Is there a way to remove gold plating from an item, I think it's made of die-cast metal but not sure.?

Gold plating is done with cyanide. If you need to same to remove, obviously this is not something you can do yourself. The idea is the finish is not supposed to come off.

Every time I put my gold silverware in bleach, it corrodes the finish. You can try it, if your item is not to valuable.

Otherwise, try sanding it my metal sandpaper and steel wool.

I am looking into the refining business, so I am looking for people like you who want to recover gold from an object. Not set up yet, but I can tell you it's not something you can do without special equipment or really nasty chemicals. You would probably have to take it to a refiner. They will charge you something the refining, and possibly a small percentage of the result.

Grandpa