Refining
Services / Refining
Precious metal refining
Recover value from your workshop scrap and waste.
Precious metals can be found in more than finished jewellery. Filings, polishing residues, workshop sweeps and sink trap sludge can all contain metal worth recovering.
CPM refines a range of materials containing gold, silver, platinum and palladium. Explore the categories below for descriptions and turnaround times, and contact our team if you need help identifying your material.
Materials we refine
Bench Sweeps
Bench sweeps are the fine dust, filings, small offcuts and residues collected from a jeweller’s workstation during filing, grinding, setting and polishing. They may also contain sandpaper, saw blades, cotton wool and small pieces of slag.
These materials can hold valuable traces of gold, silver, platinum and palladium. Collecting and keeping them separate from floor sweeps helps CPM assess and process your material appropriately.
Refining turnaround time: 3-5 working days.
Transit time to our Cape Town refinery is excluded.
Carpets
Carpets used beneath jewellers’ benches, polishing stations and casting areas can collect fine precious metal particles during daily workshop activity.
Although carpets are a lower-grade refining material, they can contain recoverable traces of precious metals. Processing takes longer because the metal must be separated from the surrounding material.
Refining turnaround time: 15-20 working days.
Transit time to our Cape Town refinery is excluded. Please allow additional processing time for very large jobs.
Clean Filings
Clean Filings, described here as clean bench filings, are metal particles collected directly from a jeweller’s bench without contaminants such as sandpaper grit, saw blades or tissue.
Keeping these filings separate from mixed workshop waste reduces the amount of preparation needed before refining. This category includes clean filings of gold, silver, platinum and palladium.
Refining turnaround time: 2-3 working days.
Transit time to our Cape Town refinery is excluded.
Floor Sweeps
Floor sweeps are mixed materials collected from workshop floors, beneath benches and from vacuum systems. They can include dust, sandpaper, tissue, polishing wheels, cotton waste and plastics.
Precious metal particles can remain within this mixture, even when its metal content is low. Floor sweeps require more involved processing and should be collected separately from bench sweeps and clean filings.
Refining turnaround time: 15 working days.
Transit time to our Cape Town refinery is excluded.
Polishings
Polishings are the dark residues collected from the socks or filters of polishing machines. They contain fine metal particles removed during the finishing of jewellery and other precious metal items.
These residues can be a valuable source of recoverable metal. Keep polishings separate from other workshop waste so that they can be assessed and processed as their own refining category.
Refining turnaround time: 10 working days.
Transit time to our Cape Town refinery is excluded.
Sludge
Sludge is the thick, black, mud-like material collected from sink traps and drainage systems. It can contain precious metal particles lost during polishing, cleaning, casting and rinsing processes.
Although sludge can be challenging to process, it holds recoverable quantities of gold, silver, platinum and palladium. Specialist treatment is required to separate these precious metals from the surrounding residue.
Refining turnaround time: 15 working days.
Transit time to our Cape Town refinery is excluded.
CPM offers packaged Sink Trap systems that can be installed easily and quickly.
Don’t wash your hands or any dishes or foodstuffs in the basin that your sinktrap is fixed to.
The fine metals stick to the soapy, oily and greasy residue which floats on top, and will eventually be flushed down the sink trap system’s filters.
Solids
Solids include scrap and unwanted jewellery, investment bars, casting buttons and metal offcuts. Examples include broken chains, miscast items and clean ingots.
These materials generally have a higher metal content and require less preparation than mixed workshop waste. CPM assesses their precious metal content before refining.
Refining turnaround time: 1-2 days for payment on assay; otherwise 3 days.
Please contact our team to confirm the applicable turnaround and payment arrangements for your parcel.
Before you send your material
Keep different material types separate, label your parcels clearly and check the applicable minimum quantities with our team before
submitting them.
Please remove all precious stones before sending material for refining. CPM does not sort or remove stones.
We do not refine plating solutions, silver nitrate, mercury, computer parts, stainless steel, amalgam or underfelts.
If you are unsure whether your material is suitable, contact us before sending it.
Free refining containers
Keep your workshop waste and scrap organised as you collect it. Ask our team about CPM’s free refining containers and which containers are suitable for your material.