Gold & Metals

The metal beneath every margin

Bullion is the jewelry industry's weather. The metals desk files the morning note on gold, silver, platinum and palladium — then follows the price into the workshop: hallmarking policy, recycling flows, hollow-chain engineering and what the standing gold price does to every counter in the world. The dated level is on the tape and the Indices page, not here.

At a glance

Gold/oz · Kitco bid$3,995.10

Latest

Shanghai Gold Exchange volume up 7.6% on year to 5,064.6 tonnesIn its September market report, China's central bank puts Shanghai Futures Exchange gold volume down 12.8% on the year. It does not say whether the exchange tonnage counts one side of each trade or both.

What’s moving now

Bullion · New York

Manufacturers stopped waiting for a retreat

Product architecture is being redesigned around a higher standing planning price for gold rather than a forecast retreat. The dated level and its change are on the tape and the Indices page, not here.

Manufacturing · Vicenza

The lightweighting revolution

Hollow forms, electroforming, 9k and 10k revivals, silver-gilt hybrids — the craft of making less metal look like more is the decade's quiet growth industry. Vicenza and Shenzhen lead.

Supply · Global

Recycling becomes a supply line

At these prices, the scrap drawer is a mine. Old-gold buybacks are now a strategic sourcing channel for refiners and brands alike — with its own pricing, logistics and fraud problems.

The working vocabulary

The trade’s terms, plainly told. More in the Field Guide.

Hallmark Term
The assay office's stamped guarantee of fineness — 750 for 18k, 916 for 22k. The oldest consumer-protection system in the world, and the inspiration for this paper's own mark.
Making charge Practice
The labor and design fee added over the metal's melt value — the jeweler's actual margin. When gold spikes, making charges get squeezed first; watch them to see who holds pricing power.
Fineness ladder Concept
24k is pure; 22k, 18k, 14k, 10k and 9k trade purity for durability and price. Bull markets in bullion push whole countries down a rung — India's 18k boom is this cycle's signature.
Melt value Metric
What a piece is worth as raw metal, ignoring craft entirely. The gap between melt and retail is where brand, design and trust live — and it's the number every buyback desk starts from.

On the record

What this desk filed in the last eight weeks, dated and sourced.

  1. This week, August 20 to September 23

    One Red Chris table row still said 'due'

    Corrected 27 October 2026: newmont-puts-red-chris-block-cave-at-4-2-to-4-8-billion.html (No. 097) was corrected on 26 October for hardening Newmont's expectations; one table row still said the Canadian grant's terms were 'due before end-2026'. It now says 'expected', as the release does, and the page's note says so. What was right as published: every figure.

    Source: Carat Capital, a-newmont-puts-red-chris-block-cave-at-4-2-to-4-8-billion.html; Carat Capital standards audit, 2026-10-26

  2. This week, August 20 to September 23

    One Newmont gold-price scenario, printed as its plan

    Corrected 26 October 2026: newmont-puts-red-chris-block-cave-at-4-2-to-4-8-billion.html (No. 097, 25 October 2026) headed a section 'Planned at $3,600 gold'. Newmont's release says the return was evaluated across a range of scenarios including gold at $3,600; it does not say the capital was planned at that price. The section now calls $3,600 one scenario, and two lines now say Newmont 'expects' to fund the project internally and to finalise the grant's terms. What was right as published: every figure, including 11.0%.

    Source: Carat Capital, a-newmont-puts-red-chris-block-cave-at-4-2-to-4-8-billion.html; Carat Capital standards audit, 2026-10-25; SEC Exhibit 99.1 (2,474,418 bytes)

  3. This week, August 20 to September 23

    A counter-price lag the source never claimed

    Corrected 26 October 2026: chow-sang-sang-gold-reads-1200-yuan.html (No. 097, 25 October 2026) said brand boards follow spot gold with a lag and that a return above 1,250 yuan would undo the month's fall. The source ties the 24 October cuts to the fall in international gold prices, and on the page's own figures 1,250 retraces about half of a 100-yuan fall. Both lines now follow the source and the arithmetic. What was right as published: every figure.

    Source: Carat Capital, a-chow-sang-sang-gold-reads-1200-yuan.html; Carat Capital standards audit, 2026-10-25; Qianjiang Evening News via Sina (38,315 bytes)

  4. This week, August 20 to September 23

    Zijin Gold's 25.85% includes its concert parties

    Corrected 25 October 2026: zijin-takes-control-of-chifeng-gold.html (No. 096, 24 October 2026) said in its summary and a key figure that Zijin Gold holds about 25.85% of Chifeng. The source gives that stake to Zijin Gold and its concert parties together. What was right as published: every figure.

    Source: Carat Capital, a-zijin-takes-control-of-chifeng-gold.html; standards audit of 24 October 2026; China Business Journal via Sina Finance, 23 October 2026

  5. This week, August 20 to September 23

    Four watch lines lose an unset 'Mid-November'

    Clarified 25 October 2026: four pages dated a What to watch line 'Mid-November' with no date set by the publisher: phillips-two-rings-at-two-point-nine-million.html, seven-forty-thousand-in-september.html, twenty-one-against-thirty-nine.html and india-gold-imports-fall-eighty-one-percent.html. Each now says the date is not announced. No figure changed.

    Source: Carat Capital audit of 25 October 2026 against its release calendar

Read the full Record