Self-contained assay facility in an aircraft and method of using same to procure and assay precious metals

A self-contained assay facility in a fixed wing or rotary wing aircraft, comprising:

• a) an aircraft suitable for containing all tools and equipment required to melt/smelt and assay precious metals, said aircraft being adapted to allow a seller of precious metals to observe the melting and assaying processes;
• b) a scale disposed within said aircraft and positioned within view of said seller, said scale being adapted to output a signal representative of a weight of an object weighed thereupon;
• c) a furnace disposed in said aircraft adapted to melt/smelt precious metal received from said seller, said furnace disposed within view of said seller and adapted to melt said precious metal to produce an ingot;
• d) an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) alloy analyzer disposed in said aircraft within view of said seller and adapted to analyze said melted ingot and to record and display the results of an analysis thereof;
• e) means for determining a current market price of at least one precious metal present in said ingot, said means for determining being disposed proximate said aircraft;
• f) a computer disposed within said aircraft and adapted to receive at least said signal representative of a weight of an object weighed received from said scale, an output recorded by said XRF analyzer, said determined current market price of said particular precious metal of interest and adapted to perform at least a calculation of the market value of said precious metal component of said ingot;
• and
• g) a printer disposed within said aircraft and operatively connected to said computer and adapted to print at least the result of said calculation.