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.
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.
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.
