The Good Delivery specification is a set of rules issued by the
London Bullion Market Association
The London Bullion Market Association (now known simply as LBMA), established in 1987, is the international trade association representing the global Over The Counter (OTC) bullion market, and defines itself as "the global authority on precious ...
(LBMA) describing the physical characteristics of
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 ...
and
silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
bars used in
settlement
Settlement may refer to:
*Human settlement, a community where people live
*Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation
*Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money
*Settlement (litigatio ...
in the wholesale
London bullion market
The London bullion market is a wholesale over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter market for the trading of gold, silver, platinum and palladium. Trading is conducted amongst members of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), tightly ov ...
. It also puts forth requirements for listing on the LBMA Good Delivery List of approved
refineries
A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value.
Types of refineries
Different types of refineries a ...
.
Good Delivery bars are notable for their large size and high purity.
''The Good Delivery Rules for Gold and Silver Bars''
The entire Good Delivery specification is contained in the LBMA document titled ''The Good Delivery Rules for Gold and Silver Bars: Specifications for Good Delivery Bars and Application Procedures for Listing''. The document includes specific requirements regarding the
fineness
The fineness of a precious metal object (coin, bar, jewelry, etc.) represents the weight of ''fine metal'' therein, in proportion to the total weight which includes alloying base metals and any impurities. Alloy metals are added to increase hard ...
, weight, dimensions, appearance, marks, and production of gold and silver bars. It specifies procedures for weighing, packing, and delivery. It also describes policies for ensuring refiners' compliance with the specifications.
The current edition of the ''Good Delivery Rules'' was published in January 2023.
Basic specifications
Gold bars
* Fineness: minimum of 995.0
parts per thousand
In science and engineering, the parts-per notation is a set of pseudo-units to describe the small values of miscellaneous dimensionless quantities, e.g. mole fraction or mass fraction.
Since these fractions are quantity-per-quantity measures ...
fine gold
* Marks:
serial number
A serial number (SN) is a unique identifier used to ''uniquely'' identify an item, and is usually assigned incrementally or sequentially.
Despite being called serial "numbers", they do not need to be strictly numerical and may contain letters ...
, refiner's
hallmark
A hallmark is an official Mark (sign), mark or series of marks struck on items made of metal, mostly to certify the content of noble metals—such as platinum, gold, silver and in some nations, palladium. In a more general sense, the term ''Wikti ...
, fineness, year of manufacture
* Gold content:
* Recommended dimensions
** Length (top):
** Width (top):
** Height:
Silver bars
* Fineness: minimum of 999.0 parts per thousand silver
* Marks: serial number, refiner's hallmark, fineness, year of manufacture
* Silver content: (Bars manufactured after January 1, 2008); (Bars manufactured prior to January 1, 2008); recommended
* Recommended dimensions
** Length (top):
** Width (top):
** Height:
Weight is not recommended to be stamped on bars of either gold or silver, because bars will be officially weighed on delivery, and this weight, which may be different from that originally marked, will prevail. A bar's weight may also change by handling or sampling, thus invalidating the original mark.
Non–Good Delivery
Bars that do not comply with Good Delivery rules are termed Non–Good Delivery. If they are similar to Good Delivery bars but do not fully meet the requirements, they must be stamped with "NGD" to distinguish them from conforming bars.
LBMA Good Delivery List
The LBMA maintains two Good Delivery Lists of approved
refineries
A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value.
Types of refineries
Different types of refineries a ...
(one for gold and one for silver) that meet certain minimum criteria (age, net worth, and production volume) and have demonstrated their ability to produce Good Delivery bars. Listed companies agree to submit to monitoring by the LBMA. Those listed companies that refuse to participate in regular monitoring are removed from the Good Delivery List and added to the Former List.
Good Delivery Referees
Five companies are accredited by the LBMA as Good Delivery Referees
[London Bullion Market Association]
LBMA Referees
/ref> in order to supervise the Good Delivery System and monitor the companies with Good Delivery certification. The referees' main functions are:
* Technical assessment of applicants for listing
* Proactive monitoring of refiners on the Good Delivery List
* Provision of technical advice on a range of topics
The companies accredited as referees are:
* Argor-Heraeus SA (Switzerland)
* Metalor Technologies SA (Switzerland)
* PAMP SA (Switzerland)
* Rand Refinery
Rand Refinery (Pty) Limited is the world's largest integrated single-site precious metals refining and smelting complex. It was established in 1920 to refine gold within South Africa, which had previously been refined in London.
History
It was ...
(PTY) Ltd (South Africa)
* Tanaka Kikinzoku
The Tanaka Kikinzoku Group, founded in 1885, is a Japanese manufacturer of precious metals materials focusing mainly on products for the electronics, semiconductor and automotive industries. Tanaka's European subsidiary is Tanaka Kikinzoku Inter ...
Kogyo K.K. (Japan)
See also
* Doré bar
A doré bar is a semi-pure alloy of gold and silver. It is usually created at the site of a mine and then transported to a refinery for further purification.
The proportions of silver and gold can vary widely. Doré bars weigh as much as 25&nbs ...
* Gold as an investment
Of all the precious metals, gold is the most popular as an investment. Investors generally buy gold as a way of diversifying risk, especially through the use of futures contracts and derivatives. The gold market is subject to speculation and ...
* Gold bar
A gold bar, also known as gold bullion or a gold ingot, is a quantity of refined metallic gold that can be shaped in various forms, produced under standardized conditions of manufacture, labeling, and record-keeping. Larger varieties of gold ...
* Gold reserve
A gold reserve is the gold held by a national central bank, intended mainly as a guarantee to redeem promises to pay depositors, note holders (e.g. paper money), or trading peers, during the eras of the gold standard, and also as a store of v ...
* Gold standard
A gold standard is a backed currency, monetary system in which the standard economics, economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the ...
* Inflation hedge
An inflation hedge is an investment intended to protect the investor against— hedge—a decrease in the purchasing power of money—inflation. There is no investment known to be a successful hedge in all inflationary environments, just as there i ...
* London Platinum and Palladium Market
The London Platinum and Palladium Market (LPPM) is an over-the-counter trading centre for platinum and palladium and a commodity trading association. London has always been a centre for the research in and development of most of the platinum grou ...
* Palladium as an investment
Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), wh ...
* Platinum as an investment
Investment in platinum is often compared in financial history to gold and silver, which were both known to be used as money in ancient civilizations. Experts posit that platinum is about 15–20 times scarcer than gold and approximately 60–100 ...
* Refining (metallurgy)
In metallurgy, refining consists of purifying an impure metal. It is to be distinguished from other processes such as smelting and calcining in that those two involve a chemical change to the raw material, whereas in refining the final mater ...
* Silver as an investment
Silver may be used as an investment like other precious metals. It has been regarded as a form of money and store of value for more than 4,000 years, although it lost its role as legal tender in developed country, developed countries when the use ...
* Silver standard
The silver standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of silver. Silver was far more widespread than gold as the monetary standard worldwide, from the Sumerians 3000 BC until 1873. Following t ...
References
External links
LBMA – Good Delivery Explained
LBMA – Good Delivery Rules
{{DEFAULTSORT:Good Delivery
Gold
Silver
Precious metals as investment
International standards