Australian Bullion Dealer ABC Bullion has contacted SD to advise that one of its suppliers has provided them photographic evidence of a tungsten filled 1 kilo gold bar discovered this week. The bar passed a hand-held xrf scan which showed 99.98% pure AU. The tungsten was only discovered when the bar was physically cut in half.
After numerous reports of 400oz tungsten filled bars being discovered in Hong Kong, this is the first documented and verified report with photographic evidence that has been made public.
As a major online gold and silver dealer, we have seen fakes first hand. Our gold coins and bars and silver coins and bars at SD Bullion are tested thoroughly including utilizing one of the best gold and silver purity detectors which you can find in SD Bullion's coin supplies and accessories.
Submitted by Australian Bullion Dealer ABC Bullion:
Attached are photographs of a legitimate Metalor 1000gm Au bar that has been drilled out and filled with Tungsten (W).
This bar was purchased by staff of a scrap dealer in xxxxx, UK yesterday. The bar appeared to be perfect other than the fact that it was 2gms underweight. It was checked by hand-held xrf and showed 99.98% Au. Being Tungsten, it would not be ferro-magnetic. The bar was supplied with the original certificate.
The owner of the business that purchased the bar only became suspicious when he realized the weight discrepancy and had the bar cropped. He estimates between 30-40% of the weight of the bar to be Tungsten.
The two halves of the cut bar
Now that we have confirmed documentation that 1 kilo gold bars have been drilled out and filled with tungsten, look for a rapid scramble to verify the AU contents of 400oz bars which reportedly have also been tainted with tungsten (the market is 'stuffed full' of gold plated tungsten 400oz bars according to Rob Kirby).
For those unfamiliar with the original reports that 60 metric tonnes of 400oz 'good delivery' bars were gutted and filled with tungsten, and swapped with US Treasury gold at Fort Knox in a highly sophisticated plan, an excerpt of his 2009 piece is included below:
The amount of “salted tungsten” gold bars in question was allegedly between 5,600 and 5,700 – 400 oz – good delivery bars [roughly 60 metric tonnes].
This was apparently all highly orchestrated by an extremely well financed criminal operation.
Within mere hours of this scam being identified – Chinese officials had many of the perpetrators in custody.
And here’s what the Chinese allegedly uncovered:
Roughly 15 years ago – during the Clinton Administration [think Robert Rubin, Sir Alan Greenspan and Lawrence Summers] – between 1.3 and 1.5 million 400 oz tungsten blanks were allegedly manufactured by a very high-end, sophisticated refiner in the USA [more than 16 Thousand metric tonnes]. Subsequently, 640,000 of these tungsten blanks received their gold plating and WERE shipped to Ft. Knox and remain there to this day. I know folks who have copies of the original shipping docs with dates and exact weights of “tungsten” bars shipped to Ft. Knox.
The balance of this 1.3 million – 1.5 million 400 oz tungsten cache was also plated and then allegedly “sold” into the international market.
Apparently, the global market is literally “stuffed full of 400 oz salted bars”.
Makes one wonder if the Indians were smart enough to assay their 200 tonne haul from the IMF?
Read the rest of Rob Kirby's 2009 Tungsten Filled Fake Gold Bars Warning here:
