One of the most common questions we get from trade customers is “what will it actually cost me to turn my silver scrap into bars?” It’s a fair question, and the answer is more straightforward than you might expect.

At SMP Bullion, we offer a complete silver refining and bar manufacturing service at our Birmingham facility. We take your scrap, melt it, assay it, refine it to investment-grade purity, and cast it into brand new silver bullion bars. The whole process is handled in-house, using LBMA-approved grain standards and rigorous quality control, with a typical turnaround time of around two weeks.

Let’s break down exactly what it costs.

The Charges Explained

There are three costs involved in turning silver scrap into finished bars.

1. Melt and assay fee: £50 per 10kg. This covers the cost of melting your scrap down and testing it to determine the precise silver content. It’s a flat fee based on weight.

2. Refining fee: 10% of the metal value. Once we know what your scrap contains, the refining charge is calculated as 10% of the value of the recoverable silver. So if your scrap contains £5,000 worth of pure silver, the refining fee is £500.

3. Bar manufacturing fee. This is the cost of casting your refined silver into finished, stamped bars. The fee depends on the bar size:

• 1kg bar: £27 + VAT
• 500g bar: £22 + VAT
• 250g bar: £15 + VAT
• 100g bar: £7 + VAT
• 50g bar: £4 + VAT

The minimum lot size for silver refining is 5kg. The entire process, from receiving your scrap to handing back finished bars, takes approximately two weeks.

Worked Example: 5kg of 925 Sterling Silver Scrap

Let’s put real numbers on this so you can see exactly what you’d end up with and what it would cost. We’ll use a current silver spot price of approximately £1.91 per gram.

How Much Pure Silver Is in Your Scrap?

Sterling silver is 92.5% pure. So 5kg of 925 scrap contains:

5,000g x 92.5% = 4,625g of pure silver

At £1.91 per gram, that silver is worth approximately £8,834.

Refining Costs

Melt and assay fee: £50

Refining fee (10% of £8,834): £883

Total refining costs: £933 (before VAT on applicable elements)

After refining, you have 4,625g of pure, investment-grade silver ready to be cast into bars.

Option 1: 100g Bars

Number of bars: 46 bars (with 25g of silver remaining)

Bar manufacturing cost: 46 x £7 = £322 + VAT

Total cost (refining + manufacturing): £1,255 + VAT

Value per bar at spot: approximately £191

Total bar value: approximately £8,786

This gives you maximum flexibility. Forty-six individual bars means you can sell, trade, or gift in small amounts without ever having to liquidate a large holding. It’s the most divisible option and ideal if you want to release value gradually. The trade-off is that manufacturing costs are highest overall because you’re paying per bar across a large number of units. The 25g remainder can be held as refined silver and added to your next batch.

Option 2: 250g Bars

Number of bars: 18 bars (with 125g of silver remaining)

Bar manufacturing cost: 18 x £15 = £270 + VAT

You could also cast the 125g remainder as a 100g bar (£7 + VAT), leaving 25g for next time.

Total cost (refining + manufacturing): £1,210 + VAT (including one 100g bar from the remainder)

Value per 250g bar at spot: approximately £478

Total bar value: approximately £8,795 (18 x 250g + 1 x 100g + 25g)

A solid middle ground. You get a good number of bars for flexibility while keeping manufacturing costs reasonable. Each bar is a meaningful size and easy to trade, and the cost per gram of manufacturing is noticeably lower than the 100g option.

Option 3: 500g Bars

Number of bars: 9 bars (with 125g of silver remaining)

Bar manufacturing cost: 9 x £22 = £198 + VAT

Again, the 125g remainder could become a 100g bar (£7 + VAT) with 25g held over.

Total cost (refining + manufacturing): £1,138 + VAT (including one 100g bar from the remainder)

Value per 500g bar at spot: approximately £955

Total bar value: approximately £8,795 (9 x 500g + 1 x 100g + 25g)

Fewer bars, but each one carries real weight and value. Nine half-kilo bars still give you reasonable flexibility for selling individually, while keeping manufacturing costs efficient. This is a popular choice among trade customers who want something substantial without going all the way to kilo bars.

