I can confirm the golden tools are in this game. However, it seems they may not be invincible as before. My golden axe broke after a few islands of heavy usage. It came as a shock given the whole for the gold axe before was its durability. The recipe seems to only be a golden nugget and a standard version of the tool in question. I don't know if the other gold tools break as well, but I'm thinking likely.
So in this case the easy-to-make recipe may be more valuable than the tool itself. Of course the requirements are high for each item.