China's epic hangover begins - Telegraph

China's epic hangover begins - Telegraph:

Here's a snippet of a Telegraph article today.

It is hard to obtain good data in China, but something is wrong when the country's Homelink property website can report that new home prices in Beijing fell 35pc in November from the month before. If this is remotely true, the calibrated soft-landing intended by Chinese authorities has gone badly wrong and risks spinning out of control.


What I gather from this article is a monster of colossal proportion is about to wake up.
I could be wildly wrong but if Chinese people can't invest their wealth outside China, which I assume is because the Yuan can't be used outside China, then wealthy Chinese people will invest in property and thereby cause the bubble. If the property market collapses, losing millions of people their wealth as has happened in the West with the property bubble over here, then it looks likely Chinese people with any money left will buy precious metals because that is allowed and encouraged in China.
I expect 2012 will be the year precious metals go stratospheric with huge swings up and down in price along the way.  Inflation and deflation are on a collision course. Anything can happen.

http://buycopper.co.uk/

How banks opperate

buycopper.co.uk

Why Buy Copper?

Every few weeks I get an email quoting the spot price of copper and mentioning the 'high price' of the copper bars sold on the Buy Copper website.  

Some people ask for an explanation of the price and some people are rude.  The rude emails are deleted straight away, and I rarely have time now to reply to the people who'd like to know.  

The reason is, tax and labour.  

When you buy copper or silver or titanium, palladium, gallium etc you have to pay tax.  VAT is 20%.  Polishing is labour +VAT, stamping is stamping +VAT 

Paypal takes 3%  and there are other expenses that push the price higher.  

The spot price is a mythical number constantly quoted.  I believe you can buy metals at the spot price from the London Metals Exchange but it would have to be about 20 tonnes! Which you'd have to move with a lorry and the pay 20% VAT. What form it would look like I don't know because nobody does it.  

Remember the price of gold was at an all time low in about 2002?  How many people considered Gold as a good investment back then?  How many uses has gold got?  Not many.  What about Copper?

So as the Euro slides into oblivion much like the Russian Ruble did in the 90s, the currency you think in may actaully be worthless.  

Certainly £75 billion of new Quantatative Easing money from the Bank of England last week hasn't done your savings or weekly wage any good. 

Metals are money, they have value because they are expensive to mine.  Paper money is a promise.  The Bank of England has devalued it's promise of worth.

£75billion pounds is about 10% of GDP in Britain and they'll use that up in under 2 years, which probably means the price of everything in paper Pounds will go up by about 10% before the next round of devaluing.  

http://buycopper.co.uk/

Copper demand continues to exceed supply - Telegraph

Copper demand continues to exceed supply - Telegraph:

Copper demand continues to exceed supply

Dr Copper's diagnosis for the global economy looks pretty dire. Futures prices for the economically sensitive metal are down by almost a third since their high earlier this year.

'via Blog this'

What is Happening?

Yes, it is a long video, but do you want to know the reasons why?

I spoke to my elderly step dad last week.  He's 75 and we talked about when he was a kid, they had to go into the village to get water from a communal tap.  This was in Cardiff.  The heart of the industrial revolution.  


He also said how copper was like gold back then.  Astonishingly expensive, which probably accounts for people using a communal tap and not affording household plumbing.
  
Oil has made everything cheap.  We may not think something as cheap in price, but compared to a few decades ago, it's all very cheap.   








http://buycopper.co.uk/

20 Tin bullion bars in stock and lots of silver coins

19 One kilo Tin bullion bars now in stock

http://buycopper.co.uk/one%20kilo%20tin%20bar.html

I took advantage of the stock market crash today and bought in a load of new stock silver bullion coins.  I wish I took advantage of the crash a little later as I would've saved some money, but that's metal prices for you. 

    Top of the list is the Britannia one ounce fine silver coin.  These seem to be more expensive than other silver bullion coins.  I was put off them for years because they weren't 999 purity but realised they do have One troy ounce of fine silver in, it's just alloyed with another metal so is actually heavier than 1 troy ounce.  I suspect the other metal is to make it the coin more durable as pure silver is very soft.
This years design in quite nice.  I wasn't too keen on last years to be honest.

Here's the 1999 Kookaburra 1 Ounce silver coin.  I got a load of these in because this particular year looks really nice.  I have one laying around somewhere.  Can't remember the year but it had the rays of the sun streaming out.  That was my favourite coin for a while.  I think it was a 2006. Not sure.

