About This Website
This website offers access to a wealth of information on the world's most widely-traded gold bars and the refiners that manufacture them.
For dealers, fabricators, investors and their advisers, refiners, mining companies, central banks, members of gold and jewellery associations and anyone else with an interest in the international gold bar market.
Structure
For ease of reference, the information is contained within two main sections:
"Basic Information": For those who want an introduction to the world of gold bars and accredited refiners.
"Further Information": For those, particularly industry entities, who want more detailed information.
Most sub-sections and supplements are in PDF format so that the information can be more clearly presented.
Manager
The website is compiled and managed by Grendon International Research Pty Ltd (GIR), which is based in Australia.
Although GIR has established the website as a stand alone project, it is closely associated with The Industry Collection of Gold Bars Worldwide, which is the source of many of the bar photographs used on the website.
The Industry Collection was established in 1993 by N M Rothschild & Sons (Australia) Limited as the Custodian, and GIR as the Curator. The collection currently contains over 1,000 bars from 135 manufacturers and issuers in 35 countries. The Perth Mint has been the Official Location since 2003, and the Custodian since 2005.
Corporate acknowledgements
Information on this website is provided free of charge.
For this reason, the website relies entirely on industry sponsors and advertising to cover the costs of its development, establishment, expansion and maintenance.
GIR is indebted to the World Gold Council as the major sponsor, AngloGold Ashanti Limited whose initial support enabled the project to get off the ground, and the corporate support of international gold dealers, refiners and other industry entities.
GIR is also greatly indebted to the featured gold-related associations and exchanges, and the featured refiners and issuers of bars, for providing information and photographs and reviewing relevant texts.
Sources of photographs on the home page: London Good Delivery bars (Rand Refinery Limited), kilobars (Metalor Technologies SA), minted bars (W C Heraeus GmbH).
Sources of publishing support. IT: Intrepide Design (Australia). Design: Graphic Elements Pty Ltd (Australia). Photography: Illustrations Ltd (Australia). Legal: Tait and Co (Australia). Website host: Web Hosting UK (United Kingdom).
General acknowledgements
Many individuals, on behalf of their companies, have provided information, photographs or support. While all cannot be acknowledged, especially those who have participated through corporate co-ordinators, the known support of the following is much appreciated.
Austria: Franz Artmueller, Kerry Tattersall
Belgium: Bruno Kussé, Marjolein Scheers
Germany: Ralf Drieselmann, Stephan Henkel, Heike Kern-Diefenthäler, L. Radowitz, David Reymann, Hans-Günter Ritter, Oliver Stoehr, Wolfgang Wrzesniok-Rossbach
Luxembourg: Adrien Biondi, Jean-Peter Kanstein, Diana Kratz
Netherlands: Sytze Riedstra, Yvonne Schultz
Spain: Julian Sarda
Sweden: Stig Larsson
Switzerland: Thomas Bachmann, Mehdi Barkhordar, Claudio Berger, Graziella Brolpito, Serge Gambs, Anne Garavaglia, Heinz Aeshbacher, Boldini Massimo, Erwin Diethelm, Theo Gautschi, Peter Häsler, Elisabetta Lavezzini, Umberto Magro, Michael Mesaric, Roland Mueller, Erhard Oberli, Markus Puentener, Perrine Schnegg, Daniela Weithaler, Pui Ling Comte Yip
United Kingdom: Anne-Marie Byrne, James Burton, Susanne Capano, Kevin Crisp, Natalie Dempster, David Gornall, John Mulligan, Stewart Murray, Ross Norman, Philip Olden, Katherine Pulvermacher, Peter Smith, Paul Walker, Simon Weeks
