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GOLD SERVICES
| Information About Refined Gold: 24 Carat Gold? Firstly, it is almost impossible to economically or commercially obtain absolute pure gold. 24 Carat Gold would be absolutely pure and before electrolytic refining, highly refined gold was usually .9995, ( 99.95%). When converted to carats, this gold would be 23.988 carats. London Good Delivery Gold Bars are acceptable at .995 which is "only" 23.88 carats. Thus, electrolytic refining helped to create a commercially economic system producing .9999 fine gold or 23.9976 carats. The Royal Canadian Mint also produces a .9999 fine gold coin, advertised as the world's purest gold coin at 23.99976 carats. Therefore, it is more accurate to refer to bullion by its metric fineness than as genuine 24 carat gold. Four Nines Almost all of the bars we sell are "Four Nines" = 99.99% pure. This is the highest purity percentage for a gold bar which is economic to produce for the investment market. Only the scientific market would need anything of greater purity, and the production costs would increase drastically. Most of the time, we simply refer to them as "Bullion Bars", and there is no need to specify the purity, as it is expected to be .9999 fine. If we were asked whether our .9999 fine Bullion Bars were 24 carat, one could answer yes or no with equal accuracy. "Yes" would be correct as any Bullion Bar of 97.9166% or higher purity is nearer to 24 carat than it is to 23 carat. A mathematician would recognise that this was a matter of "precision", as numbers can be rounded to a number of decimal places or a number of significant figures. There is an implication that 24 can mean anything between 23.5 and 24.5, but 24.0 indicates anything between 23.95 and 24.05. Similarly a number written as 24.00 ,24.000 or 24.0000 would indicate a number accurate to the penultimate decimal place, so that each of the three numbers specifies an increasing degree of precision. The answer "no" would be equally correct but a four-nines bar (99.99% pure), is "only" 23.9976 carats. As 23.9976 is not the same as 24, then the negative answer is correct. To state the whole truth, it is necessary to explain that 24 carat gold does not exist except in theory or possibly in very small amounts in a scientific laboratory. Summary Carats Percentage Per Thousand Decimal Pronounce 24 100 1000 1.000 Pure or Fine 23.9976 99.99 999.9 .9999 Four Nines 23.988 99.95 999.5 .9995 Three Nines Five 23.88 99.5 995 .995 Nine Nine Five Minimum .995 - 23.88 Carats The minimum accepted standard for gold bars to be treated as VAT free investment gold in the EU is 995 parts per thousand, equivalent to 23.88 carats. |
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