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Services

Sourcing

Operating since 1920, Rand Refinery has refined more than one third of the worlds mined gold. Today, Rand Refinery has become the refining hub of Africa. Our refinery is located close to OR Tambo airport, in Germiston, South Africa. We are the only LBMA accredited refinery in Africa who is also accredited with COMEX, TOCOM and SGE. This means that gold fabricated by Rand Refinery can be used for delivery to these exchanges.

Rand Refinery is one of five LBMA referees, meaning that its laboratory is considered adequate to adjudicate disputes on metal content between LBMA members. We have been sourcing gold from other countries since 1998, and our logistics procedures and processes have proven to be effective in ensuring fast and secure transport of material to our refinery and smelter. Responsible sourcing practices are a key part of our corporate culture and we comply with the requirements of LBMA responsible gold and silver guidelines and the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas. No gold can be accepted by Rand Refinery until we are satisfied that it is responsibly procured or produced. 

We have a proud history of sourcing gold from South Africa and other Countries. While our African footprint is comprehensive, our networks allow us global reach, and we source material from as far afield as the Americas and East Asia.

Refining

The refinery provides a refining service for mine doré deposits, secondary jewellery scrap and alluvial deposits ranging from 10% to 99% gold content. The Miller Chlorination Process is employed to upgrade the gold bullion to 99.50% purity. Subsequent to the Miller refining process, gold electrolysis is employed to produce +99.99% pure gold for the production of gold bars, granules and coins.

Rand Refinery also utilises a Wet Chemical Refining Plant for high purity gold material. The Wet Chemical Refining Plant provides an effective gold electrolyte solution treatment route, producing 99.9% gold precipitate and Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) in concentrate.

The 60 tpa (ton per annum) Silver refining facility is utilised for the refining of Miller silver chloride as well as silver doré from depositors to produce 99.99% silver crystals. Silver granules and silver good delivery bars are produced as final products from the silver crystal.
The refinery continually investigates refining technology developments that could make its operations more efficient and cost effective with high volume production of +99.995% gold and +99.998% silver granules.

Smelting

The Smelter provides a Smelting service. Established in 1966, to recover Au, Ag, Pt and Pd from mine by-products and Rand Refinery’s own sweeps. The smelter sources materials from customers domestically and from international customers in Africa, Australia, Far East, Middle East, North and South America. Equipped with both Pyro and Hydro metallurgical capabilities, the smelting complex is capable of treating the following materials, Borax slags, Flue dusts, PC scrap, Milled concentrates, Carbonaceous materials, Refinery Sweeps, Copper Anode Slimes, etc. The integration of smelter and refinery offers an opportunity of a one stop shop for material processing and precious metal recovery.

More information

Fabrication

Fabrication adds value to the gold leaving the site.

Our semi-finished products include granules, gold curated alloys, wire, coin blanks, and minted bars.

Rand Refinery produces cast bars of 100g, 1kg, and 12.5 kg. Krugerrand blanks are manufactured at Rand Refinery and then minted by the SA Mint . They are then distributed by Rand Refinery to a network of coin dealers.

For further details on the products fabricated by Rand Refinery, see the Products section in the menu.

Value-Added Products

We are focused on continually refining our fabrication process, turning our internationally demanded refined gold and silver into innovative value-added products that represent pure refinement. 

Technical Services

Critical to Rand Refinery’s smelting and refining activities, is prompt and accurate sampling and analysis of the deposits that the company receives. Our technical services ensure that the products supplied to the London market comply to the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) requirements. Our technical service unit is one of the five LBMA-approved London Good Delivery referees, and is the only one in the southern hemisphere. We’re also accredited to supply London Good Delivery silver bars to the London Metal Exchange (LME), Comex Bars to the New York Mercantile Exchange (COMEX Division), our one kilogram bars to the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM).

In addition to that, we have a ISO 9001 quality certification. This unit consists of traditional Fire Assay and Wet Chemical sections combined with modern Spectroscopic techniques.

The technical services department is responsible for the analysis of all material that enters and leaves the Smelter and Refinery, as well as process control analysis. Our fire assay process evaluates a deposit on arrival and departure. All deposits are policed at every stage of Rand Refinery’s operations. Our staff ensures a same day valuation for depositors.

