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In
early 2008 it was reported that at least some of the gold bars in the vaults at
the National Bank of Ethiopia were fake. The discovery was made when bars
shipped from Ethiopia to South Africa were returned after they were
identified as being gilded steel.
Gilded
steel is a very unconvincing form of fake gold because the density of the
iron alloy is significantly less. A steel bar identical in volume to the
standard 400 troy ounce gold bars commonly used in bank-to-bank trades would
weigh only 162.5 troy ounces (about sixty percent lighter). Anyone familiar
with handling gold bars would easily identify them as fake.
Even
lead, a common heavy metal, is a poor substitute as it is only 59% the
density of gold. One of the things that historically made gold so attractive
to be used as money was its unmistakable density.
Nowadays
we know of several metals that have similar densities to gold, such as the
heavier platinum-group metals. However, using these metals to produce fake
gold is unprofitable due to their high cost.
There
are two metals that are suitable, from both a density and economic
perspective, for manufacturing fake gold - uranium and tungsten.
These
metals aren't without their give-aways either. Different chemical and
electro-magnetic properties exist. Uranium is of course radioactive. Tungsten
is extremely brittle - the exact opposite of gold. Additionally, tungsten has
the highest known melting point of any non-alloyed metal at 3422 degrees
Celsius, making it difficult to work with. However, it appears that at least
one high-temperature furnace is producing gilded tungsten products.
A
Chinese company called Chinatungsten is advertising imitation gold
merchandise on its website. The following quote is taken directly from their
Tungsten Alloy for Gold Substitution page:
"a
coin with a tungsten center and gold all around it could not be detected as
counterfeit by density measurement alone ... We are well accustomed to
exploit more innovative applications of tungsten products. Gold-plated
tungsten is one of our main products."
This
raises a few (somewhat rhetorical) questions. What kind of customer is this
company looking to sell its imitation gold products to and for what purposes
are they intended? Furthermore, what exactly are the "more innovative
applications of tungsten products" that this company is hinting at?
Mike Hewitt
Editor
DollarDaze.org
Also
by Mike Hewitt
Mike Hewitt is the editor of
www.DollarDaze.org, a website pertaining to commentary on the
instability of the global fiat monetary system and investment strategies on
mining companies.
Disclaimer: The
opinions expressed above are not intended to be taken as investment advice.
It is to be taken as opinion only and I encourage you to complete your own
due diligence when making an investment decision.
© 2007 DollarDaze
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