Flakes are what most panning actually produces, and they are worth real money — we pay 90% of your lot’s tested gold content. Not an assumed purity, and not a percentage of a number nobody explains.
Fine gold prices close to its metal value because that is genuinely what it is worth: it competes with refined bullion rather than with collector pieces. What separates a fair offer from a poor one at this grade is not the headline percentage — it is whether the purity behind it was tested or guessed.
Preset for flakes. No email, no phone number.
A troy ounce is 31.1 g, a pennyweight is 1.56 g.
Based on typical purity for Alaska (82–93% gold). Drag the slider if you know yours and this tightens up.
Estimate only, at $4,101/oz gold. Your firm offer comes after we weigh and test the actual lot, and you are free to decline it.
This matters more for fine gold than for anything else, because black sand and fine gold are hard to separate and easy to weigh together by accident.
If your material still has concentrates in it, say so when you send it — we handle the separation on camera as part of intake rather than turning the lot away. Full cleaning guide →
The trade sorts fine gold by mesh — the screen size it passes through. Confusingly, a higher mesh number means smaller gold, because it counts openings per inch.
What we pay
Fine material that sifts straight through a 40 mesh screen. It sells by weight, so the rate tracks refinery pricing closely.
The classic panning result. Jewelers and hobbyists both want it, which lifts the rate above plain melt value.
Big enough to pick up one at a time. Collectors buy these by the piece, so they earn very close to full metal value.
Sold whole to collectors and never melted. That is exactly why the rate clears 100% of the gold content.
A gram of flakes at 89% purity holds about 0.89 g of pure gold, so its metal value is 89% of the current gold price per gram. Flakes trade close to that — there is a modest premium because jewelers and hobbyists buy flakes for their own use, but nothing like the premium a nugget carries. The calculator prices your weight at the live gold price.
Yes, and it is worth the effort. Magnetite is heavy and no buyer pays for it, so leaving it in just inflates your scale reading and creates an argument later. A magnet removes most of it in minutes.
Size, and it is measured by mesh. Dust passes through a 40 mesh screen and looks like flour. Flakes are caught by that screen — individually visible, roughly 20 to 40 mesh. Flakes pay slightly better because more of the market wants them intact.
Yes. Fine gold is worth its gold content, which at current prices is meaningful even in small amounts — a few grams of flakes is a few hundred dollars. The mistake is paying to refine it separately when it can be sold as-is.
Free insured shipping both ways, weighed and graded on camera, no obligation.
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