There are two of these 2012 Year of the Dragon coins made in the Perth Mint. They're a whopping 10 ounces, so there's a lot of coin for your money.

If you like the Australian Koala series the 2011 coin is quite nice.
















                             2011  One ounce silver Libertad
These coins are really good. Quite different from other coins.  I had a load of 1/2 Oz silver Libertads in last month and they sold out very quickly.  I can't seem to find any more of the 1/2 Oz version which is a shame.    

The above coins will be listed soon.  

http://buycopper.co.uk

1 Kilo Tin bullion bar .999 purity

1 Kilo Tin bullion bar .999 purity

Finished at last.  Here is one of the tin bars with the stamp marking it at TIN, it's purity and showing it's manufactured in Britain.

http://buycopper.co.uk/

TIN Bullion Stamp finally made!

Finally, after about 6 months of trying I got this stamp made.  In Britain, manufacturers are protective of their knowledge and contacts because they want you to put the work through their company.
That's fine, but, if they see you as a tiddler and not having a big order for them they don't want to know.  Emails will get ignored or people will be in a meeting, that sort of thing.
Finally I got the name of a stamp maker and got in touch.
Everything is 3D these days with manufacturing. You make a model, it has all the dimensions on etc.  Well, not with stamp making it seems.  So a lot of diagrams later, I got to see the finished product at the workshop.
The workshop was very old fashioned, with what looked like grinding machines and old men looking through lenses.  The skill involved seemed similar to watch making.  No youngsters I noticed. That's a bit of a bad sign I think.  Maybe all the youngsters are doing media courses instead of wanting to work in industry.

Hopefully in the coming week I'll have all the Tin bars stamped along with 150 kilos of Copper bullion.
The Tin bars are fine as they are without markings but people want to see the stamp of authenticity, the weight and origin of the bar, even though the receipt will verify it.

I'm still in the process of getting 50gramme copper coins made.  I got the name of a coining company, so I'll get some coin designs done and post them on this blog.  I'd like them to be quite plain to be honest because the idea of owning them is that they could be used as a coin in case a currency collapses.  People will see the value of the metal weight of the coin, rather than it having a value stamped onto it, as if it a promise from a government.
How much is 50grammes of Copper worth after an economic collapse. I'd say exchanging it for a loaf of bread would be reasonable.

Hope you like my ramblings. If you've got any thoughts and ideas about the value of metals in the years to come, please leave a comment.

buycopper.co.uk

August 2011

It's a bit embarrassing being a Brit at the minute. Greece is about to go bust because of all the cut backs and real hardship suffered by the people. The people of Syria are being murdered by the presidents forces, the same happened in Yemen and Libya is just finishing off it's civil war aided by the US, Britain, France and Italy's military might. 

The cause of the British rioter earlier this month was different.  They wanted stuff.  They weren't interested in politics, their future or putting food on the table.  They only wanted LCD televisions, mobile phones and trainers.  

There is something unpleasant in British society. We don't seem to have close knit families and so our kids can easily run riot.  I was no angel myself as a kid. Would I have joined the rioters if I was 16 again? Hmm maybe if I lived in London or Birmingham.
I guess it shows Britain is still up there with the rest of the countries facing economic collapse.  Our debt is astronomical and quite possibly the highest debt to GDP in the world.  I'm not sure why things haven't popped earlier to be honest, but maybe Greece or Spain will be the catalyst in the coming weeks.  I say weeks because I honestly can't see how Greece can weather the storm. They've got no money and nobody wants to lend to them.
They do have 100 tonnes of gold however.



1 TONNE of Copper
A couple of people have asked if I can sell them a tonne of copper bars.  Yes!  It will take time to get the copper and it's probably best to have them unpolished to keep the cost down.  Prices will go up and down because of the price of copper but if you're thinking of stashing a tonne of copper then the price would probably be £10,000 before shipping.
If you live in Britain it'll probably be easy enough to send by courier on a palette.
I wouldn't expect looters or house invaders to make off with 1 tonne of copper unless they bring a truck.  : )

1/2 Oz Britannia
I thought these Britainnia's were interesting because I phoned the Royal Mint which produces the Britainnia coins and they aren't selling them. They are from the Mint that is certain, so I have a feeling this may turn out to be a rare coin.  I have 10 for sale.

