GDL Newsletter: Stronger Standards, Shared Progress

This edition features highlights from the Physical Committee, Vault Managers Working Group, Referees and Refiner Committees, which continue to play a vital role in the work of LBMA.

We're excited to share insights from the Investing in African Mining Indaba, and spotlight a ‘new’ Physical Committee member.

Thank you for staying connected with the Good Delivery and Physical Services team. We welcome any input to this newsletter. If you would like to contribute, please email us at gdl@lbma.org.uk.

CRMs Available for Purchase

LBMA has a range of Au and Ag Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) in stock and available for purchase. These include reference material blocks, discs and shavings, designed to support accurate testing, calibration, and quality assurance across precious metal refining and assay laboratories. To purchase, please contact the Good Delivery team at gdl@lbma.org.uk.

Working Group and Committee Updates

Vault Managers Working Group

Julia Bough (Bank of England) has joined the Vault Managers Working Group.

Physical Committee

We are delighted to welcome back Allan Finn to the Physical Committee, who previously sat on the committee as Chair of the Vault Managers Working Group.

Allan is currently the Global Commodities Director for Malca-Amit. His responsibilities encompass the precious metals and ancillary services provided by Malca-Amit, including storage and transportation throughout a global network.

Allan has been in his current role at Malca-Amit for 16 years now and is the subject matter expert within the group. He is well known within the physical precious metals market sector and has held key voluntary roles within the sector as a Management Committee (now Board) member of LBMA, where he has also participated in the Finance Committee. Allan is currently a participant of the Vault Managers Working Group.

Refiners Committee

The Refiners Committee continues to actively engage in discussions aimed at strengthening industry alignment, refining operational standards, and preparing for future challenges. Since our last newsletter, the committee has met once and discussed any impact of the 2026 Good Delivery Rule changes, as well as the 2026 Workplan, Responsible Sourcing Risk Management framework, Gold Bar Integrity (GBI) periodic reporting, version 10 of the Responsible Gold Guidance (RGG10), and potential end marking of silver bars.

If there are topics you would like the Refiners Committee to discuss, please contact us at gdl@lbma.org.uk.

Gold Bar Integrity: Database Enhancements and Periodic Reporting Timelines

This year sees the introduction of voluntary periodic reporting of Country of Origin (CoO) data. However, for this year's assurance round, Refiners will still report their CoO data annually. Following updates to the Disclosure Guidance, the High Risk Supplier template has been updated to align with the Disclosure Guidance Version 3 (DG3). LBMA is continuing to improve the analytics capability of the Gold Bar Integrity (GBI) Database, which will benefit the market by strengthening data integrity, enhancing transparency, and improving overall system security.

For more detail on these updates, please visit the LBMA website.

Indaba 2026: The Importance of Collaboration

At this year's Indaba, delegates highlighted the vital importance of collaboration among African nations as a cornerstone for the continent’s success. LBMA gained valuable insights from the event.

It was widely agreed that supporting initiatives grounded in global best practices is essential, and LBMA’s focus on International Bullion Centres (IBC) and African Bullion Centres (ABC) generated enthusiastic dialogue and positive feedback - underscoring our forward-looking role in shaping the future of the bullion industry.

Feedback on 2026 Good Delivery Rule Changes

A number of new Good Delivery Rules came into effect on 1 January 2026. These include prohibiting the use of Cyrillic lettering in serial numbers, ensuring stamps and markings are at least 10 mm from the edge of a bar, and further tightening of PAM extensions.

We welcome your feedback on the rule changes, as well as any improvements for 2027. Please contact us at gdl@lbma.org.uk.

Meeting Updates

Vault Managers Working Group

The Vault Managers Working Group’s first meeting this year covered the GBI project, challenges within the market, including recent ‘tight bar’ weighing challenges, and ongoing pallet and packaging issues, with concerns around unsafe ‘slave pallets’ used in silver shipments. LBMA has since conducted a consultation gathering pallet specifications from the London vaults to explore standardising requirements across the precious metals market. The meeting also addressed recent bar quality and stamping issues, upcoming applicant bar inspections, and continued engagement with the stakeholders on quality control challenges.

Physical Committee

The Physical Committee continues to address important developments across market infrastructure, responsible sourcing, and Good Delivery standards. The committee has met three times since the last GDL Newsletter, providing guidance and challenges as appropriate. Discussions have included Proactive Monitoring (PAM), responsible sourcing, US tariffs, Good Delivery applications, challenges within the market (including silver, pallets and packaging), LBMA strategy, the Annual Refined Tonnage rule, and more recently the impact of the GDL Rule changes in 2026.

Referees Working Group

This group has met twice in 2026 already, providing valuable technical input to plans for the 2027 Assaying & Refining Conference, discussing tenders for the manufacture of CRMs (AuRM6, AgRM6 and AgRM7), historical data comparisons (particularly data comparison of standard deviation of Proficiency Testing Schemes over time), monitoring and transparency of GDL applications, and technical areas for the 2027 enhanced GDL Rules review.

Save the Date: Assaying & Refining Conference 2027

The Assaying & Refining Conference will take place from Sunday, 14 to Wednesday, 17 March 2027 at the Royal Garden Hotel in London. Save the date now and look out for more information.

Proficiency Testing in 2026

This year's Proficiency Testing Scheme (PTS) saw 76 participants - one of our strongest levels of engagement to date. To accommodate the high level of interest, the submission deadline was extended to Friday, 20 March 2026, ensuring all participants had sufficient time to complete their analysis.

We thank all participants for their involvement and continued commitment to maintaining high standards across the precious metals market. Participants will receive the results of the analysis, while the final report is due to be published in mid-May.

We encourage all Good Delivery Refiners to take part. Registrations for the 2027 PTS will open in September this year.

Good Delivery and Physical Services Team Milestone

This month marks two years since Lahara Sykes joined LBMA as Team Assistant to the Good Delivery team. Lahara provides essential administrative and organisational support, ensuring effective coordination across a wide range of GDL activities. Her professionalism and reliability have made her a highly valued member of the team.