Investment-grade gold.
Independently assayed.
Below LBMA spot.

What investment-grade gold means

Investment-grade gold is defined by purity and documentation, not by geography or brand. The minimum purity threshold for institutional trade is 99.5% fine — equivalent to 995 millesimal fineness. Material at this standard is suitable for vault storage as a reserve asset, for direct processing at a refinery into LBMA Good Delivery bars, and for use as collateral against banking facilities in jurisdictions that accept physical gold.

Investment-grade gold takes the form of cast bars, minted bars, or rough cast slabs — all equivalent in value per gram, differing only in form factor. It is explicitly distinct from jewellery gold (which contains alloy metals and cannot be separated without further processing), numismatic or collectible coins (whose value reflects rarity, not metal content), and unassayed raw material such as dust, grain, or dore bars that have not yet been independently tested.

The current OnePiece offering is cast bar or slab form, independently assayed at or above 99.5% purity. The assay certificate is the primary document that confirms investment-grade status; without it, the material is simply raw metal at an unverified grade.

The documentation standard

Institutional buyers — refineries, bullion dealers, family offices acquiring through private banks — face increasing compliance pressure from their banks and regulators. A gold purchase that cannot be traced to a clean documentary origin will not pass an internal compliance review, regardless of price. OnePiece structures every transaction around the documentation that institutional buyers need, not the minimum that can technically close a deal.

Assay certificate. Issued by SGS, Bureau Veritas, Intertek, or Alex Stewart International — globally recognised testing bodies with laboratory networks across West and Central Africa. The certificate states purity, gross weight, net fine metal weight, and bar or lot reference. It is the document against which the price is calculated and the escrow amount is set.

Mineral export permit. Issued by the competent minerals authority of the country of origin. This document must match the assay certificate precisely: same weight, same reference. Any discrepancy between the export permit and the assay is a compliance disqualifier and must be resolved before shipment. A valid export permit is the legal authorisation for the gold to cross an international border — without it, the cargo is contraband.

Chain of custody. A provenance record from source to export point. For a documented mine, this is typically a production manifest and processing certificate. The buyer's AML compliance team requires this to answer the question: where did this gold come from, and is it consistent with a legitimate mining or trading operation? A clean chain of custody protects the buyer from regulatory exposure after the fact.

Delivery and custody

Physical gold does not move by courier. Institutional bullion is handled exclusively by specialist precious metals carriers: Brinks, Malca-Amit, or Loomis International. These firms operate under regulatory oversight in every jurisdiction they operate in, carry appropriate insurance for bullion in transit, and have established customs clearance relationships in Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, and the major European hubs.

The seller engages the carrier at the point of escrow establishment. The gold is collected from the point of export under the carrier's custody, transported under insurance, and delivered to the buyer's nominated facility — typically a licensed vault, a refinery goods-in dock, or a bank custodian. The carrier issues a custody receipt at each handover point; these receipts become part of the transaction's permanent documentation record.

For buyers importing into Malaysia: gold bullion is subject to zero Sales and Service Tax (SST). There is no import duty on investment-grade metal. The customs classification is straightforward for a carrier with established Malaysian import experience. This makes Malaysia one of the most cost-efficient entry points for institutional physical gold in Southeast Asia.

Custody arrangements after delivery are entirely the buyer's choice. OnePiece does not provide storage or custodial services. The most common arrangements are: the buyer's own licensed vault facility, a third-party custodian such as Malca-Amit's Singapore or KL vault network, or a private bank's safe custody service. Each carries different fee structures and regulatory implications; the buyer selects based on their existing infrastructure.