1/10" Oz Koala  
I got these because, and excuse me if I'm going all 'Road Warrior', but if an economic collapse happened and you needed to trade, a 1 Oz pure silver coin would be so valuable how would you exchange it?  You'd be able to buy 50 loaves of bread for instance but if you need 2 loaves of bread, toilet paper and coal for instance, you'll be over paying.
A 1/10th Oz coin is a lot easier to trade with.

Plus, they make nice gifts for people with new born babies.  : )

http://buycopper.co.uk/

Titanium shortage

Finance News - Business news from the UK and world - Telegraph

If you listen to the audio piece you'll hear that there's a shortage of Titanium oxide. Titanium oxide is used in paint as well as making the metal itself which is widely used in aerospace defence and racing.

I manufacture titanium fasteners and parts so its an interest to me that the metal titanium is going up in price. By 75% it seems in Australia.

If you're interested in buying 1 kilo bars of titanium send me an email and I can get some made. Rather than stamping the front of the bar with its authenticity, it may be better to have the face laser etched as Titanium is extremely strong. I may be able to get the surface polished, but Grade 2 titanium(almost pure) is quite a dull in colour.

buycopper.co.uk

US raids civil service pension fund as it hits $14.3 trillion debt limit

Well, here we go.  It was going to happen sooner or later.  America in the 90s exported all it's business tooling and knowledge to China for short term gain.
With less manufacturing money coming in, the bubble economies in .com and housing boom took over but ran out of steam in 2007 and Quantatative Easing QE1 and QE2 took over.
Then Cash for Clunkers to get the last remaining solvent people in debt, but it was more fuel on the fire, because all those expensive metals in those scrapped cars went to China.
Then when the Chinese and Japanese didn't want to buy any more US government bonds the Federal reserve bought them.  How weird is that?
And now, the US government is raiding the pensions of it's own people to pay the debt.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8517266/US-raids-civil-service-pension-fund-as-it-hits-14.3-trillion-debt-limit.html

This happened in Argentina, before they went bankrupt in 2001.

I don't know if anyone remembers this but Robert Maxwell who owned The Mirror newspaper stole the pensions of his workers.  Imagine paying your wages into a scheme for your retirement only to find some rich guy has stolen it all.
Below is a snippet from something I found online about Robert Maxwell.

The late Robert Maxwell reputedly lost GBP 1.5 million in three minutes playing three roulette wheels simultaneously at Les Ambassadeurs casino in London. That works out at over £8000 per second.

Super rich scum bags feel no guilt or remorse stealing your money off you, especially easy to get at electronic digits in your bank account or pension.  That is why precious metals are so good, because they have to come into your house to come and get it and that is very risky indeed.

http://buycopper.co.uk/

Analysis: Barrick bid suggests copper will be the new gold

(Reuters) - Soaring global demand for copper makes the metal a better bet than gold and explains a surprise bid by Barrick Gold Corp, the world's No. 1 bullion producer, for copper miner Equinox Minerals.


MORE HERE

10 One kilo copper bars
http://buycopper.co.uk/10%20kilo%20bars.html

I've had a little look at what deals I can do for larger amounts of Copper bars and how to post them cheaply.  I can sell 10 bars for £280
Using DHL I can post 10 One kilo bars like in the picture above to the 
UK for £20
European Union for £62
USA and Canada for ££90
Rest of the world for £129


As you can see they're stored in zip lock plastic bags to keep them shinier for longer.
I hope you like.


buycopper.co.uk

TIN Bullion stamp

I've had 1 kilo bars of pure Tin on sale for a few weeks now and even though people buy them, I think people want them with the stamp of what the metal is, the weight and what purity. Which is fair enough.  Especially as Tin looks very much like Silver.  I think Tin is softer than Silver.  You can just about scratch Tin with your fingernail.

1 Kilo Tin bullion bar

Here is a render of the stamp I'm having made to stamp the bars of Tin.  Excuse it looking a bit weird.  It was late at night when I finished the model, and the stamp on the finished bars would be more central.

1 Kilo Tin bullion bar

As you can see the text is embossed and is very defined.  This is because Tin is quite a soft metal and less tonnage is needed to make a mark. Unlike Copper which is soft but needs 100tonnes pressure to make a mark.

I think Tin is possibly a better investment than copper.  I say that because, Copper is about 1/4 the price of TIN, so by the time it gets to you the cost of the postage is smaller compared to the metal value.  