We have an accredited laboratory that can analyse for both gold and silver in accordance to the best standards.  We can produce reference materials that can be used for instrument calibrations etc.  We can also analyse for high grade and low-grade precious bearing material and chemical composition of such materials and we can conduct investigations for precious metals

We generate specialized products that will be needed for the nano-particle technologies. We also offer proper sampling and evaluation of customer materials by using the Theory of Sampling.

Technical Services

Critical to Rand Refinery’s smelting and refining activities, is prompt and accurate sampling and analysis of the deposits that the company receives. Our technical services ensure that the products supplied to the London market comply to the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) requirements. Our technical service unit is one of the five LBMA-approved London Good Delivery referees, and is the only one in the southern hemisphere. We’re also accredited to supply London Good Delivery silver bars to the London Metal Exchange (LME), Comex Bars to the New York Mercantile Exchange (COMEX Division), our one kilogram bars to the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM).

In addition to that, we have a ISO 9001 quality certification. This unit consists of traditional Fire Assay and Wet Chemical sections combined with modern Spectroscopic techniques.

 The technical services department is responsible for the analysis of all material that enters and leaves the Smelter and Refinery, as well as process control analysis. Our fire assay process evaluates a deposit on arrival and departure. All deposits are policed at every stage of Rand Refinery’s operations. Our staff ensures a same day valuation for depositors.

We have an accredited laboratory that can analyse for both gold and silver in accordance to the best standards.  We can produce reference materials that can be used for instrument calibrations etc.  We can also analyse for high grade and low-grade precious bearing material and chemical composition of such materials.

From the technical side, we can conduct investigations for precious metals and generate specialized products that will be needed for the nano-particle technologies. We also offer proper sampling and evaluation of customer materials by using the Theory of Sampling.

Vault and Logistics

Rand Refinery operates a highly secure, and low profile vault on the airside at OR Tambo International Airport with direct access to the vault from venues worldwide. Rand Refinery has direct road and air access for the local and international markets in neighboring countries. This high tech, high security facility is a one stop shop service provider to importers and exporters of precious metals, jewellery and precious stones offering services including:

    • Freight forwarding and customs clearing
    • Armoured vehicle and helicopter transportation of cargo on the airside and landside
    • Secure helicopter and fixed wing landing facility
    • 24/7 surveillance and monitoring of cargo
    • Professional and highly trained skilled staff
    • An accredited security service provider to assist in the escorting and monitoring of cargo on the airside.
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Unathi Sihlahla

BA Hons Industrial Psychology, BA Human Resource Management

General Manager: Human Resources

Unathi holds an Honours Degree in Industrial Psychology from UNISA and has also completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resource Management from Nelson Mandela University. She is an experienced HR professional with extensive experience in using Strategic Human Resources to drive value creation. Unathi has worked across a variety of different industries with vast geographical coverage – mainly multinational companies where she has provided HR support to the local South African market and the African continent with some regional responsibilities in EMEA. Her career started in the Uitenhage plant of Volkswagen Group South Africa, she has worked for and occupied generalist and niche HR positions in companies such as Sasol Limited, the JSE, ABB South Africa, BASF and Roche Diagnostics.

Unathi was appointed to the position of General Manager: Human Resources of Rand Refinery with effect from 1 March 2021.

Terance Nkosi

BEng (Chemical), BEng Honours (Environment), IMDP, PGDip (Human Sciences), MBA

Executive Head: SHEQ and Technical Assurance

Terance started his career at Samancor as a graduate metallurgist in January 2000. He later joined Rand Refinery as a plant metallurgist in August 2001, where he held various positions with the department. He was appointed as the Head: Smelter in May 2008 which is the position that he held until January 2016 when he was appointed as the Executive Head: SHEQ and Evaluation.

In 2012, Terance was nominated as the rising star in the minerals and mining category. Since the commencement of his career, he has been involved in the successful completion of several capital projects.

