Supply & Mining

All-in Sustaining Costs (AISC) are a standardised gold-mining metric that captures the full cost of keeping a mine's current output running over the long term.

A historic gold-recovery method in which liquid mercury dissolves gold and silver from ore and binds them as an amalgam, which is then separated by heating.

Byproduct mining refers to recovering a precious metal as a secondary product while extracting a different, primary raw material.

Conflict gold is gold mined in war or crisis zones whose proceeds are used to fund armed groups or perpetuate human-rights abuses.

A hydrometallurgical process for extracting gold in which crushed ore is treated with a dilute sodium-cyanide solution to selectively bring gold into solution.

Doré bars are semi-refined raw bars of gold and silver cast directly at mines or smelters, then sent to a refinery where they are processed up to fine-metal quality.

Mine production is the total quantity of precious metal recovered from ore through mining, where the ore grade and the economic minimum grade (cut-off) decide which material is worth extracting at all.

The two fundamental extraction methods in mining, in which ores are recovered either in an open pit (near the surface) or underground (in deep drives and shafts).

Ore grade states how many grams of a precious metal (such as gold or silver) are contained in one tonne of raw ore, and it is the single most important figure for judging whether a mine is economically viable.

Precious metal recycling is the recovery of gold, silver and platinum-group metals from end-of-life material such as jewellery, electronic scrap and industrial residues using chemical or thermal processing methods.

Primary mining refers to the extraction of precious metals directly from the ground through mining, as opposed to secondary recovery from recycled material.

A refinery separates precious metals from scrap gold, industrial waste and ore and processes them into high-purity fine metal.

Refining, or affinage, is the industrial purification of raw precious metals to the fineness levels required for trading and investment.

Fairtrade gold is certified metal from artisanal and small-scale mining that meets minimum social standards, environmental requirements and a mandatory Fairtrade premium paid on top of the market price.

Urban mining is the targeted recovery of precious metals and other valuable materials from electronic scrap, old devices and industrial waste streams, as a complement to primary mining.