As these ingots are cast by hand the price gets cheaper the more that get cast.  

So if you see the prices of these bars come down over time it is because more bars are being cast, and not the actual price of the metal going down.

I don't think we'll see the price of metals go down for years.

http://buycopper.co.uk/

Ebay scroller showing products

Barrick goes for copper, not gold, with Equinox Resources deal

Barrick Gold has taken the first step towards rivalling global mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton by buying an Australian copper producer for C$7.3bn (£4.6bn).

More here

Restruck copper bars!

Not satisfied with the stamping of the 85 copper bars I took them to a another pressings workshop.
They do prototype pressings for Aston Martin, McLaren, Jaguar and many other top British brands.
It was amazing to be honest.  The chap put the copper bars on an enormous press and pressed each bar with 100tonnes.  He took care restamping and not one bar was double stamped, which was something I was quite worried about.
It instantly cured the problem of the missing 'O' from the word Kilo and the missing 'R' from the word copper.
The bars are all as bright as a button and I've placed them in a zip lock bag to keep the oxygen out.

America
There seems to be a lot of interest from America and I've not sold to America before so I phoned FedEx to see how much it would cost to send to Texas as an example.  The price I was quoted was
£118 for 10kilos which is quite expensive per kilo
£286 for 50 kilos which works out quite cheap at £5.72/ kilo
So if there are any American traders out there interested in wholesale amounts of these copper bullion bars, send me an email from http://buycopper.co.uk/ and I'll get the best possible price.

I'll see about having the British VAT removed from bars for exporting to America.  Tax is a bit of a minefield on this side of the pond.
Here are some photo's I took of one of the new copper bars.  I put it on the window sill in the light because using a camera flash with reflective metals tends to make it look very dark.  

One Kilo bar of polish copper bullion

You can see the reflection of the camera and the trees in the garden in this photo.  

A one penny piece added to the photo to indicate a rough sizing of the bar.

I hope you like the look of the bars.  I'm very pleased.  

Rich 

http://buycopper.co.uk/

'We view silver as gold on steroids' - Telegraph

Silver is a better bet than gold in the current precious metals bull run and has been described as "gold on steroids" by one asset manager.

Brian Ostroff, the managing director of Windermere Capital, a Canadian investment firm, said he was bullish about the prospects for all precious metals because the world's central banks were printing money. But he was particularly upbeat about silver.

"We love silver. It has definitely come into the forefront. The physical market characteristics are very positive," he told the Gold Report. "Ultimately, we view silver as gold on steroids. When you're in these uptrends and everyone's looking at precious metals, silver tends to perform much better [than gold].

More on the link below

'We view silver as gold on steroids' - Telegraph

One Kilo copper bars in stock, but a slight problem.

Spring is here, the leaves are blooming and I hope everyone who is reading this is enjoying some sunshine.

Well the 85 One kilo Copper bars are in stock but there's a slight problem in that they weren't stamped quite hard enough.  Which means, the 'O' on the word 'Kilo' is missing on most bars.  The polishing is beautiful as always though.
I was at a pressings workshop today to try a solution and tried a much heavier press and we pressed at 100 tonnes getting a beautiful result on one of the faulty bars so, fingers crossed they'll be re stamped and will all look perfect.
I'm selling the bars at a discount should anyone not mind a missing O.

We also tried stamping a 1 kilo ingot of Tin at 100 tonnes pressure.  It didn't work out quite right.  It spatted it!  :)
An expensive mistake but it was funny.

Tax
I get a lot of American people wanting to buy a lot of copper bars but I haven't worked out the tax VAT implications. In UK we're taxed VAT at 20% and it's difficult for a small trader to have that removed, which may mean Americans paying British VAT and American import duty, which can make the bars very expensive.
I'm sure it's not too difficult to figure out though and it would be good to supply to America at a decent price.

Silver hit another 30 year high today of $42.82.
Chinese inflation has jumped again raising prices on food.
Moody's have downgraded Ireland's credit rating again.

Basically the world is in trouble.  If you leave your money in a bank, the Pound, Euro or Dollar you had at the start of the year will be worth I believe 95pence, or cents by the end of the year.

http://buycopper.co.uk/

Copper bars being stamped tomorrow. Probably!

