Key takeaways
- Bullion terminology becomes much easier once weight, purity and pricing terms are separated.
- A troy ounce is approximately 31.1035 grams.
- Fineness describes purity; premium describes the difference between metal reference value and a physical product quote.
- Assay, hallmark and refiner marks serve different verification roles.
Core terms
- Assay — testing used to determine the composition or purity of a metal.
- Bullion — precious metal valued primarily for its metal content, commonly in bars or coins.
- Fineness — purity expressed in parts per thousand, such as 999.9.
- Fine weight — the amount of pure precious metal contained in a product.
- Hallmark — an official or recognised mark indicating compliance with a precious-metal standard.
- Karat — gold purity expressed on a 24-part scale.
- Kilobar — a 1,000 gram bullion bar.
- Premium — the amount added to (or sometimes discount from) a metal reference value for a physical product.
- Refiner — an entity that processes precious-metal material into specified purity and product forms.
- Serial number — a unique identifier used on many professional bullion products.
- Spot — market pricing for near-term settlement.
- Tola — a traditional South Asian and Gulf-region weight unit; ten-tola bars are a common regional format.
- Troy ounce — the precious-metals weight unit equal to approximately 31.1035 grams.
Benchmark and fixing
A benchmark is a formally determined reference price. In precious metals, the term “fixing” is still widely used informally for benchmark-setting or for fixing a transaction price at an agreed reference moment.
Good Delivery
LBMA Good Delivery refers to a professional-market standard and approved refiner lists for qualifying large wholesale gold and silver bars used in the London market.