The fineness of precious metal is the weight of the metal present in the particular item, this also includes base metal alloys and other impurities if used. In most cases, metals are mixed with each other to add certain properties or mitigate the effects of others. For example, lets us take rose gold, commonly the mixture for the alloy is composed of 75% pure gold and 25% copper which lowers the karat value to 18k, the fineness of the item would be noted as 750. Fineness expresses the purity of gold in parts per 1000. It depends on the country to country some use the decimal hallmark stamp 99.99 and some use the karat.

The purest gold that was ever produced was refined by the Perth Mint of Australia in 1957 with a purity of 999.999. The most popular bars circulating in the market or produced for the consumer market are of a purity of 99.99. The Royal Canadian Mint, American Buffalo, and Pamp are a few examples of the mints that produced these bars. The South African Mint produces a product called the Krugerrand is of 916 fineness gold because they mix copper in the gold to make it more durable. The coin as a whole weighs 33.9 grams, however the amount of pure gold is still 1 troy oz. 

There are a few ways to verify the fineness of the gold. The fire assay is the most accurate method, with an accuracy of 2-3 parts per thousand. Then there is XRF which bombards the metal with x-rays then every metal emits its unique fluorescence light. This method has accuracy with the 5 parts per thousand. These are a few methods to test the purity of gold.

We at Instant Gold Refining, use the XRF method to determine the purity of gold or silver on the spot. We offer high-quality bars and coins from renowned mints like Royal Canadian Mint, Perth Mint, PAMP Suisse, Valcambi and many more. We are here for all of your gold and silver needs in Vancouver. Please give us a call with any questions and our team will gladly help you.