WGC-Nanostellar to drive automotive demand for gold

26 Dec '07

3 min read

Partnership to develop new market for gold based emission control technology World Gold Council (WGC), the organisation responsible for driving global demand for gold, and Nanostellar Inc, a leading-edge developer of emission control technologies, have agreed to a long term strategic partnership to enable the introduction of gold into the auto catalyst market.

Under the terms of the agreement, World Gold Council has invested in Nanostellar Inc in order to facilitate the commercialisation and marketing of the gold based technology that could increase industrial demand for gold.

Recently proclaimed a 2008 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, Nanostellar has developed a new product, NS Gold, a catalyst formulation for use in the automotive industry that for the first time includes gold alongside traditional platinum and palladium metals. The inclusion of gold enables manufacturers of light and heavy-duty diesel engines to reduce noxious emissions by as much as 40 per cent more than existing pure platinum catalysts, enabling significant savings for automotive manufacturers.

The potential to use gold in this type of application has long been considered, but until now the technical challenges concerning catalyst durability have prevented gold's use. Independent test results confirm Nanostellar's breakthrough which, if adopted by the automotive industry, could lead to an increase in industrial demand for gold, which in 2006 totaled 16.1 million oz (458 tonnes).

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