Our product – gold

Gold is unique. It is a scarce and beautiful metal with a rich cultural history. It is known as a store of wealth in times of uncertainty and it is the foundation on which nations have established their currencies.

One of the few metals that combine aesthetic, physical and chemical properties, gold is exceptionally malleable and ductile, conductive and does not corrode or tarnish. Its versatility makes it ideal for use in many industrial applications, and increasingly, it is being used in pharmaceutical research and nanotechnology, which ensures its place in the future.

Gold’s enduring value lies in its –

Scarcity

Gold’s scarcity makes it one of the most valuable metals in the world.

Gold makes up only 0.003 parts per million, or about 0.0000003%, of the Earth’s crust.
It is rarer to find a one ounce nugget of gold than a five carat diamond.
All of the gold ever mined would fit into a crate of 22 metres cubed and if melted down, would only fill about three and a half Olympic-size swimming pools.

Stability

Gold is a store of value. Considered a safe haven, gold investments are used to protect and enhance wealth over the long term.

As its price often moves contra-cyclically, it can protect or enhance the performance of an investment portfolio and reduce volatility, particularly during times of macro-economic and geopolitical instability and turmoil.
Diverse sources of demand give gold a particular resilience and the potential to deliver solid returns in various market conditions. Gold’s long-run return has been well above inflation for over 50 years, mirroring global GDP.

Symbolism

Gold’s ancient origins and cultural significance link our collective history with our present.

Around 187,200 tonnes of gold has been mined since the beginning of civilisation.
Half of all gold mined today is made into jewellery, which remains the single largest use for gold.
Gold’s conductivity of heat means that it rapidly reaches body temperature (37°C) – one of the reasons it has become valued for jewellery.

Sustainability

Gold has the potential to reduce investor exposure to climate-related risks.

Gold’s lack of downstream emissions has important implications for investors since gold holdings can reduce the overall carbon intensity of a portfolio’s value.
Gold’s value is less likely to be negatively impacted by a rising carbon price, offering investors a degree of insulation from the possible policy responses needed to accelerate the move to a decarbonised economy.

Versatility

Gold’s unique properties include malleability, conductivity and biocompatibility. This makes it invaluable across diverse industries from technology and aerospace to medicine.

Gold is extremely ductile. One ounce can be pulled into a wire stretching 80km (50 miles) long or hammered into a single sheet so thin that a stack of 200,000 sheets would only be about 2.5cm high.
As an efficient and reliable conductor and connector, gold is used in almost all electronic devices to enable the rapid, accurate transmission of data. Global annual technology demand grew by 7% in 2024, largely driven by continued growth in AI adoption.
Unlike many heavy metals, gold is non-toxic and inert. This has led to its increasing use in medical diagnostic testing, therapies and as drug carriers.

Source: World Gold Council: About Gold, www.gold.org