As an established scrap gold dealer, we've recently been contacted by a member of the public who’s been offered for sale a quantity of 'Alluvial Gold Dust', wanting to know whether the offer was genuine, they contacted us for advice.
Here's the original e-mail they received:
GOLD AND DIAMOND FOR SELL It's my pleasure contacting you to inform you about our product "Alluvial Diamond and Gold Dust". I am a Gold and Diamond Dealer here in Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana and London. We are having in stock right now 450kg of Alluvial Gold Dust advertising to seek of buyers assistance in helping us buy Gold Dust Or Diamond and sale on her own location. Our F.C.O is described as follows: Commodity: Au Metal Quantity - 450kg Quality: 22+ carat Purity: 96% Price: $25,000 US Dollars/kg Shipment: By Air Package: Export Carton Case. Terms and Condition: I will be very grateful if you can come down here and do inspection of the goods properly before we commence shipment. I agree to follow the lot with you to your country and get paid after the final assay and refinery in your own location here in Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Or London. I Mr. ###, From Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire in West Africa.
What is Alluvial Gold Dust?
The term 'Alluvial' is used to describe:
A deposition of sediment over a long period of time by a river; an alluvial layer. Source: wiktionary.org
Or, to put it in simple terms, river mud.
Now, on the face of it, this 'offer' looks quite attractive. 450kg of 22ct gold, albeit in 'dust' form, would be worth somewhere in the region of £10.5 million. An opportunity for an investor to make a healthy profit perhaps? Well, no, of course not. Bear in mind that a typical gold mine will yield somewhere in the region of 3 grams of gold for every ton of rock excavated. They wouldn't be going to all this effort if they could dredge river mud and yield a higher return!
Anyone with a source of gold at this purity wouldn't need to be hawking it on the Internet.
Our advice: Please steer well clear of these e-mails.
We receive similar correspondence every day, all of which is filed in our 'spam' folder. Remember the old adage - if it's too good to be true, it probably is.
Gold Bars
We're also frequently contacted about the purchase of kilo gold bars. Whilst we will happily purchase them, we don't buy them from overseas sellers.
