Is There Any Gold Left in Fort Knox?

The Fort Knox bullion depository was completed in December of 1936 at a cost of over a half million dollars. The vault contains over 16,000 cubic feet of granite, bomb-proof doors, and 1.300 tons of reinforcement steel. It is also in the middle of an army base. All of these protective measures are in place to prevent the gold from being confiscated in times of war or civil unrest.

But no one has actually seen the gold since the 1970s. The only person allowed in the sealed vault is the Secretary of Treasury. Not even former presidents are allowed access.

The exact amount of the gold reserves in Fort Knox is strictly classified, but it is reportedly over 5,000 metric tonnes. Senator Ron Paul has put forth legislation asking for an audit of the vault, but there has been little support for the proposal from the rest of Congress.

Why doesn't the U.S. want an accurate audit performed at Fort Knox? Two reasons. 

1.  If the U.S. made the effort to count all of its gold, it would mean that they feel that it has worth, which would further devalue the dollar. After the gold standard was removed from the dollar in the 1970s, the U.S. has maintained that gold has no real-world monetary value-- contrary to what the rest of the world thinks
   and
2. There might not actually be any gold left or the gold could be fake! 

In 2009, the Chinese government discovered that 60 metric tonnes of gold bars purchased from the United States were in fact bars of gold-plated tungsten. The gold bars had official serial numbers and looked and weighed the exact same as real gold bars. They even withstood the rigorous testing of X-ray fluorescence. It was only after drilling into the bars that it was discovered they had at one point, been official, real gold bars that had been hollowed out and filled with tungsten.

Tungsten is one of two elements that weighs the same as gold but costs less than gold (the other is uranium). Because their weights are nearly identical, the best way to determine whether a gold bar is genuine is to submerge it in water and see how much displacement occurs. Tungsten will displace more water than gold. Still, this standard of testing is not usually used by most gold dealers, which should cause alarm that there may be an untold number of these fake gold bars in circulation. 

More fake gold bars were discovered by a reputable gold dealer in New York City in 2012. They were constructed in a similar manner. 

Where is all of this fake gold coming from?

It was initially believed that the tungsten bars sold to China originated from the Fort Knox gold reserves, but further investigation indicated that the bars were constructed in Eastern Europe at the height of the Cold War and acquired by the U.S. after military involvement in the region. But just because the bars didn't originate there, doesn't mean that they weren't stored there at one time.

Until congress is pressured enough to is call for an audit of the gold reserves, we simply have to trust the government that it's still there.

Does this mean you should worry about counterfeit gold? Only if you are purchasing it from non-reputable sources. Always make sure that whoever you purchase gold from is insured and offers safe depository storage with an established security company such as Brinks. You should also look for an A+ Rating from the Better Business Bureau, an AAA rating from the Business Consumer Alliance, and positive reviews from its customers.