Half-fake gold impossible to detect, on sale now

Gold mixed with volfram has appeared in Vietnam and a tael (1.2 ounce) of such gold will cause a loss of up to VND10 million (US$483) to buyers, warned Nguyen Minh Chau, general director of the Bao Tin Minh Chau Co.

“I have received many questions from traders who asked me how to distinguish between pure and impure gold,” Chau said when talking to media yesterday afternoon.

Such gold has appeared in Vietnam for the first time, he confirmed.

The impure gold contains volfram and some other heavy metals that are mixed into pure gold according to a special method during the gold melting process.

The difference is so subtle that experienced gold traders and gold analysis machines currently used in Vietnam fail to detect it, he said.

Some traders said that mixed gold was first found in Vietnam in March in the form of standard gold block bearing famous foreign brands and weighing 1-2.5 kg each.

Some importers sold it as 99.99 percent gold to many gold shop owners, who later had it tested with gold testing machines, which also confirmed it as pure gold.

Origin unknown, possibly abroad

When melting a tael of such gold, local experts found that only 60-80 percent of it was gold and the remainder was foreign matters looking like fine sand.

Tests of the impure gold at foreign laboratories showed that Vonfram accounted for the most part of the heavy metals that had been mixed in it, Chau said.

Volfram, a hard and heavy metal that can more easily melt than gold, sells now for around VND1 million per tael. And a tael of gold containing 10-30 percent Vonfram will deprive buyers of up to VND 10 million ($450), he warned.

However, there have been no complaints from customers about the impure gold so far, he said.

The origin of gold mixed with vonfram has yet to identified, Chau said, adding that mixing vonfram into gold cannot be made in Vietnam due to technology reasons. – Tuoitre

Tags: fake gold, vietnam gold, Vietnam gold market