“New Chinese Gold”: Is it Reshaping the Precious Metal Market?

Lebanon Today

In a world where gold has long been associated with wealth, luxury, and economic stability, China stands out with a new scientific and technological breakthrough that is seen as redefining the nature of this metal and changing the way humans perceive it.

It may seem scientifically impossible to “reinvent” a basic and stable chemical element like gold, but Chinese scientists assert that they have indeed managed to do so by transforming pure gold into a material with new physical properties without altering its basic chemical composition, calling it “Solid Pure Gold” or “Biang Zujin” in Chinese.

Hai-Jun Jin, a researcher at the National Laboratory for Materials Science in Shenyang, affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, says, “24-carat pure gold (with a purity of up to 99.9%) has limited mechanical properties in terms of hardness, as it is a very malleable metal, easy to bend, scratch, and lose shape under mechanical stress, making it unsuitable for daily use.”

He adds, “For this reason, artisans traditionally mix gold with other metals, such as copper or silver, to improve its resistance to deformation and increase its hardness.”

Jin explains that while this mixing gives the metal greater durability, it also reduces the degree of purity to levels usually ranging between 18 and 14 carats, and partially weakens the deep and distinctive yellow luster of pure gold.

This delicate balance between purity and durability in gold manufacturing has been a scientific and industrial challenge for centuries, as it was not possible to produce gold that maintains its high purity without losing its mechanical strength, until the recent Chinese innovation broke this long-standing equation.

On May 1, 2024, China officially announced the adoption of a new category of gold for which it obtained a patent after working on its development for many years, and the new industry standard for “Solid Pure Gold” jewelry came into effect in May 2025, as a technical achievement that combines the purity of the element with its advanced mechanical properties.

This standard, formulated by the World Gold Council in partnership with several major industrial bodies and companies, defines the quality and safety requirements for this type of jewelry, including a purity of not less than 99%, with a very high hardness starting from 60 degrees on the Vickers scale, which is approximately 4 times the hardness of traditional 24-carat gold.

This standard helps eliminate consumer confusion by unifying fragmented terms such as “3D Hard Gold” and “5G Gold” into a unified and approved industrial classification, and ensures that “Solid Pure Gold” meets the promised durability, quality, and safety.

This unique performance is achieved thanks to a precise scientific approach that relies on introducing very small proportions, ranging between 0.1 and 1%, of rare metals such as indium and zinc, without affecting the basic chemical composition of gold or its natural bright color.

Jin explains that “the precise additions of rare elements modify the atomic structure of gold in a controlled manner, which leads to a significant improvement in its mechanical properties without affecting its high luster, color stability, hardness, or high chemical stability.”

He adds that “this innovation can be simplified by saying that it is 24-carat pure gold that has the durability and mechanical properties similar to those found in 18-carat gold, meaning that it combines for the first time the purity of pure gold (at 99.9%) and the hardness of metal alloys in one homogeneous and stable material.”

At the industrial level, the new Chinese gold is produced using pure gold itself as the base material, but it undergoes nano-scale electrochemical forming processes, where gold layers are deposited on geometrically defined molds under controlled electrochemical conditions, leading to the formation of a fine metallic network with low porosity and a nano-granular structure.

Precision casting techniques are also used, which rearrange its internal crystalline structure, leading to increased hardness and mechanical stability without affecting its chemical purity or distinctive color, which is a real technical achievement, because maintaining homogeneity in high-purity materials is usually a significant challenge.

In mid-August 2024, a team of Chinese scientists revealed a new technology that was able to increase the hardness of pure gold without affecting its mass or purity, by forming regular nano-pores inside the solid structure of the metal.

The study indicates that adding these tiny pores to the gold structure gives it a higher ability to withstand mechanical stress while maintaining its ductility, and without any increase in weight or harmful environmental effects, which was considered an important scientific achievement in the field of materials science.

In traditional methods of forming metals, bubbles or voids inside the metallic structure are considered serious structural defects, as they can lead to a decrease in the metal’s resistance, reduce its durability at the connection points, or weaken the final surface appearance.

