# Mint & Assay Office

In Paydirt, the Mint & Assay Office is available to assay, melt and refine gold. It can be found in-game as well as in the [Paydirt dApp](/paydirt-dapp.md). 

{% hint style="info" %}
A mint & assay office was historically the place where miners would take their day's gold haul consisting of gold dust and gold nuggets to be melted down and turned into coins or gold bars.
{% endhint %}

At the in-game Mint & Assay Office, [Gold Dust](/gold-dust.md) and [Gold Nuggets](/virtual-items/collectibles/gold-nuggets.md) or any other gold [game item](/virtual-items.md#game-items) can be melted and cast into [Gold Bars](/virtual-items/collectibles/gold-bars.md) which can in turn be used to mint [Gold Coins](/virtual-items/collectibles/gold-coins.md).\
\
On the web, the Mint & Assay Office deals with gold items in the form of [Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)](/virtual-items.md#non-fungible-token-nft). Melting gold items on the web returns [Paydirt Gold](/paydirt-gold.md).

Miners may also assay Gold Nuggets and bottles of Gold Dust to determine purity. Assaying an item updates its associated metadata so thereafter the purity is known to everyone inspecting it.\
\
When [Melting](/paydirt-gold/melting.md) [Gold Dust](/gold-dust.md) and [Gold Nuggets](/virtual-items/collectibles/gold-nuggets.md), a melt loss typically between 5-10% will occur. Melt loss is due to the oxidation, vaporization or burning off of impurities in the dust. \
\
The Mint & Assay Office charges a 2.75% fee which is based on the amount actually charged by Moffat & Co., the most popular historic private mint during the California Gold Rush.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://whitepaper.paydirt.game/mint-and-assay-office.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.