Old gold jewelry can save lives as a lead wire in a pacemaker: the precious metal can also be kept in the material cycle through recycling.
The gold industry in Germany works almost exclusively with recycled material. This clearly distinguishes it from the world market, where the recycling share is around one third, according to the precious metals trade association based in Pforzheim.
“This means that the gold produced in this country comes almost 100 percent from recycling, with the exception of co-products from copper ores,” said York Tetzlaff, Managing Director of the German Press Agency.
This has to do with the fact that Germany is a country with few raw materials and there are no quality differences between mined gold and recycled gold. Precious metals can be melted down and reused as often as you like. There is also the sustainability aspect. According to Tetzlaff, studies show that recycled gold has a carbon footprint that is 1000 times lower than material from mines.
“A few years ago there was still the attitude that recycling did not go well with the emotional factor of gold,” said the expert. But with the change in the fashion industry, something has also happened in the gold sector: the European jewelry industry, for example, is increasingly relying on sustainable production through so-called recycling and upcycling of old gold, and some jewelers also offer special product lines with so-called fair trade gold.
Fairtrade Gold
But how serious is such information? Tetzlaff emphasized that the local refineries have been certified several times. Independent auditors check compliance with the requirements every year. And in 2021, an EU regulation on the responsible procurement of raw materials came into force, which deals, among other things, with the protection of human rights, the rejection of criminal activities and environmental protection. However, the industry is still waiting for Brussels to officially recognize the corresponding certification initiatives as planned.
Tetzlaff sees greater risks in complying with environmental and social standards, especially in small-scale mining, from which around ten percent of the world’s primary gold came. In the Arab and Asian region, for example, people often don’t pay so much attention to sustainable supply chains. He admitted that such gold can come to Germany via detours. “Unfortunately, that cannot be completely ruled out.”
The way of gold
Michael Reckort sees it more critically. He is a raw materials expert at the PowerShift association, which is committed to an ecological, solidarity-based energy and global economy. “Unfortunately, as a consumer, you have little chance of tracking where the raw materials in end products – be it IT or jewelry – come from.” An exception is certified Fairtrade gold, since there are usually short supply chains and direct supply relationships. “Otherwise only companies know – partially – their supply chains.” Following the path of gold remains very difficult. Again and again there are reports of gold from problematic mines. According to Reckort, certificates increase credibility. But it is always necessary to ask what was certified and who was surveyed.
The EU Conflict Minerals Regulation also has weaknesses such as threshold values above which importers first have to prove their duty of care. Nor does it target processed products containing these raw materials and manufactured outside the EU.
recycling
Gold has been recycled since time immemorial. “More than 90 percent of the gold that has ever been mined in human history is still in circulation,” said Tetzlaff. Scrap gold, for example from jewellery, medals and coins, accounts for 90 percent of all recycled gold worldwide. The rest come from industry. According to the expert, there is an average of 30 milligrams in a mobile phone alone.
A spokeswoman for the ESG Scheideanstalt in Rheinstetten, which specializes in the purchase, recycling and sale of precious metals, explained: “More and more gold is being processed in the electrical industry. Device lifecycles are getting shorter, so more and more gold is being recovered from electronic scrap.” In the case of dental gold, on the other hand, it is noticeable that gold crowns have hardly been used for years. It’s different with jewelry: “In the 70s and 80s, large quantities of gold jewelry were bought in Germany and given away for birthdays and festivals such as Christmas,” she said. “Since then, this jewelery has been kept, passed on or inherited and turned into money when the gold price was good.”
According to Tetzlaff, the scrap gold that is delivered is melted in German refineries and first precisely analyzed, then “separated” using chemical processes with a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acid, known as aqua regia. It is then converted back into its purest metallic form, resulting in fine gold with the highest purity of 99.99 percent. Because gold is usually combined with other materials such as silver, copper and zinc or occurs in alloys, this is a highly complex process. With special analysis methods to determine the metallic components and impurities contained, one can even check whether there are indications of the origin of the gold from certain mines.
When it comes to recycling, it doesn’t matter whether the gold was originally in a printed circuit board or as a ring on your finger: “Gold is gold. And through the gold cycle, old gold gets a new life,” said Tetzlaff. The spectrum of buyers is also broad and ranges from the jewelry industry to private investors and central banks to manufacturers of dental products. “In times of negative interest rates and inflation, many customers invest in precious metals,” said the ESG spokeswoman. In the case of investment gold such as bars and coins, the quantities offered and demanded have been increasing for years.
Supply and demand fluctuate mainly depending on the price of gold. You can feel that in recycling, too, as Tetzlaff said: “When the price of gold is low, the incentive isn’t that great to part with a piece of jewelry and sell it as scrap gold.”
Recently, the price of gold had continued to rise, also because of the Ukraine war. In March it even temporarily approached its record high from August 2020 – at that time a troy ounce (around 31.1 grams) cost around 2075 dollars. But then he sank again. On Thursday afternoon it was at 1969 dollars on the London Stock Exchange.