LBMA Good Delivery

What the LBMA does

The London Bullion Market Association sets the rules for the world's largest over-the-counter gold and silver market. Its Good Delivery List names the refiners whose bars are accepted in London without further testing. To stay listed, refiners must pass regular checks on assaying, bar quality, financial strength and responsible sourcing.

A Good Delivery gold bar weighs about 400 troy ounces (roughly 12.4 kg) with a minimum fineness of 995. A silver bar is about 1,000 troy ounces. These are the bars behind the global spot price, not the ones you will buy at a dealer.

Australian refiners on the list

Australia is one of the world's largest gold producers, and two Australian refiners appear on the LBMA's current gold Good Delivery List:

• The Perth Mint (Gold Corporation), refining at Perth Airport, Western Australia, with a first listing in 2003.
• ABC Refinery (ABC Refinery (Australia) Pty Ltd), Sydney, listed since 2015.

Listing applies to the refinery's large bars. It tells you the refiner meets a world standard, which is a good sign for its smaller retail bars too, but those small bars are not themselves Good Delivery bars. When buying a 100 g or 1 kg bar, a brand from a listed refiner makes resale easier and usually narrows the bid-ask spread.

The LBMA Gold Price

The LBMA Gold Price is a benchmark set twice each London business day, at 10:30 and 15:00 London time, through an auction run by ICE Benchmark Administration. The LBMA Silver Price is set once a day at noon. They are published in US dollars, pounds and euros, not in AUD. For Australians the afternoon London price lands late at night or early in the morning, so most local buyers simply follow the live gold price in AUD.

What it means for you

For a private buyer in Australia, Good Delivery is a quality filter, not a product. Practical steps:

1. Prefer bars stamped by a refiner on the current LBMA list; the list changes, so check it when buying from a less familiar brand.
2. Compare cast and minted bars in gold bars and silver in silver bars.
3. Judge the deal on the delivered price per fine ounce and the premium over spot.