Sorry about the delay on the production of the Copper bars.   I can't get them made fast enough.  They tend to sell out within 2 weeks and it takes over a month to get them produced. But, I've been told they will be stamped on Monday 11th April and there will 85 bars.
Coin developments

50gramme Copper coin

50gramme Copper coin www.buycopper.co.uk

I refined the model of the 50gramme Copper coins that will be made.  They're actually going to be 52grammes. (Better slightly over than under). Yes, they will be made from commercially pure copper. .999 or above.
I don't know how long it will be before they're on sale and I don't think there'll be more than a few hundred made this year.

News
The world of metals is getting more heated.  The Telegraph says Australia is pretty much on a gold standard because it's currency is backed by it's huge wealth in gold, aluminium, and all the other ores it has.
Silver has broken through the $40/Oz barrier.  I think it will rise to $50/Oz this year, (probably more)
The Buy Copper silver coins are still a bargain for Brits but nobody is noticing.  : )
Portugal has asked for a bailout, and Spain says it's economy is doing just fine.  I don't believe it personally.
Copper is expected to get more expensive soon as global supply squeeze takes hold.  (Tell me about it.  I saw the price rise by about 25% in a month! )
I'll get a FAQ page on the site to give some rough prices for shipping to different parts of the world. I get a lot of emails about shipping costs.

My address
I had a delightfully rude email from somebody calling me a moron(amongst many other swear words) for not putting my address on the site.  There is a reason for not supplying an address.  The moment any metals trader puts their address on their site is the day before their house is ransacked and they get kidnapped and tortured.
Traders will use PO box addresses and mobile phones. All metals are kept at secure third party locations.  I removed my mobile phone number from the site because I had alarming messages left on it.
I know a jewellery maker who keeps concentrated sulphuric acid nearby in case of break ins.
In Britain only the crooks have guns and until recently possession of an illegal gun often didn't send criminals to jail.

Thats it for now.  It's a lovely day and hopefully I'll have 85 copper bars for sale this week.
http://buycopper.co.uk/

Copper coins

Piedfort coins

Hello ladies and gents,

Yesterday I had a chat with the pressings chap about making coins in pure copper and he said I should make a model and he'll get a price on making coins.  

pure copper coin model

Coins are made in a coin press (suprise, suprise) and they exert up to 400 tonnes of pressure. 

So I'd like to make a run of copper coins but I'd have to make a run of a lot of coins to keep the price reasonable. 

As you can see from the pictures I had a little play around with one design in Solid Works (a CAD modelling programme). I thought it would be good to have a coin that is fun to own, maybe drill a hole so it can be a keyring or something, and most coins out there are very intricate and ornate so it would be nice to see something a bit different.  
I also think it's wise to differentiate this coin from actual currency because the government may get a little annoyed with coins that are actually worth something as they print our currencies into oblivion.   
The weight I'm thinking of for a coin would be 50grammes.  The reason being is, there is a type of coin called Piedfort which means something like heavy weight.


*I read yesterday that a 2pence coin made before 1992 was actually worth 3pence because it was actually made of 97% copper.  


Gallium
You may notice that I've finally got around to selling Gallium http://buycopper.co.uk/one%20kilo%20rare%20earth%20Gallium.html
Using plastic syringes I was able to dispense exact amounts of melted gallium in a mould placed on a digital weighing scales.  The lower weight pieces are more like splats as I can't find very small silicon moulds.  
Gallium acts quite like water. When its solid it expands by 3%
As it solidifies it looks quite frost like as it crystalises.
It also melts quite like water. In that, it doesn't go soft and viscous like chocolate but it's either solid or liquid.  It has quite a high surface tension as well.  
It really is very interesting, and when it's all used up in electronics, mankind will have to mine the rubbish dumps to try and get it back again.  


That's it for now.  The 1 kilo copper bars should be ready next week and I'll put a deal up for people who want to buy ten bars at a time.  


http://buycopper.co.uk/

Tin bullion bars in stock now!

Here is a 1 kilo bar of pure Tin.  

1 kilo ingot of pure Tin

Tin is a corrosion resistant metal that is quite soft.  If you drop it, it will dent, so when you buy they'll be wrapped in bubble wrap.

 They look very much like Silver to me.
As you probably know its used as a coating to prevent steel rusting but it is also used in solders, it's considered a non toxic element and I've just read most glass is made by floating molten glass on molten tin to get a very flat glass surface.
The price of Tin has gone up dramatically in recent years and old abandoned Tin mines in Cornwall are reopening.

There are 5 bars in stock but I can get a lot more very quickly.
The dimensions of the bars are roughly 44mm wide 33mm high and 130mm long.

