Scientists discovered how to turn copper into gold. Although it seems very promising in different areas, it will not replace gold’s functions. This, however, raises some questions on whether this discovery is able to have an effect on gold’s price.

Gold is known around the world and by many different cultures over history as the best store of value. At the same time, it is finite and it is used in the manufacturing process of electronic products. The trade-off between demand and supply plays an important role at the time of determining gold’s price.

In a recent report by the South China Morning Post, scientists in the country were able to create a material that works in the same way as gold. The metal is so resistant that can handle high temperatures, erosion and oxidization in a similar way as other precious metals.

If the newly created metal is able to replace gold used for manufactures, it might be able to have an impact on the price of this precious metal. The industrial demand for gold will decrease, thus its price would likely be affected, considering the fact that the new material is much cheaper to produce than gold.

In order to create this new metal, scientists at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics used copper blasted with heated and electronically charged argon gas. This generated a reaction that allowed these particles to become as resistant as gold or silver.

Professor Sun Jian and the team behind the discovery wrote about this new development:

“The copper nanoparticles achieved catalytic performance extremely similar to that of gold or silver.”

Although many individuals are already thinking about replacing gold with this new material, this will not happen. The material is good to replace gold in the manufacturing process, but it has a similar density to copper. That means that the wight will be clearly less than this of gold and it will not be possible to lie experts in the field.

However, the price of gold has been growing during the last year amid tensions related to the trade war between China and the United States and also with the uncertainty related to the American economy. The Federal Reserve Bank (FED) has been increasing interest rates and it is expected to see two hikes more in 2019.

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