Canada: Lina Cerilli, Olivia Chen, Carl Daoust, John Dourekas, Ray Gaudet, Lydia Jay, David Madge
USA: Grant Angwin, Joann Arena, Kenneth Beilstein, John Burdsall, Jerry Gill, Bart Kitner, Natalia Lis, Barbara Moriarty, Jon Nadler, G. Miguel Perez-Santalla, Chuck Tatakis, James Zeng
Brazil: Antonio Carlos Aidar, Patricia Maria Brighenti, Larissa Brito Leal, Claudia Meinberg, Clara Nunes, Mário Rodrigo Leitzke Palhares, Ana Santos, Daniel da Cruz Gouveia Viera
Turkey: Saliha Ascensio, Omer Halaç, Erkan Topcu, Abdullah Tütüncü
United Arab Emirates: Moaz Barakat, Alison Burns, Chantelle Collins, Monisha Cooper, Colin Griffith, Ali Akbar Haroon, Samir Kharsa, Ian Macdonald, Soha Ragab, Mohamad Shakarchi, Kah Oon Teo
India: Madhusudan Daga, Shivram Kumar, Ajay Mitra, Sameer Patil, Keyur Shah
China: Roland Wang, Jesse Sheirer
Hong Kong: Y.H. Chan, Chan Siu Fun, Cynthia, K.C. Ho, Uve Kupka, Salina Lam, Ronald Leung, Henry Lo, Man Lui, C.Y. Lung, Aston Ng, Sam Ng, Lam Jin Ping, Daisy, Herbert Tsang Tat Nin, Anthony Tsang, Yu Kam Wing, Thomas
Indonesia: Nursyahrini Dewi, Robinson Tampubolon
Japan: Satoru Arakawa, Kazumi Hirano, Osamu Ikeda, Yosuke Inoue, Yasutake Katabe, Koji Matsuda, Taii Mazutani, Koji Miyake, Tetsuo Miyatake, Tomoyuki Okuchi, Ryoichi Seki, Tadashi Sugano, Ayako Takashina, Itsuo Toshima, Koji Uwatoko, Fumio Yamamoto, Noriko Yamanaka, Kenichi Yamashita
Singapore: Albert Cheng
South Korea: Sun-Yeul Hong, J.O. Kim, C.I. Moon
Thailand: Chalee Asavanant, Pichait Palanugool, Pisit Palanugool, Ratawong Pasawongse, Surachai Rochanakeekajon, Vichai Saengcharoentrakul, Jitti Tangsithpakdi, Vorachai Tangsithpakdi, Chaikit Tantikarn, Somphong Vajirakaphan
South Africa: Johan Botha, Chris Horsley, Fay Dixon, Mark Pool, John Reid, Thero Setiloane
Australia: Chantel Conchei, Tyson Cross, Ron Currie, Sonya Danaher, Jade Foo, Alan Frampton, Kendall Glossop, Edward Harbuz, David Harpur, Richard Hayes, Jackie Hitchens, Noel Holly, Tina Kircher, Alexandra Lucchesi, Veronica Maguire, Leonie Mirmikidis, Nigel Moffatt, Dan Morrison, Peter Schenk, Tim Spencer, Andrew Strelein, Bron Sucheki, Ian Tait, James Voon, David Woodford
Russia: Olga Izbash, Maria Konstantinova, Konstantin Mikhaltchuk, V.B. Rybkin, Dmitri Smirnov
Kazakhstan: Timur Alimbekov, Zhasulan Nakupov
Perspective on content
In having to deal with so many entities, especially in those countries where English is not the national language, some miscommunication may have inadvertently arisen.
While most dates are based on official records, a few rely on the memory of long-serving employees and may not be entirely accurate.
Grendon International Research Pty Ltd
Grendon International Research Pty Ltd (GIR) was established in Fremantle, Western Australia in 1989 by Nigel and Brigida Desebrock. Apart from acting as a consultant within the gold industry, GIR has published standard reference books, including Gold Refiners & Bars Worldwide (1991), The Industry Catalogue of Gold Bars Worldwide (1998), The Industry Catalogue of Gold Bullion Coins (1999) and An Introduction to the Indian Gold Market (2002).
Nigel Desebrock has been associated with the gold industry for more than 25 years. He previously worked for the gold marketing arm of the Chamber of Mines of South Africa in London and Johannesburg, where he became Manager, Investment Division (Worldwide), and for Gold Corporation (which included The Perth Mint and Australian Gold Refineries), where he became a Board Director and Managing Director of GoldCorp Australia.
Refer to Disclaimer
© Grendon International Research Pty Ltd 2008. All rights reserved.
AngloGold Ashanti Limited
provided important initial support.
