Thieves might have smuggled mint gold in acid, experts say (Great Royal Canadian Mint Robbery)

National Post ^ | July 13, 2009 | Ian MacLeod

[Loyalist]

Was $15-million worth of gold stolen from the Royal Canadian Mint by dissolving it in acid, rendering it invisible to metal detectors?

Two gold-refining industry sources say gold chloride dissolved in an acid solution can be unrecognizable to metal detectors, such as those guarding the mint's high-security Sussex Drive refinery in Ottawa -- and the method might explain the recently announced disappearance of more than half a metric ton of gold from the mint's inventory.

"It could be taken out in that form . . . in a liquid chemical form," one U.S. refining executive said.

....

An eight-month hunt by mint staff and external auditors ruled out recent accounting, bookkeeping and other internal errors. They're continuing to hope, and investigate the possibility, that production miscalculations or accounting errors before April, 2008 will explain the puzzle.

But with the most obvious possible explanations now discounted, speculation grows about a massive and clever theft.

[Loyalist]

Anybody check the Cash4Gold scammers?

[ovrtaxt]

This is why holding physical metal is the best way to invest in gold or silver.

At least keep it with a regularly audited vault, such as the Royal Canadian Mint. Yes, they’re missing a fair amount, but at least investors know about it.

GLD and SLV are not audited. If you’re an investor, be wary. Paper gold is just that.

[MissDairyGoodnessVT]

last I heard on Cash4Gold was that a lot of unscrupulous (druggies & kingpins) people were sending in gold to melt down for cash to avoid potential search & seizure when they were busted by the cops .
I’ve seen those infomercials on Cash4Gold and they always showed divorced women sending in their wedding rings or the little ole’ grandma who needed some fast cash selling off the family heirlooms-what a scam

[Smokin' Joe]

Check the drains and the sewers...my bet, anyway.

[fso301]

Perhaps the mint will start molding serial numbers on the bars

[RU88]

This cash for gold craze is really taking hold. It's the new tupperware party. The problem is that they are taking you while rewarding themselves handsomely with a tidy profit. As an aside, I even saw a flyer at a hospital recently advertising a “cash for gold” party to be held on the hospital grounds. Sounds like end times to me.

[Vince Ferrer]

My bet is that it wasn’t stolen, its just that they don’t want to admit where it is and who now owns it. It would be hard to dissappear TONS of gold in acid. It would be easy to show up with a truck and approved paperwork, or better yet, just transfer electronic records around on a hard disk.

[MissDairyGoodnessVT]

I don’t know about end times but somebody somewhere is cleaning up real good

[STYRO]

They are grasping at straws. Somebody want to figure out how many gallons of acid it would take to dissolve an ounce of gold? I’m thinking maybe 10 gallons of really concentrated acid, per ounce. Enough to dissolve a ton of gold would be harder to smuggle than the gold itself.

[calex59]

last I heard on Cash4Gold was that a lot of unscrupulous (druggies & kingpins) people were sending in gold to melt down for cash to avoid potential search & seizure when they were busted by the cops . I’ve seen those infomercials on Cash4Gold and they always showed divorced women sending in their wedding rings or the little ole’ grandma who needed some fast cash selling off the family heirlooms-what a scam

Yeah, and they always call it "old" gold or "scrap" gold, as if gold has an expiration date!

[PeterPrinciple]

Gold Chloride 1% solution - 0.5 grams pure Gold 50 ml $40.00

Gold Chloride 1% solution - 1.0 grams pure Gold 100 ml $75.00

http://www.saltlakemetals.com/Gold_Chloride.htm

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It appears that you can dilute 1 gram of gold in 100 ml. So can someone calculate the volume of the acid?

What would be the process to convert from gold cloride to gold?

[PeterPrinciple]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold(III)_chloride

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I don't remember as much about chemistry as I should but if they would have let us use gold in the labs I might have paid more attention.............