Peter Bouwer

General Manager: Refinery and Fabrication

Peter’s career initially commenced in 1992 as junior engineer with Sasol Secunda in the engineering department, with later roles in the business process information and strategy departments.  From 2004 he held positions in strategy develop at Sasol Technology, Sasol Head Office and Sasol Petroleum International before joining Rand Refinery in 2010.  In his various roles, Peter has worked in the fields of electrical and instrumentation engineering, process control systems, business information systems, business intelligence, corporate strategy development, operations management and manufacturing. His business experience spans the coal mining, energy and petro-chemical industries, upstream oil and gas industries as well as the precious metals refining industry.

Peter was appointed to the position of Chief Strategy Officer of Rand Refinery with effect from March 2010.  From 1 December 2014 he fulfilled the role of Chief Operating Officer of Rand Refinery with the appointment into his current role as General Manager: Refinery and Fabrication from 1 November 2016. Peter also served as director on the board of the Ekurhuleni Jewellery Project (EJP) NGO.

Peter has a passion to find the synergy in teams that will unlock desired performance and meaningful work experiences for every team member.

Collin Naicker

HND Mechanical Engineering, BCom, MBA, Government Certificate of Competency (Factories)

General Manager: Smelter and Engineering Services

Collin is a certified Mechanical Engineer with 28 years’ experience in the manufacturing, minerals beneficiation and the metals industries. He also completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce (BCom) with specialisation in Management, Transport Economics and Logistics from the University of South Africa in 2006 and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business’s in 2009. Collin also holds a government certificate of competency (GCC) for the factories environment.

Collin’s career initially commenced with Bell Equipment (Pty) Ltd, then BHP Billiton’s Aluminium South Africa and later Delta EMD Limited, where he held various technical and senior management positions in Engineering, Capital Projects, Business Improvement, Maintenance, Reliability, Production and Operations Management. Collin also held the senior executive role of Operations Director for JSE listed Delta EMD Limited and served on the Board of Directors.

In May 2016, Collin resigned as Operations Director of Delta EMD Limited to join Rand Refinery on 1 June 2016, as Head: Asset Care and Capital Projects. Since 1 November 2016, Collin has taken on the executive role of General Manager: Smelter and Engineering Services.

Herman Perry CA (SA)

Non-executive Director – Alternates

Herman Perry is a Chartered Accountant by profession with over 15 years’ experience within the finance and treasury functions of gold mining Companies. He has been in the finance function at Harmony Gold for the last 9 years, having previously worked in similar functions at AngloGold Ashanti. In addition to directorships of certain Harmony Group Companies, he is a director and member of the Investment Committee at the Rand Mutual Assurance Company and is a member of the Audit Committee at Rand Mutual Assurance Company.

Herman served as an alternate director to Marian van der Walt and is now alternate director to Harry Mashego.

Alexandra Strobl (46) CA (SA)

Non-executive Director – Alternates

Alex has in-depth mining operational African experience gained during her 16 years employment at AngloGold Ashanti focussed on the Continental African operations. She has previously been employed both at mine sites and at regional level in a senior financial management capacity and also led the Continental African regional supply chain function for 3 years. In 2019, Alex was appointed vice-president: group financial reporting.

Alex qualified as a charted accountant in 2009 after completing her articles at KPMG. Alex is an alternate director to Ian Kramer.

Vitesh Maharaj BSc

Non-executive Director

Vits was head of asset strategy and reliability at Angle American Corporation and head of engineering at Anglo American Platinum and previously held various operational and head-office roles at De Beers. He is currently senior vice-president of technical at AngloGold Ashanti. During his 27-year career he worked both on operational support and projects.

Vits has both multi-product (diamonds, gold and platinum) and multinational exposure with a deep understanding of all facets of the mining business. Vits joined Rand Refinery in May 2021 as a non-executive director and a permanent member of the Social and Ethics Committee

Mpho Mashatola CA (SA)

Non-executive Director

Mpho is a qualified CA(SA) and completed her tertiary education at the University of the Witwatersrand. She spent 6 years at KPMG South Africa in the Energy and Natural Resources business unit. After completing her articles in 2014 she was seconded to KPMG LLP in Detroit. She was promoted to an audit manager in 2015. During this time, she was responsible for managing JSE and NYSE listed clients within the gold mining industry. On 11 June 2018 she was appointed Group Financial Controller at DRDGOLD Limited and is involved in IFRS and US financial reporting, integrated reporting, sustainability reporting, technical accounting matters and Sarbanes Oxley compliance.

