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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nonrev who wrote (50850)	6/3/2009 1:07:54 AM
From: RJA_	Respond to of 218659

Silver is to Gold as Palladium is to Platinum Only somewhat more interesting IMHO. From: International Platinum Group Metals Association, here: ipa-news.org Palladium Like platinum, palladium has a natural white lustre. Although it has the lowest melting point of all platinum group metals (PGMs) and is also the least dense, palladium's remarkable qualities mean that it is no less crucial in a number of important applications. Its melting point is still high compared with other popular metals (for example, over four and half times that of lead) and it has high temperature stability and corrosion resistance. The rarest of all PGMs apart from iridium [BA: this would make it rarer than say platinum], palladium is also a good oxidation catalyst, conductive, oxidation resistant and ductile when annealed. But its most incredible property is the ability to absorb 900 times its own volume of hydrogen at room temperature. This makes palladium an efficient and safe hydrogen storage medium and purifier. It is also used in chemical processes that require hydrogen exchange between two reactants, such as that which produces butadiene and cyclohexane, the raw materials for synthetic rubber and nylon. Palladium's catalytic qualities find it playing a key role in catalytic converters and air purification equipment. Its chemical stability and electrical conductivity make it a more effective and durable plating than gold in electronic components [and cheaper, too]. JMHO

To: nonrev who wrote (50850)	6/3/2009 9:19:00 AM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 218659

trust you saw this? just in in-tray I guess we'll find out what a "significant quantity" is... Mint Can't Account for Missing Gold By Ian Macleod Ottawa (Ontario, Canada) Citizen Tuesday, June , 2009 ottawacitizen.com. OTTAWA -- A significant quantity of gold, silver, and other precious metals is unaccounted for at the Royal Canadian Mint. External auditors are investigating a discrepancy between the mint's 2008 financial accounting of its precious metals holdings and the physical stockpile at the plant on Sussex Drive in Ottawa. The mystery raises possibilities from sloppy bookkeeping to a gold heist. Officials with the commercial Crown corporation are saying little and refuse to confirm the amount and value of the unaccounted for gold, silver, and palladium. "An unprecedented demand in gold in 2008 has led to an unreconciled difference between the mint's financial statements and the physical count of precious metals. There's a difference there that we're looking into," Christine Aquino, mint spokeswoman, said in a prepared statement Tuesday in response to questions from the Ottawa Citizen. "We're taking this very seriously. We're conducting a thorough review and we're expected to have that completed within the month. (It) includes the analysis of precious metal by-products and financial data. We've allocated all necessary resources to this review." She stressed police have not been called into what mint officials consider an internal matter. She would not say whether the gold and other metals in question were part of the refinery and bullion operation or one of the mint's three other business lines: producing Canadian circulating coins, designing and producing coinage for foreign countries, and numismatics. "We're looking at many different angles right now," she said. The mint's Ottawa headquarters houses one of the world's leading gold and silver refineries, turning out almost 2.8 million troy ounces of refined gold in 2007. Another 369,000 ounces of refined silver were produced as a byproduct of refining the gold from a number of sources, including gold ore, scrap recyclers, financial institutions and industry. (A troy ounce is the traditional unit of weight for precious metals and equals 1.097 ounces.)