How to Melt Gold Into Bars

Melting gold into bars is a learned trade that requires a great deal of precision. There are two kinds of gold bars, cast and minted, with cast being molten gold made into a solid. Cast is the process that would most often be used by a refiner melting scrap gold into bars, something that becomes more popular and common when the price of gold rises.

Things You'll Need

• Ingot mold
• A large vat or holding pan
• Melting furnace

Instructions

Casting a Gold Bar

1. Collect all of your pure scrap gold and place it inside the vat or pan. Be sure to remove any precious stones such as diamonds or rubies before going further.

2. Place the pan inside the furnace. Always use safety precautions due to the intense heat put off by the fire inside the furnace.

3. Once the gold is liquefied, pour it into the ingot mold. The mold is in the shape of a brick, which gives you the "bar" look when cooled. Depending upon the amount of gold bars being produced, sometimes refineries add a step before the ingot mold by pouring the liquid gold into a transfer container. If you are working with small amounts, this is not necessary.

4. Allow the bar to cool by one of two methods: naturally by air or being immediately dropped into a tank of water. Either method is acceptable, although cooling by water is much faster.

5. Once its cooled, place the bar onto an inspection table and clean it using a special towel. Use caution, though: The gold bar is still not completely solid at this point.

6. Before it completely solidifies, place a mark, or stamp, into the gold bar to show when it was made and what the weight is for selling and trading purposes.