Due to our production backlog and computer conversion, stock items are currently not eligible for same-day shipping. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding during this time. Stock items will ship within three business days until further notice. Please note that estimated delivery dates are running about a week behind schedule, but we are catching up week by week. Thank you for your patience and continued support.

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our green refinery

We are the Greenest Refiner in the USA!

Post-Consumer Recycled Scrap Our principal supply of fine precious metals comes from our on-site green refinery, where we only purchase scrap from the United States, Canada and Mexico, giving us a supply of 100% recycled precious metals. This post-consumer recycled scrap is predominantly in the form of unwanted or broken jewelry, jewelry processing scrap and dental scrap.

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Our Green Processes

Hoover & Strong guarantees that it processes, handles, stores and ships all hazardous material with procedures that meet or exceed federal, state and local environmental regulations.

In the Refining Division: • Our refining processes use 80% less chemicals than standard refining techniques. • Our water treatment facility assures that no waste water is discharged into the environment. • We maintain four large fume scrubbers to clean our emissions. • All cooling water for our refining melting furnaces is provided by a fully recycled, no-loss water cooling system.

In the Mill and Jewelry Division: • All clean manufacturing scrap from our operation is re-melted. • Floor sweeps, sink sludge and mixed scrap are all refined. • Cooling water from casting and melting is re-circulated within the plant. • All copper and brass is recycled from the tool and die department.

Utilizing these processes has allowed us to become the greenest precious metal refinery in the USA.

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Shipment Arrival

The moment your scrap shipment is weighed in at our refining division, it is entered into our computerized refining flow system. The shipment is checked and double-checked through every step of the refining process. Each lot, regardless of size, receives the same careful attention to ensure you a maximum return.

If there is a weight discrepancy between your stated weight and our scales, you are called before the scrap continues through our system.

Our refining coordinator then records a description of the scrap and a karat estimate. The scrap then moves to our melting department.

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Melting

Clean scrap (karat gold, sterling silver, etc) is mixed with a special flux and then melted. The flux makes the melt more fluid and homogeneous and then a pin sample is taken for fire assay.

The melt is then poured into a mold, the metal settles to the bottom and the slag created by the flux remains on top taking some of the non-metallic impurities with it.

After melting, the bars are returned to the vault to be weighed and a sample is taken from each side. The bullion remains in the vault until you have been paid for your scrap.

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Assay

After your bullion has been weighed, the sample is fire assayed in duplicate to determine the precious metal content of the refining shipment.

The assay lab does a miniature refining process on multiple samples to determine the precious metal content.

The bullion karat is actually determined by the percentage of fine gold remaining following the assay process. The results of the assays must agree. If they do not, the bar is remelted to ensure that it is homogeneous and then resampled and reassayed.

We use XRF or Fire Assay to recover the highest possible amount of gold, silver, platinum and palladium from your scrap material.

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Sweeps

Sweeps require more involved processing than clean scrap. It would be impractical to melt down a sweep because of its large volume and low grade gold content.

The sweep is first burned at a low heat to incinerate the combustible material. It is then milled into a fine powder and sifted. By producing a fine blended powder, the sweep is made homogeneous. A representative sample is taken and assayed to determine the fine gold content.

Standard lead times on sweeps is 7-10 days.

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Refining to Fine Gold

After the assay process, we determine the value of the scrap shipment and pay you, our customer. The metal is then ready for refining into its precious components.

Bullions are melted in a furnace and chlorine gas is bubbled through the liquid metal. This converts silver and base metals into solid chlorides. The remaining liquid metal is at least 98% pure gold. It is cast into anodes and electrolytically refined in a gold-based solution. Fine or 24k (.999) gold is plated onto the cathode, while platinum and palladium are later recovered.

Increasing our capacity and throughput saves us money by reducing the time the gold spends in “limbo.” We pass these savings on to you, helping us maintain competitive pricing.

Our refining processes use 80% less chemicals than standard refining techniques and our water treatment facility assures that no waste water is discharged into the environment. We maintain four large fume scrubbers to clean our emissions. Utilizing these processes has allowed us to become the greenest precious metal refinery in the USA.

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Refining to Fine Platinum

Hoover & Strong is the only secondary, independent refinery in the United States that refines Platinum and Palladium!

The platinum or palladium to be refined is processed into a suitable form and placed inside the columns where it undergoes a digestion process.

Once the platinum or palladium have digested, the remaining liquid is the secondary process in retrieving the fine metals.

The overall process recovers metal and generates 60% less acid waste per ounce recovered. These financial gains can again be passed on to you, the customer, by keeping our charges low and competitive.

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Our Comittment to Security

Hoover and Strong is committed to safeguarding the precious metals entrusted to us. Our Refining Division is an isolated wing with access limited to refining employees. All incoming packages are delivered to the wing where they are logged into the refining flow system.

The packages are then taken to our vault where they are opened under security’s surveillance. Hoover and Strong’s security exceeds the industry standard. We do this for our peace of mind, as well as yours, our refining customer.

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< BACK TO REFINING < BACK TO HARMONY

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We believe in a responsible and transparent supply chain and do our part to offer products that live up to these values. We offer both recycled materials and responsibly sourced, newly mined materials so you can choose what fits best with your business objectives.