\" border=\"0\" class=\"cnnstoryImageFull\" \/><span><strong>Recyclers can make a mint, buying scrap gold &#8212; often old jewelry &#8212; turning it into pure gold bars and reselling it at market prices.<\/strong><\/span><span id=\"fb-recommend\"\/> <span>By <a href=\"mailto:catherine.clifford@turner.com\">Catherine Clifford<\/a>, staff reporter<\/span><span>May 6, 2011: 5:37 PM ET<\/span><\/p>\n<p>NEW YORK (CNNMoney) &#8212; For Don Kilgore, the road to riches is paved in gold and a little silver, too.<\/p>\n<p>The co-owner of Dallas-based American Recycling Associates, which recycles precious metals, has seen his profits swell because of surging gold and silver prices in the last few years.<\/p>\n<p>Even though gold and silver prices have fluctuated recently, the company is still doing well, said Kilgore, adding, &#8220;we are swamped every day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Gold and <a href=\"http:\/\/finance.fortune.cnn.com\/2011\/05\/04\/silver-canary-in-the-commodity-coalmine\/\">silver prices,<\/a> which closed Tuesday at $1,540.40 an ounce and $42.59 an ounce have declined in the last week.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, American Recycling Associates (ARA) has still been making a mint. In the last three years, Kilgore has gone to 14 employees from three in just 3 years, renovated an existing lab and completed construction on a second one last week.<\/p>\n<p>His good fortune is not surprising. The entire precious metals industry &#8212; which includes miners, recyclers, refiners and smelters &#8212; is benefiting as gold and silver values soar, said Carlos Sanchez, a precious metals analyst at CPM Group.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the company makes money:<\/strong> Each year, ARA buys tons of scrap gold and silver from jewelers, pawn brokers or &#8220;cash-for-gold&#8221; operations.<\/p>\n<p>The company pays between 98% or 99% of the market value for the jewelry, processes it, and then resells the pure gold and silver at market prices.<\/p>\n<p>The profit margins are razor thin, so ARA must process huge amounts of precious metals. &#8220;The amount that we deal with is pretty massive, which is why we do not deal with the public,&#8221; said Kilgore.<\/p>\n<p>Once the company gets the jewelry, it recycles or &#8220;refines&#8221; it in its labs. The precious metals are melted down; stones and impurities are removed, and pure gold and silver bars are created.<\/p>\n<p>Those bars are then sold to commodity firms, jewelry manufacturers and even the government at current market prices.<\/p>\n<p>ARA also makes money keeping any extra silver that it finds when processing gold jewelry. Most gold jewelry has a little silver in it, explains Kilgore, adding that the company keeps that silver as a part of its fee.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Soaring gold and silver prices:<\/strong> Lately, ARA has been able to process more precious metals, thanks to appreciating gold and silver values.<\/p>\n<p>Cash-strapped consumers are enticed to sell their gold jewelry while the price is high. &#8220;With the recession having passed and many people having lost their jobs, selling gold for cash has been a way to generate some type of income stream,&#8221; said Sanchez.<\/p>\n<p>Gold prices have climbed steadily for the past 10 years; while silver prices have stayed steady for much of the decade.<\/p>\n<p>Prices for the yellow metal began surging several years ago; while prices for silver really took off in the last year. Investors &#8212; spooked by war, inflation, the burgeoning U.S. deficit and a weakening dollar &#8212; tend to put their cash in the precious metals, because they are viewed as safe havens.<\/p>\n<p>Prices have also gone up because investors don&#8217;t want to be left out. &#8220;It is a bull market, and many investors want to get in on a rising-prices trend,&#8221; said Sanchez.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the slight correction in gold and silver prices, Kilgore said he is optimistic about his company&#8217;s future.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We expect the prices to rise again,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Kilgore added that he also expects his company to do well going forward. &#8220;I have seen more silver come in now more than ever,&#8221; said Kilgore. &#8220;Most people have always held onto their silver.&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2011\/05\/03\/smallbusiness\/gold_silver_prices_American_Recycling_Associates\/index.htm?section=money_topstories&#038;utm_source=feedburner&#038;utm_medium=feed&#038;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29#TOP\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i.cdn.turner.com\/money\/images\/bug.gif\" alt=\"To top of page\" border=\"0\" width=\"7\" height=\"7\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div readability=\"6.68852459016\">To write a note to the editor about this article, <a href=\"javascript:openWindowEmail('smallbiz@cnnmoney.com');\">click here<\/a>.<\/div>\n<p>First Published: May 4, 2011: 3:30 PM ET<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Go here to see the original:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/rss.cnn.com\/~r\/rss\/money_topstories\/~3\/pS7Gxlo8ydE\/index.htm\" title=\"Gold recycler makes a mint\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gold recycler makes a mint<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Recyclers can make a mint, buying scrap gold &#8212; often old jewelry &#8212; turning it into pure gold bars and reselling it at market prices. By Catherine Clifford , staff reporter May 6, 2011: 5:37 PM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney) &#8212; For Don Kilgore, the road to riches is paved in gold and a little silver, too<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-419208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Gold recycler makes a mint - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/gold-recycler-makes-a-mint\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Gold recycler makes a mint - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Recyclers can make a mint, buying scrap gold -- often old jewelry -- turning it into pure gold bars and reselling it at market prices. 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