Five recycled gold facts-

Making the headline and advert taglines again- Recycled gold is in the news.

1)
Its not 'new' news though, or a trendy ‘greenwashing’ thing; gold is sufficiently valuable to have been consistently recycled since its discovery. Jewellers have always recycled silver and gold. 

2)
So much of the gold you see is melted down and used again. And again. It has already been many times. Melting does not destroy mass. If you melt a gram of gold you still have a gram of molten gold and when it cools it will become a gram of solid gold again, an infinite number of times without losing its properties. So it's not a problem doing just that - that ring you hate from Great Aunt Violet, broken necklaces, single earrings, plus coins, dental fillings, parts from a computer or smartphones, join all the unwanted jewellery in the melting pot. 

3)
Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest investors, says the total amount of gold in the world - the gold above ground, that is - could fit into a cube with sides of just 20m (67ft).

4)
Less than 2% of the worlds mined gold is unaccounted for - gold is valuable enough to be kept track of . 5)
In 2017 in Europe 261 tonnes of gold went into jewellery fabrication while 326 tonnes of gold were recycled. So there is enough recycled gold to create all the jewellery - it doesn’t as some gold is kept as wealth -gold bars, coins, etc. Which is a shame, as newly mined gold; ethical or otherwise, is not good for the planet. Yes that's right whilst ethical fair trade gold improves mines and mining conditions, and helps the people employed in the trade (all fabulous things) it still causes chemical waste and devastates vast areas of land.