PAMP or PAMP Suisse is the world's largest independently owned precious metal refinery. The name PAMP stands for Produits Artistiques Métaux Précieux, which means artistic precious metal products.
PAMP Suisse refines silver, gold and platinum obtained from mines, recycling and jewellers. PAMP’s refining processes including electrolysis, chemical chlorination, and wet chemical parting.
PAMP manufactures a wide range of precious metal bars in almost every size and weight. There are two types of bars produced at PAMP’s refinery: cast bars and minted.
Cast and minted bars are essentially the same. They are the same size with the same purity. However, cast bars are more natural looking bars, usually with little more than a stamp to show origin and authenticity. Minted bars are beautified with intricate designs. They usually come in a blister or Certicard for protection and proof of authenticity.
Deciding whether to invest in cast bars or minted bars will depend on your exit strategy. If you plan on selling your gold to a bullion dealer, then they will be interested only in the market price of your gold. However, jewellers and specialist collectors would be more likely to pay a higher rate for a more beautiful (minted) ingot.
PAMP Suisse not only manufactures gold products for investors, but also for some of the most prestigious mints around the world.
PAMP’s minted bullion comes sealed with an assay card inside, known as CertiPAMP. The bars are never touched because breaking the seal can reduce its value. The CertiPAMP card is tamper-proof and comes from the refinery.
Every CertiPAMP assay card is factory-sealed on the minted bullion. This assay certificate has the assayer’s signature, the bar’s serial number, as well as the bar’s weight and purity. These assay cards help assure the quality and authenticity of every minted gold bar and have helped PAMP Suisse become the largest manufacturer of smaller minted bullion bars.
PAMP’s latest security system, VERISCAN, helps to simplify the validation of PAMP’s products. The system works in a similar way to fingerprint readers.
The idea is that every product made, even though they go through the same manufacturing process, all finish with unique surface profiles. At the end of the production process, PAMP scans each bar and logs the profile of the surface in a database. Then investors can simply download the VERISCAN application to their phone and scan the bar to find out if the bar is genuine.
PAMP Suisse was the first to decorate gold bars on the reverse side. The most famous design is the Lady Fortuna, which features a blindfolded woman with a cornucopia. This design has become synonymous with the PAMP brand.
PAMP emphasises intrinsic beauty and value in their precious metals. This can be seen in their range of decorative motifs used to embellish their gold and silver ingots. These designs are often based on mythological and astrological themes.
PAMP’s designs are available for all their precious metals. PAMP even accepts custom requests for proprietary designs, allowing people and businesses to acquire something unique.
PAMP also has a series of gold and silver bars designed with religious symbols, known as the Faith Series. All the bars are available in weights up to 1oz.
Some of the religious designs include: Ka’bah Mecca, Lakshmi, Romanesque Cross, Am Yisrael, and Buddha. Many of the world religions highly regard gold. For instance, in Islam, the possession of gold is a symbol of istita'ah, which means the person is ready to perform Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.
In addition to the religious, the Faith series also appeals to collectors and anyone who wants more than just a bar of gold, but one that is intricately styled with a symbol recognisable the world over and immortalised within the gold.
PAMP’s products are recognised as ‘Good Delivery’, which is the standard required in the precious metals industry. Good Delivery is concerned with product standards and with market practices.
PAMP is an accredited refiner for the LBMA Good Delivery system and the LPPM. PAMP is also one of only three refineries to be designated as a ‘Referee’ of both the LBMA and the LPPM.
PAMP Suisse also has accreditations for futures markets including the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM), the Commodity Exchange (COMEX), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the Chicago Metals Exchange (CME), and the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC).
Since its inception, PAMP has been an industry leader, moving technology and standards forward by continually developing its products and services. In fact, innovations first pioneered by PAMP have become industry best practices.
Due to their continual innovation, PAMP maintains a market share of more than 50% of gold bars weighing up to 100 grams. Below are some of PAMP’s innovations:
As Approved Distributors of PAMP products, we offer a variety of PAMP bullion, with bars ranging from 1 gram up to 100 grams at the best prices in the UK. Our minted bars all have PAMP’s beautiful designs on the reverse, including Lady Fortuna, as well other exquisite motifs. You can also find cast bars, such as the 10 Tola bar.
Interested in buying PAMP Suisse products? Find out more here