Option 4: 1kg Bars

Number of bars: 4 bars (with 625g of silver remaining)

Bar manufacturing cost: 4 x £27 = £108 + VAT

The 625g remainder could be cast as 1 x 500g bar (£22 + VAT) and 1 x 100g bar (£7 + VAT), leaving 25g held over.

Total cost (refining + manufacturing): £1,070 + VAT (including remainder bars)

Value per 1kg bar at spot: approximately £1,910

Total bar value: approximately £8,834 (4 x 1kg + 1 x 500g + 1 x 100g + 25g)

The most cost-efficient option by a clear margin. Your total manufacturing cost is the lowest of all four options, and each bar is a serious piece of silver worth close to £2,000. The 625g remainder gives you a nice bonus 500g bar and a 100g bar on top. This is the choice for customers who want to minimise making charges and are comfortable holding larger individual units.

Cost Comparison at a Glance

Here’s a summary so you can compare the total costs side by side for 5kg of 925 scrap:

• 100g bars: 46 bars, total manufacturing £322 + VAT, total all-in cost £1,255 + VAT
• 250g bars: 18 bars + 1 x 100g, total manufacturing £277 + VAT, total all-in cost £1,210 + VAT
• 500g bars: 9 bars + 1 x 100g, total manufacturing £205 + VAT, total all-in cost £1,138 + VAT
• 1kg bars: 4 bars + 1 x 500g + 1 x 100g, total manufacturing £137 + VAT, total all-in cost £1,070 + VAT

The difference between the cheapest option (1kg bars) and the most expensive (100g bars) is roughly £185. That’s the premium you pay for maximum divisibility. Whether that’s worth it depends entirely on how you plan to use the bars.

Which Size Should You Choose?

It comes down to what matters most to you.

Choose 100g bars if flexibility is your top priority. You want the ability to sell one or two bars at a time without committing a large chunk of your holding. Great for regular traders or anyone who might need to liquidate in small amounts.

Choose 250g bars if you want a balance between flexibility and efficiency. Enough bars to sell individually, but each one carries decent value. A popular all-round choice.

Choose 500g bars if you want something substantial with lower manufacturing costs. Still flexible enough to sell individually, but you’re getting much better value on the making charges.

Choose 1kg bars if you’re holding for the long term and want the lowest possible cost. These are impressive bars that stack and store easily, and the manufacturing charge per gram is the most efficient option we offer.

Or mix it up. There’s nothing stopping you from splitting your silver across multiple sizes. A couple of 1kg bars for your core holding, a few 250g bars for medium-term flexibility, and some 100g bars for quick transactions. It’s your silver, so you design the split.

A Note on Turnaround Time

The full process from receiving your scrap to handing back finished bars takes approximately two weeks. That covers the melt, assay, refining, and bar manufacturing stages. We’ll keep you updated throughout, and your metal is kept completely separate from anyone else’s at every stage.

Why Not Just Sell the Scrap?

You could, and we offer that service too. But when you sell scrap, you get the spot value minus the dealer’s margin, and you walk away with cash that immediately starts losing purchasing power to inflation.

When you convert scrap into bars, you pay the refining and manufacturing costs but you keep ownership of a tangible asset that has historically appreciated over time. With silver currently sitting at strong prices and industrial demand continuing to outstrip supply, there’s a compelling case for holding your silver in investment-grade bar form.

Think of the manufacturing cost as a one-off investment in upgrading your asset. You’re paying somewhere between £1,070 and £1,255 to turn £8,834 worth of scrap into recognised, tradeable investment bars. That’s roughly 12% to 14% of the metal value, and you keep everything.

Get Started

To use our silver refining and bar manufacturing service, you’ll need to be a registered trade customer. You can register through our website or call us on 0121 236 9844 for more information.

If you’d like a personalised quote based on your specific scrap quantity and preferred bar sizes, drop us an email at sales@smpbullionanddiamonds.co.uk and we’ll run through the numbers with you.

Minimum lot size is 5kg for silver refining. Turnaround is approximately two weeks.

Your scrap is worth more sitting in a bar than sitting in a drawer. Let’s make it happen.

All values are approximate and based on silver spot prices at time of writing (approximately £1.91/g). Actual values will depend on the silver price on the day of processing. Bar manufacturing prices are plus VAT.