I'm really impressed, a very nice metal

Gallium ingots nearly ready for sale

Today the silicon funnel arrived so I was able to pour the liquid Gallium into ingots, moulded in a silicon mould used for chocolate making.
The reason for silicon moulds is because they're very slippery and flexible so the Gallium should be able to pop out without problems.  I can also reclaim the Gallium from the funnel by putting it in a plastic bag, then into the freezer and reclaiming the metal flakes of metal when they fall away easily.

1 kilo of pure Gallium metal

silicon chocolate mould and silicon funnel

For Gallium to melt it has to be heated to higher than 29*Celsius (84.2 Fahrenheit) So I put the bottle in a  

Warming a kilo of Gallium to a liquid state.

saucepan of quite hot water, but not very hot as to affect the plastic of the bottle. 

It took about an hour to turn the metal to liquid and it became very shiny.  It seemed like water with a very high surface tension.

Taking care I poured into the mould through the silicon funnel.  It felt quite strange.  Like pouring water but much heavier. 

You can see the result below.  They look very shiny.  They've been left to cool and harden and then I'll weigh them and sell each according to the weight.  

Pure Gallium poured into Silicon mould.

Hope you like the little adventure with this very strange and extremely rare metal.  I'll see about getting a mould to make smaller ingots because I think these quite big ingots may work out to be expensive.

Hafnium may run out by 2017

Dwindling of Rare Metals 

Imperils Innovation

Supplies of indium, used in liquid-crystal displays, and of hafnium, a critical element for next-generation semiconductors, could be exhausted by 2017, according to a new report. 

By Richard Martin InformationWeek 
May 29, 2007 03:00 PM

The world may soon find itself running out of rare metals used to form key components in high-tech devices from cell phones to semiconductors to solar panels, according to a report in New Scientist magazine.

In the respected British publication's audit of "Earth's natural wealth," David Cohen writes that reserves of elements from platinum (used not only in every pollution-reducing automobile catalytic converter in use today but also in fuel cells) to indium (used in flat-screen TVs and computer monitors) and tantalum (used in mobile phones) are "being used up at an alarming rate." These metals are chemical elements -- no synthetic replacement can be developed.

MORE HERE....

Here's a little video explaining the uses of Hafnium

I'll try and get hold of some for sale.  It may be in a bar form rather than an ingot as it is an industrial metal.  

Rare Earth buyer supplier

After some feedback about the metal Gallium it seems people are interested but not sure where you would be able to sell the metal once you own it. 

So I phoned around a couple of metal specialists and I’ve found a foundry near Liverpool UK that deals in rare earths and specialist metals. 

They’ll be able to buy and supply Rare Earth and just plain rare metals.  Of course, they’ll be talking minimum orders of several kilo’s upwards, so I’ll look into a section of the shop where I can buy the small quantities of unusual metals people may hold as an investment. It'll probably as a 2% less than scrap price much like how silver is bought back by bullion traders.

I also found out Gallium isn’t part of the Rare Earth group of metals.  Gallium is plain and simply rare, as in, there is hardly any of the metal on the face of the planet or universe. 

The boss of the foundry told me more about what he’s noticed in the Rare Earth metal market.  He says, these metals have shot up in price and are now difficult to get hold of because of China’s restriction on export supply.  So I’ve heard it now, straight from the horses mouth. 

A little reminder.  Russia restricted the export of Palladium in 2000 and the price increased ten fold! 

I’ll see if I can buy metals like Indium, Tantalum and Hafnium from the foundry because that would save on import duty and shipping and of course bring you the customer the cheapest possible price. 

Copper Bars

The 1kilo copper bars are selling well and I'll have to get some more manufactured soon.  I'll look into production of 2 kilo and 1/2kilo bars as well.  

http://buycopper.co.uk/

The Coming Depression: Federal Reserve Causes Middle East Unrest And Food...

The Coming Depression: Federal Reserve Causes Middle East Unrest And Food...

