Rand Refinery processes approximately 460 tons of newly mined gold ore annually from South Africa as well as from other gold producing and mining countries. As part of our sustainability strategy, Rand Refinery has moved from sourcing purely South African precious metals for refining to sourcing these metals internationally. 39.2% of the material refined by Rand Refinery in 2006 was sourced from outside South African borders from countries in West, East and Southern Africa and the Far East. In excess of 80% of Africa’s gold production, excluding South Africa, is refined at our premises.
In our refinery, the Miller Chlorination Process is used to separate the impurities from the gold we receive from our customers on the mine. With this method, we are able to upgrade variable qualities of mine bullion to at least 99.5% pure gold, the standard that meets the minimum Good Delivery requirements for sale on world bullion markets. This gold can then be cast into 400 ounce bars, which are stamped, weighed and inspected prior to sale.
| 39.2% of the material refined by Rand Refinery in 2006 was sourced from outside South African borders |
However some customers, such as jewellers and other industrial end-users, require gold that is almost 100% pure, so further electrolytic refining, using the technique first developed by Dr Wohlwill in 1874, is necessary. The final product is 99.99% pure gold sponge that can then be melted to produce a range of value-added products such as one kilogram, five and ten tola bars, five and ten tael bars which are sold into international markets, and medallions and granular gold of various alloys, which are sold directly to customers from the jewellery manufacturing and dental industries. Rand Refinery also supplies certain value-added products such as gold in solution for use in industrial applications.
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