In mineral exploration, salting is the fraudulent practice of adding valuable metals and

gemstone A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, semiprecious stone, or simply gem) is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewellery, jewelry or other adornments. Certain Rock (geology), rocks (such ...

s, particularly

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

, to ore samples from a mine to inflate the apparent value of the deposit. This deception aims to mislead potential buyers or investors into believing that the mine is more productive and valuable than it truly is. Salting is considered a form of

confidence trick A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irrespons ...

and has been employed throughout history to defraud stakeholders in the mining industry. Examples are the diamond hoax of 1872 and the former Canadian gold company Bre-X.

References

Confidence tricks Mineral exploration {{mining-stub

See also

References