1 kilo bottle of pure Gallium

1 KILO OF PURE GALLIUM

Well here is what I've been banging on about for so long.
One of the rarest metals known to mankind.  Doesn't look like much does it?  : )
1 kilo bottle of pure Gallium

I got it straight from China and it cost a fortune just in postage and bank charges. It came in a huge bundle of bubble wrap, presumably to prevent it getting to 29*C and melting.
The bit I find strange about the whole thing with Gallium is, the modern world cannot get by without this metal, and yet, it is much cheaper than gold even though it must be 100 times rarer than gold.  I read one of the ways they collect it is by scraping the soot from flues on coal fired power stations.  Millions of tonnes of burnt coal only produces 30tonnes of Gallium worldwide.
Like Silver this metal is vital for modern electronics.  Gallium Arsenide is used for LED's and pure Gallium for wetting circuits.

I think I'll advertise it as 1 kilo of pure Gallium at first and if there are no takers I'll melt it into moulds, like chocolate bars. That way it suits all budgets.
I won't be able to accept paypal for this because Paypal charges are too high for such an item.  Instead, email me and I'll give my account details and you can pay into that.  Then I'll post it.
If anyone would like more of this I can try and buy a few kilos more. There are no guarantees on getting it though. They've banned selling it to the Japanese, they could easily do it to the Brits.
As an investment I think Gallium is a perfect investment metal.  Any upset in the supply can cause the price to go through the roof.
Palladium is 15 times rarer than gold and is cheaper than gold but in 2000 its price went up ten fold because the Russians didn't want to sell any that year.
The metal is quite safe to hold but I think it holds it value if it hasn't been melted and held in the palm of your hand, picking up skin cells and sweat.  : )
You wouldn't put your hands all over a Silver bullion round would you?

1 Kilo Copper Bars
The copper bars are ready!
They're polished to perfection and have just been stamped today.  They look amazing and hopefully I'll put them for sale tonight on the shop http://buycopper.co.uk/
I'll package them in cling film so they keep the oxygen out which dulls the shine, but you also get to see the bar beneath the cling film.

Cheers
http://buycopper.co.uk/

 

China bans exports of rare earth metals to Japan

Japan creates synthetic version of rare earth metal palladium - Telegraph:

1 Kilo of Gallium for sale very soon

I took the plunge.
I've found a supplier in China that is willing to sell me some Gallium.  Luckily I've traded with China before which helps and luckily I'm British and we haven't annoyed the Chinese within the last 100 years so they're still willing to trade with us for now.  If I was Japanese it wouldn't have happened.
I was told however to be careful what I say in our trading.  I'll leave it at that.

The Gallium is >99.99% pure so perfect as an investment metal.  You can see the certificate of authenticity below

What I will probably do is list it for sale as a 1 kilo bottle, but also list smaller amounts for sale.  If somebody wants to buy a smaller amount I'll split this bottle and turn it into ingots of some kind.  If anyone would like 1kilo or more of Gallium please contact me and I'll order some in.
As Gallium melts at 29*C the problem is handling.  It's a bit like chocolate. If you hold it in your hand it will melt. Containers need to be able to cope with melted Gallium turning solid and putting strain on the container.
I've read a good way of storing it is to keep it in those zip lock plastic bags and if it melts simply put it in the freezer so it can easily be removed from the bag.
There is plenty of documentation of Gallium on google and youtube if you need more information.
I read that this metal is going to be extinct within 10 years and the figures kind of support this.  It is an unbelievably rare metal. I read it was extracted from the soot in factory chimneys. You can pretty much only get it from China these days and it is heavily used in electronics.
If you ask me, I'd gamble that this is the most undervalued metal.
As for pricing.  I haven't worked it out yet.  I have to buy the Gallium in Dollars, so the bank gives a crummy exchange rate, Then charges £25 for the transaction, then the Chinese bank charges $30 for turning Dollars into Yuan, shipping is expensive, then when it gets to Blighty, there's import duty and VAT of 20% to pay.
Believe me though.  This is one metal you'll be glad paying for.  : )

If anyone is interested in buying another rare earth metal Indium (used in TFT screens) please email me at info@titanclassics.com
and keep checking on the site http://buycopper.co.uk/ for updates.

Copper bars update.
I'm pestering the pressings workshop to hurry up with the 40 1 kilo copper bars.  They were supposed to be ready yesterday but they've gone quiet.

Gallium and Indium bullion

If things go well I'll be buying 1 kilo of Gallium and will split it to sell as an investment metal.

Its not a process of taking a hammer and chisel to the metal.  You just heat it to about 30*C and it melts.  Very strange indeed. In 99.99% pure form it is very silvery. 

