What makes so devious is a real gold bar is purchased with the serial numbers and papers, then it is hollowed out, the gold is sold, the tungsten is put in, then the bar is closed up. That is a sophisticated operation. sourceZero Hedge
Tungsten-Filled 10 Oz Gold Bar Found In The Middle Of Manhattan's Jewelry District
Submitted by Tyler Durden
It's going to be most amusing watching these gold bugs crying into their beer once they realise that gold has been fractionally sold.
ReplyDeleteYou have a token until you have the physical gold in your possession and it has been checked all the way through to the middle for consistency and purity.
Only then do you have a metal asset.
Good one Tom,
ReplyDeleteSounds like "trouble in paradise" for the gold-lovers for sure...
This is interesting from the article: "The bar was filled with tungsten, which weighs nearly the same as gold but costs just over a dollar an ounce."
And seems plentiful: "China produced 51,000 tonnes of tungsten concentrate in 2009, which was 83% of the world output. "
I wonder why the human would not just use Tungsten to make their coins out of once it was discovered? Seems like it would be much easier based on cost of production figures here...
from Barrick's Report: "For 2012, Barrick expects gold production of 7.3-7.8 million ounces at total and net cash costs of $550-$575 per ounce and $460-$500 per ounce, respectively. "
As I guess Roger would term it, a higher return on coordination if humans just used Tungsten instead of Gold or Silver. Tungsten seems to have a much more efficient production method.
Perhaps it is due to the fact that unlike Gold, Silver, and Copper, Tungsten is not in column 11 of the Periodic Table, and does not have all of its outer most d-band full of electrons.... this is all I can come up with so far as a differentiator and I still can't understand why some humans think this is important in some way towards choosing a metal to be used as a medium of exchange between humans...
... more evidence of human irrationality surrounding the metals and monetary systems.
rsp,
Tom,
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing is that whoever did this ultimately sought USD balances which can be issued by computer keystrokes instead of the metal.
And was taking advantage of the metal-lovers irrationality.
Since ultimately the perp wanted USD over gold I would suspect an Asian source of this conspiracy.
RSP,
Here you go Matt. From Wikipedia... see last sentence.
ReplyDeleteGold substitution
Its density, similar to that of gold, allows tungsten to be used in jewelry as an alternative to gold or platinum.[6][52] Metallic tungsten is harder than gold alloys (though not as hard as tungsten carbide), and is hypoallergenic, making it useful for rings that will resist scratching, especially in designs with a brushed finish.
Because the density is so similar to gold (tungsten is only 0.36% less dense), tungsten can also be used in counterfeiting of gold bars, such as by plating a tungsten bar with gold,[53][54][55] which has been observed since the 1980s,[56] or taking an existing gold bar, drilling holes, and replacing the removed gold with tungsten rods.[57] The densities are not exactly the same, and other properties of gold and tungsten differ, but gold-plated tungsten will pass superficial tests.[53]
Gold-plated tungsten is available commercially from China (the main source of tungsten), both in jewelry and as bars.[58]
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