Glossary of trade terminology.

The vocabulary of institutional metals trading, defined without jargon, for counterparties, treasury teams and compliance functions.

Allocated storage: Vaulting arrangement in which specific, identified bars are held in the owner's name and segregated from the vault operator's balance sheet. The owner holds title to identified metal rather than a claim against the operator.
Assay: The analytical determination of the precious metal content of a sample. Fire assay is the reference method for doré and bullion; instrumental techniques such as ICP-OES and XRF provide supporting or non-destructive analysis.
Bill of lading: Transport document issued by a carrier acknowledging receipt of cargo. In documentary settlement it functions as evidence of shipment and, where issued to order, as a document of title.
Chain of custody: The unbroken documentary record of who held a consignment, when, and under what controls, from origin through every transfer to final delivery.
Contained metal: The quantity of payable metal within a consignment of concentrate or unrefined material, established by assay and, for concentrates, adjusted for moisture.
Doré: Semi-pure alloy poured at or near a mine site, typically containing gold and silver at a fineness well below refinery standards. Doré requires refining before it can enter the London market.
Escrow: Settlement arrangement in which funds are held by an independent third party and released only when contractually defined delivery conditions are evidenced.
Fineness: The purity of a precious metal expressed in parts per thousand. A fineness of 995 denotes 99.5 per cent purity.
Good delivery: The London Bullion Market Association specification governing the weight, fineness, marking and appearance of bars acceptable in the London market, and the accreditation of the refiners entitled to produce them.
KYC: Know Your Customer. The verification of a counterparty's identity, ultimate beneficial ownership, source of funds and sanctions exposure before a business relationship is established.
LBMA: The London Bullion Market Association, the trade body that maintains the good delivery lists and the responsible sourcing programme governing the wholesale precious metals market.
Letter of credit: Bank undertaking to pay a seller against presentation of conforming documents. It substitutes bank credit for counterparty credit and is the customary settlement instrument in cross-border commodity trade.
OECD Due Diligence Guidance: The internationally recognised framework for responsible mineral supply chains from conflict-affected and high-risk areas, structured around a five-step risk management process.
Payable percentage: The proportion of contained metal in a concentrate for which the buyer pays, reflecting expected recovery losses in refining.
Provenance: Documented evidence of a consignment's origin, licensing and lawful export, distinct from the transport record that follows it.
Refining charge: The per-unit charge levied by a refinery for converting delivered material into marketable metal, quoted alongside the treatment charge in concentrate contracts.
Spot price: The price for immediate delivery of a metal, as distinct from a forward or benchmark fixing price.
Treatment charge: The fee a smelter or refinery charges for processing a tonne of concentrate, deducted from the value of contained metal in settlement.
Troy ounce: The unit of weight used in precious metals trading, equal to approximately 31.1035 grams. It is distinct from the avoirdupois ounce used in general commerce.
Umpire assay: An independent analysis performed by a third-party laboratory on retained samples where buyer and seller assay results fall outside an agreed tolerance.