Convert Ton (Assay) (UK) (AT (UK)) to Ton (Assay) (US) (AT (US)) instantly.
About these units
Ton (Assay) (UK) (AT (UK))
The UK assay ton, slightly different from the US version, is defined as 32.666 grams. Like its American counterpart, it was designed so that milligram-level assay results could be easily interpreted as ounces of metal per ton of ore. In British mining operations of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the UK assay ton streamlined economic decision-making by directly correlating lab-scale measurements with bulk extraction expectations. Although now historical, its existence illustrates how different countries tailored their measurement systems to local mining economics and metal markets.
Ton (Assay) (US) (AT (US))
The US assay ton is a specialized unit used in mining and metallurgy for evaluating ore grades. It is defined as 29.166⅔ grams, a very small mass chosen to simplify calculations relating assay results to tons of ore. The idea is that if an assay ton of sample yields 1 milligram of precious metal, then one actual ton of ore contains 1 ounce of that metal. This scaling makes laboratory results directly translatable to mining yields. While obsolete in modern industrial practice, where metric units dominate, the assay ton remains important in historical mining records and for researchers studying early industrial metallurgy.