Mark Burrell

BCom (Acct), MDP (Mining Management)

Non-executive Director

Mark joined DRDGOLD in 2004 to assist with the evaluation of their ERPM operation and thereafter transferred to Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mining Company as Financial Manager. In 2012, Mark was appointed as Financial Director of DRDGOLD’s Ergo Mining. He is a director of East Rand Proprietary Mines, Crown Consolidated Gold Recoveries, Ergo Business Development Academy and Ergo Mining.

Mark was appointed as an alternate director to Themba Gwebu on 24 May 2012 and currently serves as an alternate director to Charles Symons.

Mark joined the Board of Rand Refinery on 24 May 2012.

Ian Kramer (50) CA (SA)

Non-Executive Directors

Ian qualified as a charted accountant in 1993. He spent 20 years at KPMG, 11 years as an external audit partner as part of KPMG’s mining group. During this time he was seconded to Canada and subsequently appointed the KPMG head of mining for Africa. Ian joined AngloGold Ashanti in 2012 as vice- president: finance. He was promoted to senior vice- president: group finance in 2019 and interim chief financial officer from September 2020. Ian has considerable experience in IFRS as well as US GAAP.

Harry Ephraim "Mashego" Mashego

BA (Education), BA (Hons), (Human Resources Management) Joint Management Development Programme, Global Executive Development Programme

Non-Executive Directors

Mashego joined Harmony in 2005 and has been responsible for group human resources development, transformation and, most recently, government relations. He has more than 20 years’ experience in human resources, acquired largely in the industrial sector. Mashego was appointed as an executive director at Harmony on 24 February 2010.

Mashego joined the Board of Rand Refinery on 9 August 2017, and is also a member of the Social and Ethics Committee.

Pieter Henning BCom, BCompt (Hons), CA (SA)

Non-Executive Directors

Pieter is the divisional Chief Financial Officer of Sibanye Gold Limited’s (‘Sibanye’) gold and uranium business and is a qualified Chartered Accountant (South Africa). He started his career at KPMG Inc. after which he joined Western Areas Limited in 2005 as Financial Manager. He was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Western Areas Limited in January 2007 and, with Gold Fields Limited (‘Gold Fields’) acquiring Western Areas Limited later that year, he joined the Gold Fields financial reporting team. From 2009 to 2013, Pieter was part of the Gold Fields corporate finance division responsible for various capital raisings in the international and local debt markets. With the unbundling of Sibanye in 2013, Pieter was appointed as Vice President: Corporate Finance responsible for finance and the external financial reporting functions of Sibanye.

Pieter was appointed on 21 October 2005 as a non-executive director of Rand Refinery. He serves as a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and the Remuneration and Nominations Committee.

Fatima Daniels BSc, CA (SA)

Independent Non-Executive Director

After spending several years in the auditing profession, Fatima went on to lecture in financial accounting and then spent over a decade in various positions in corporate South Africa. Fatima currently serves on several Boards.

Fatima has previously served on the Boards of Telkom, Metropolitan, Woolworths, South African Reserve Bank, SA Mint, SA Banknote, and Impala Platinum Holdings. She is currently a director of the MTN Group (various subsidiaries), Clicks Group, MMI Holdings, Tongaat Hulett, AfriSam Holdings and JSE Ltd Board.

Fatima was appointed as a non-executive director of Rand Refinery in June 2012 and also serves as the Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Rams Ramashia BIuris, LLB, LLM

Independent Chairman

Rams has held senior positions in various international and domestic Non-Governmental organisations which he used as a platform for anti-apartheid activism prior to 1994, culminating in his election as founding President of the South African National NGO Coalition (SANGOCO). Following the democratisation of the South African society, he was appointed Deputy Director-General of the National Department of Labour and later elevated to the position of Director-General (DG) of the Labour Department.

As DG of Labour, he was Government Chief Negotiator and overall Convenor of the government caucus at the National Economic and Labour Council (NEDLAC). He also represented the South African Government at the International Labour Organisation (ILO). As Labour DG, he also presided over the process of amending the Labour Relations Act (LRA) and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), respectively.

