Rand Refinery (Pty) Limited is the largest integrated single-site precious metals refining and smelting complex in the world. It was established in 1920 to refine gold within

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

which until that time had been refined in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

History

It was established in 1920 in

Germiston Germiston, also known as kwaDukathole, is a small city in the East Rand region of Gauteng, South Africa, administratively forming part of the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality since the latter's establishment in 2000. It functions a ...

, South Africa, by the Chamber of Mines of

to refine all the gold produced by South Africa's gold mines instead of in London. As of 1919, the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...

would receive consignments of raw gold from the producers and issue it to individual refineries, refined and then returned to the Bank for sale, and the hope was that after the Rand Refinery was built, the gold industry would still be financed in London and that the refined gold would be sold in the latter. On 27 November 1920, Rand Refinery Ltd was registered as a private company, the capital raised from shares of gold mining companies that were members of the Chamber of Mines. Building of the facilities commenced in August 1920. Low quality ingots would be received from the gold mines and then refined to 99.6% purity and then sold to the

South African Reserve Bank The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is the central bank of South Africa. It was established in 1921 after Parliament passed an act, the "Currency and Bank Act of 10 August 1920", as a direct result of the abnormal monetary and financial condi ...

for sale around the world on the London and Zurich bullion markets. By 1922, the supply of gold to London was almost nonexistent and impacted the two major UK refiners,

Johnson Matthey Johnson Matthey is a British multinational speciality chemicals and sustainable technologies company headquartered in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Early years Jo ...

and

Rothschild Rothschild () is a name derived from the German ''zum rothen Schild'' (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "with the red sign", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by sign ...

Products

In recent years, Rand Refinery has evolved from a pure refiner of doré to a more rounded company with an emphasis on beneficiation. It facilitates a wide range of value-added products including: * cast bars * minted bars * minted coins * coin blanks and medallions * semi-fabricated products for the jewellery manufacturing industry By law the

South African Mint The South African Mint is responsible for minting all coins of the South African rand on behalf of its owner the South African Reserve Bank. Located in Centurion, Gauteng near South Africa's administrative capital Pretoria, the mint manufactures ...

Company is the only company allowed to manufacture South African legal tender coins such as the world famous

Krugerrand The Krugerrand (; ) is a South African coin, first minted on 3 July 1967 to help market South African gold and produced by Rand Refinery and the South African Mint. The name is a compound of ''Paul Kruger'', the former President of the South A ...

. All the gold used to manufacture the coins is supplied by Rand Refinery, who has been appointed the sole supplier of bullion Krugerrands to primary distributors both locally and internationally. In addition to its smelting and refining services Rand Refinery offers metallurgical, logistics and vault services. It acts as an agent for its precious metal depositing customers and its global markets business unit markets all the precious metal produced by the refinery.

References

External links

Rand Refinery websiteSAMINT websiteRand Refinery - world`s largest gold refinery
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