The surprising rebound in gold prices this year has given new life to unwanted jewellery, coins and trinkets -- in the melting pot.
More than a third of the world's bullion supply usually comes from recycled metal, but purchases at pawn shops and cash-for-gold companies had slowed during a three-year slump in the market.
That's all changed. With prices headed for their biggest annual gain since 2010, more people are unloading old treasures, recyclers are expanding capacity and some jewellers are seeing their businesses transformed.
"We're buying more gold than we're selling now," said Mark Williams, the owner of Farringdons Jewellery, a jeweller in the Hatton Gardens gold district of London. "When there is an increase in the gold price, and when that gets reported, people go digging in their cupboards and drawers and bring out all the little items they don't want, and they bring it to us."
Almost all the gold ever mined is still around in one form or another, so recycling everything from jewellery to electronic circuit boards has been a key source of supply.
Prices remain the biggest influence on the scrap industry. When bullion tumbled as much as 45% from a record in 2011, the amount melted at refineries fell, reaching an eight-year low in 2015, World Gold Council data showed.
But in the first six months of the year, recycling is up about 10% from the same period in 2015, heading for the first annual increase since 2009.
Prices have jumped 26% in 2016, touching a two-year high of $1,375.34 an ounce in July, and had their biggest first-half rally since 1974. Bullion traded at $1,338 yesterday.
Baird & Co, which buys much of the UK's scrap gold from collectors and pawn shops, is planning a 50% expansion at its 20-tonne-a-year refining plant, which is near the London 2012 Olympic village.
"We've un-mothballed parts of our plant," Tony Dobra, an executive director, said as he stood among furnaces, vials of chemicals and shopping trolleys filled with gold at the plant.
"When prices were lower, we struggled to get enough material to meet demand. Now we're seeing double the volume we did a year ago."
There are some places where people are holding onto their old jewellery and trinkets.
In India, the world's second-largest gold buyer, supply was reported flat as low demand meant there was little old jewellery being exchanged for new.
"Our business has been very, very slow," V.K. Agarawal, a director at Shirpur Gold Refinery Ltd, said by phone from Mumbai. "We have not seen any scrap coming in the market."
However, in Dubai, refiners say scrap material from India has been a lifeline. Their flows were hit last year when India offered tax-breaks for purifying dore, semi-refined material.
The tax breaks don't apply to scrap, meaning it's profitable to export to the city-state, where premiums are higher.
"The sustained rally in gold has helped scrap volumes immensely," said Brad Yates, the head of trading for Dallas-based refiner Elemetal, where volumes are up 40% compared with a year ago.
"The physical game is all about supply right now."