I think you're confused.

An RRSP is just a type of account, no different than any other investment holding account. It's just allowed to accrue all of its gains tax free until they are removed or turned into a RRIF when you hit 69 (or is it 70?). What you're worrying about is the stablity and credit worthiness of the investments being held in them.

If you believe in ARU then you could simply open a self-directed RSP (SDRSP) and hold ARU shares in it instead of your other account.

Instead of the hassle of holding physical gold, you could buy shares in the Streettracks Gold Trust (GLD on NYSE) which physicall holds tens of thousands of gold itself and whose price tracks the price of gold. It's currently around $80/share.

Cheers,

PW