For assayers and others working with precious metals, one of the long-standing issues with determining gold content has been the damage to the item being tested. This is because the traditional method used to determine gold content, called fire assaying (aka cupellation) requires the use of acids in the testing.

To help reduce the need for fire assaying, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) testing has grown to become a common and trusted alternative method which is used in many industries and professions today. And XRF analysis works not only for gold but also for any precious metal used for decorative or functional plating, such as silver or platinum.

How precious is your precious metal to you? With the large variety of models on the market today, the hardest part of assaying and refining metals should be just deciding which instrument is right for you.

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