Prior to joining government Rams also served on the then Deputy President Mbeki’s Advisory Committee on the National Development Agency (NDA) as Head of its legal task team.

In 2004, Rams was appointed Regional President of BP Africa and Executive Chairman of the Board of BP Southern Africa. In 2011, he became non-executive chairman of BP Southern Africa.

Rams is a practicing advocate of the High Court and member of the Pretoria Society of Advocates.

He is a non-executive director of AECI where he serves on its Risk, Social and Ethics, Remuneration and Nomination Committees, respectively. He is also a non-executive director of Anglo American South Africa, where he chairs its Social and Ethics Committee and also serves on its Risk and Audit Committee. Rams is also a non-executive director of the Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC).

Rams also serves as a member of the NDA Ethics Board chaired by former Constitutional Court Judge Yvonne Mokgoro and is a member of the Human Resource Development Council.

Rams was appointed as the Independent Chairman of the Board of Rand Refinery in October 2010 where he also serves as Chairman of its Remuneration and Nominations Committee.

Dean Subramanian BCom, Hons Accounting CA (SA)

Chief Financial Officer

Dean Subramanian is a Chartered Accountant and has extensive CFO and Finance Executive experience.

Dean Subramanian held the position of Chief Financial Officer at ArcelorMittal listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Dean also held the position of Finance Director at Aveng Steel, an operating group of Aveng Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Dean worked both in the construction and manufacturing divisions of Aveng. Prior to that, Dean held various positions in the Banking, Construction, Aviation and Property industry. Dean has extensive experience in Africa and served his articles at EY in Johannesburg where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant; he was seconded by EY to New York where he worked.

Dean joined Rand Refinery in the position of CFO and Executive Director on 1 August 2018.

Praveen Baijnath PMD, MBA

Chief Executive

Praveen is a Chemical Engineer with more than 30 years’ experience in minerals beneficiation, smelting and refining, and the chemical process industry. He attended University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business Program (PMD) in 1995 and in the year 2000 attained an MBA with distinction from the University of Wales.

Praveen Baijnath was appointed as Chief Executive of Rand Refinery on 1 June 2015. He is also an Executive Director on the Rand Refinery Board. His other board directorships include Prestige Bullion and the Ekurhuleni Jewellery Project.

He was previously (2009-2015) Group CEO of JSE listed Delta EMD and remains on the Board of Delta EMD Limited as independent, non-executive director. He also served as CEO of Gold Reef Speciality Chemicals. His previous roles spanning a period of 20 years was with Huntsman Corporation in process and chemical engineering, plant management and executive management roles in Operations, EHS, Technical and Strategic Development.

He is a member of the South African Institute of Directors, South African Institute of Chemical Engineers and an Associate of The Institution of Chemical Engineer (IChemE).

Independent Bodies

Available from:

100g and 1000g Purity can vary from 9950, 9990 to 9999

International Bullion Banks


Responsible gold and silver policy statement

Rand Refinery is opposed to activities which, directly or indirectly, finance or benefit armed conflict and the extreme levels of violence which contribute to abuses of human rights. Rand Refinery is also committed to sourcing mined gold from operations which conform to internationally-accepted environmental practices.

Consequently, Rand Refinery commits to refraining from knowingly sourcing gold and silver bearing material from regions and operations which contribute to the financing of conflict or the degradation of the environment and further commits itself to comply with the relevant United Nations sanctions, recommendations and protocols from other appropriate supra-national bodies, in this regard.

In the event that gold and silver bearing material is sourced from conflict-affected and high risk areas, Rand Refinery will neither tolerate nor by any means profit from, contribute to, assist with or facilitate the commission by any party of any forms of inhuman treatment, any form of forced labour, use of child labour, gross human rights violations, war crimes or other crimes against humanity.

Rand Refinery will not tolerate any direct or indirect support to non-state armed groups through the extraction, transport, trade, logistical assistance, handling or export of gold and silver bearing material by such groups or their affiliates. Rand Refinery will apply a robust Know Your Customer (KYC) policy in order to identify upstream suppliers where dealings with such suppliers would be in contravention of this policy, would represent money laundering or other related criminal activity. Rand Refinery will not engage with suppliers identified in this way and will not accept refining or smelting deposits from such suppliers.