Gold Bullion Bars / Ingots

A gold bar is a gold ingot which may be produced in many different types, weights and categories.

Types

Gold bars are classified into two different types — cast and minted — based on their method of manufacturing. Cast bars are made by pouring molten gold into an ingot mould to help the gold take a form. Minted bars are made from gold blanks that have been hand cut to the required dimensions from a flat piece of gold. Markings are almost always applied by presses. ChipGold is a relatively new form of gold bar consisting of a small ingot (1-20 grams) in a sealed and certified package the size of a credit card.

100g Cast 999.9 Bar Number Stamped

10g Minted 999.9 Ingot Number Stamped

One Troy Ounce minted 999.9 coin

Weights and values

One troy ounce = 31.1034768 grams. Thus if gold was at US$1200 per ounce, a gold gram would be worth just under US$40.

Note where gold is measured in ounces, these are troy ounces, not the much more common avoirdupois ounce which is used for measuring weights in food etc. An avoirdupois ounce is lighter than a troy ounce. One avoirdupois ounce = 28.349523125 grams.

• One tonne = 1000 kilograms = 32,150.746 troy ounces

• One kilogram = 1000 grams = 32.15074656 troy ounces

• One tael = 50 grams

This is the official rate of taels in mainland China since the country went metric. However, historically a tael's weight could be as little as 36.7 grams depending on the customs of the province. In Taiwan and Hong Kong today a tael is equivalent to 37.429g.Gold is very dense (19.3 g/cm³), to the extent that ten million U.S. dollars worth occupies less than one cubic foot.