I think as an investment Gallium is excellent.  Everyone knows about the rapid rise in Gold and Silver, but Palladium shot up in price too but nobody really noticed it. I remember in 2009 its price rise was way ahead of Gold and Silver.  Maybe it was in 2010 as well, I haven't checked.

The palladium price in 2000 shot up ten fold because Russia blocked its export for political reasons. Ford used Palladium in catalytic converters so had to buy it whatever the cost.  

I believe Palladium is 15 times more rare than gold, so these rare earth's are very sensitive to supply shortages.

The world only produces about 30 tonnes of Gallium per year.  Bear in mind China alone produces 300 tonnes of Gold per year and you realise just how rare Gallium is. 

Gallium is used in integrated circuits and LED's.  You have probably noticed LEDs seem to be on everything within the last 20 years.  There are new super bright low power LED's taking over the high energy halogen spot lights now. How long before governments demand LEDs instead of halogen lights you may ask?

From my reading I understand Gallium to be quite safe to handle.  Not quite the same with another metal I'm interested in selling, INDIUM. The youtube video below should explain the uses of this rare earth.  

I can get hold of Indium but I'm concerned about selling it. It seems just touching it is toxic. It can be stored in an appropriate container with a Hazmat warning on it, but it kind of takes the fun out of owning the metal.  

On the positive side of owning Indium, 20 years ago nobody knew we'd all have TFT monitors and screens using Indium.  The supply must be coming under strain.

And finally:

Did anyone read The Telegraph a few weeks ago where a company called Zest that was losing money, changed it's name to Rare Earth Metals on the AIM and immediately went up in value 300%  

They hadn't even got any supply chain or any metal in stock.  

These metals are really difficult to get hold of.  You need to to import them from China, build relationships and if they don't like you, they'll ban the sale to you, just like they've done to the Japanese.

Food for thought. 

One Kilo copper bars ready next week

Sorry about the delay getting new copper bars for sale.

Getting anything manufactured takes time but making these copper bars is a strange process indeed. 
I picked up the 40 copper bars from the polishers on Wednesday and they are perfect!
They're individually wrapped in tissue and when I opened a couple to check, it was a WOW moment.

I dropped them off at the pressings shop today and was told that they will be ready on Wednesday next week (16th Feb)

Some things I've learned from having the copper bars made is how hard it is to get hold of copper.  We take it for granted.  It's all around us and yet when I buy from the supplier there are long delays and I buy every last kilo they've got of the size copper I need.

Other things

So far this year we've seen revolutions in Morocco and Egypt. China is in trouble with a real estate bubble and high inflation and the economic outlook still doesn't look good.  I know the media likes to say exports are up and  the great recession is at an end but if they were correct surely food, fuel and metal prices wouldn't be so high.

I think I'll put my trust in the value of metal over anything a government or bank has to say.

Pension pledges have left UK and US 'insolvent' - Telegraph

Pension pledges have left UK and US 'insolvent' - Telegraph

43 One kilo bars bought and will arrive in about a week.

Hello all,

Copper
I've got hold of a colossal bar of 2" x 1" pure copper that is being cut right now probably and hopefully it will be at my door in about a week.  There will be 43 bars in total.
The price per kilo has gone up from the last bar that was bought about 2 months ago, but that's inflation for you (and the rise to 20% VAT).
With any luck the bars will be ready before the end of January and if anyone would like to pre order some bars, I'll let you be first in the queue. There's no need to pay up front.
There may be a few of the first batch of copper bars left over actually.  There was a transaction for several bars on Ebay that didn't seem to work out.

Silver
I've got some new Monarch of the Glen 1oz Silver coins coming on Saturday. Four of which are allocated already.

Gallium


I can get hold of the rare earth metal called Gallium.   It is quite expensive and strange.  I'm thinking of selling 100grammes at a time of the metal. I'd like to present it nicely but the trouble with it is it melts when it reaches about 29*C.  It's probably best kept in a plastic bottle.
I think it has enormous potential for increasing in value.  I've read that it is so rare all stocks could be run out within ten years.  It's used in TFT screens and all sorts of high tech applications. It gives off light if you pass electricity through it.
If anyone is interested in me getting hold of this weird metal let me know and I'll budget for getting at least a kilo of 999 purity but I can get higher. I import from China all the time so it won't be a problem for me to get hold of although it's quite a big problem for Japan who are being blocked by the Chinese from buying it.

I hope everybody had an excellent Christmas and I'm expecting the price of silver to be at least $50 by the end of this year.