Four engagements, in the buyer’s words.

Illinois refinery — five-year doré supply tender

Client: 120-year-old precious-metals refinery, Midwest US · Volume: ~360 kg gold doré per quarter

The client invited five suppliers to tender after a long-standing relationship ended. Our bid was not the lowest on differential, but we offered the only sealed counter-sample policy in the field. We won the contract on a 4-of-5 panel vote.

In the first 36 months of the contract we have shipped 41 lots, all on date, with one assay dispute (resolved in 4 days using the counter-sample) and no rejected material.

Their counter-sample policy is the reason we switched. We have not needed it in two years — but knowing it exists is the whole point.

Texas private mint — weekly silver bar contract

Client: Private silver mint, Central Texas · Volume: 6–9 × 1,000 oz Good Delivery bars per week

The mint was managing four silver suppliers and a 14-day lead time. We took over their full silver supply on a single-supplier basis with a 5-day lead time and a published differential to spot. They reduced working-capital tied to inventory by an estimated 41 % in year one.

The relationship is renewed annually; the differential is published in October each year, valid for the following twelve months.

We stopped tracking ‘which supplier shipped what’ and started tracking ‘what did we mint this week.’ That is the whole win.

Arizona electronics OEM — bonding-wire feedstock

Client: Tier-1 semiconductor packaging house · Volume: 2–4 kg 99.99 % Au, bi-weekly

Their previous supplier delivered material with intermittent Cu contamination above their internal limit (3 ppm). We took over after a 60-day pilot using our additional ICP-OES trace report. In 14 months we have shipped 24 lots, every one inside the 3 ppm limit, and 22 of them inside 1 ppm.

Bonding-wire scrap rate dropped by 11 % the first quarter we switched. That number paid for the changeover three times over.

Two cathedral restorations — ecclesiastical gilding

Client: Restoration architecture firms (St. Louis, MO & Charleston, SC) · Volume: by project

Our smallest book of business by volume, our most rewarding by craft. We supplied the base gold leaf metal for two cathedral interior gilding projects — 14.2 kg total across both jobs. Hector flew out to each site for the consecration of the new work. We are not in a hurry to grow this practice.

It was the only supplier the bishop asked to be present at the dedication. They felt like an extension of the workshop, not a vendor.