However, the researchers reached the opposite conclusion that controlling the size, shape, and distribution of the micro-bubbles may mitigate their negative effects, and even provide improved mechanical properties to the metal.

These processes collectively allow the production of homogeneous gold pieces with complex geometric designs and extreme precision while maintaining very light weights, as jewelry is often formed in the form of hollow structures that reduce the physical mass without diminishing its high gold content.

This approach represents a significant technical shift in the gold jewelry industry, as it combines for the first time the purity of traditional 24-carat gold with the ease of shaping and mechanical hardness that was previously limited to mixed alloys.

This innovation has not remained confined to laboratories or research papers, but has quickly moved to the reality of industry and markets. Solid pure gold made its first appearance in major Chinese jewelry exhibitions during this year, and attracted attention with its precise designs and exceptional durability.

Within a short period, it has transformed from a promising scientific experiment into a widespread and rapidly expanding commercial product. Reports from the World Gold Council and the “New Silk Road for Gold” initiative indicate that it currently represents between 20% and 25% of total retail gold jewelry sales, making it the fastest-growing and most popular in China, especially among the younger generation, due to its lower price compared to traditional gold.

According to Jin, “This new type of gold is marketed as being lighter and harder, which allows for the design of gold artifacts with intricate details and thin walls without any metal additions, and without losing their durability or being exposed to scratching, bending, and deformation, unlike highly malleable traditional gold.”

He adds that “most importantly, it retains the same appearance of traditional 24-carat gold for a long time in terms of bright color without the need for additional coatings as in some types of traditional jewelry, and the warm touch that distinguishes it throughout the ages.”

From an environmental perspective, this type of gold retains its natural high ability to resist environmental factors such as oxidation, deformation, and corrosion, although gold by its nature does not oxidize easily, the cohesive fine structure resulting from heat treatment prevents the accumulation of surface stresses, and reduces the possibility of surface cracking or loss of luster over time or with constant friction.

At the Hong Kong International Jewellery and Gem Fair held last September, entire collections made of solid pure gold were displayed, in a move that clearly reflects China’s direction towards introducing this innovation to global markets, and confirming that it is not just a local success, but a scientific and industrial achievement aimed at redefining the future of the gold industry globally.

Despite the widespread praise this innovation has received, solid pure gold still raises a set of scientific questions that deserve careful study. So far, the sustainability of its precise atomic structure has not been sufficiently tested under long-term use conditions, or when continuously exposed to environmental factors such as heat and humidity.

Available reports indicate promising results, but most of them are issued by manufacturers, which calls for further independent verification and long-term standard experiments.

Another scientific discussion arises regarding the issue of transparency and terminology, as some experts argue that adding small amounts of metal elements – no matter how small the percentage – may make the description of the material as “pure gold” chemically inaccurate, even though the actual gold content exceeds 99%.

However, specialists agree that this innovation represents a qualitative engineering and technical shift in the processing of precious metals, as it has succeeded in overcoming the traditional trade-off between purity and hardness that has accompanied gold for thousands of years.

Jin says, “If this new type of gold proves its efficiency and stability in the long term, it is likely to open the door to wider applications that go beyond the traditional jewelry industry. In addition to its use in designing lighter and more durable jewelry, it can be used in luxury technologies and microelectronics fields, such as electrical conductors and micro-joints that require a combination of high conductivity and mechanical resistance.”

It can also be used in precise medical devices thanks to its excellent biocompatibility, and in precise aerospace industries that need lightweight materials that are resistant to corrosion and temperature changes.

As for consumers, this development simply means the possibility of owning 24-carat gold that can be worn daily without fear of scratches or deformations, which is an achievement that has long been considered a distant dream in the world of gold crafting.

Although these developments do not change the place of gold in the periodic table, they have effectively changed its position in the world of advanced materials, to make it an element that can evolve towards a new generation of smart and multi-functional metallic materials.