The Moon Metal is a science fiction novella by Garrett P. Serviss first published in 1900.
After the huge gold deposits were found in Antarctica and gold became common, the world's financial markets went into a tailspin and every currency lost its value.
A group of heroic bankers meet to save the world, and they are approached by a Dr. Syx, who has an evil sneer and a source of a new metal to replace gold which only he can produce. All the metal comes out of his mine and mill in the Rockies.
Two heroic engineers try to uncover the secret of the new metal...
Garrett Putnam Serviss (1851-1929) was an American astronomer, popularizer of astronomy, and early science fiction writer. Serviss showed a talent for explaining scientific details in a way that made them clear to the ordinary reader.
Serviss' favorite topic was astronomy, and of the fifteen books he wrote, eight are devoted to it. He unquestionably was more widely read by the public on that topic than anyone prior to his time. He also wrote six works of fiction in his lifetime, all of which would today be classified as science fiction.