ETALONAssets
Mines are financed many ways. We issue only against gold in the vault.
Whatever paid for the mine, Etalon Vault issues an ounce only once physical gold has been refined, set aside and stored.
What we work with
Gold first, then other real assets under the same rules
Gold from responsible miners
Etalon Vault reviews each mine before any buyer sees an offer: who owns it, its permits and how much it has produced.
- Where the gold comes from and how it's mined
- Reviews by outside experts
- Buyer rights explained in plain words
Other real assets
Other metals and natural resources first, then real estate and infrastructure such as roads and power plants. Each has to answer the same three questions: where it came from, what the buyer owns and who profits.
- The same four-part file
- The same review process
- Only after gold shows the model works
How mines are financed
Four ways money reaches a mine, and which ones put gold in a vault
A mine needs money before it produces. What the funder gets back decides whether physical gold ever reaches a vault.
Forward purchase (FPA)
The buyer prepays for a set amount of gold that the mine delivers later.
- The funder gets
- The gold itself, on the delivery date
- Gold to the vault
- Yes, delivered as metal
Stream or royalty
The funder pays a deposit up front for a share of the mine's future output.
- The funder gets
- A stream buys ounces at a fraction of the market price. A royalty takes a share of output or revenue.
- Gold to the vault
- When it is settled in metal
Equity
The investor buys shares in the mining company, or in a company set up for one deal (an SPV).
- The funder gets
- Ownership and a share of profits
- Gold to the vault
- Only if the company delivers metal
Debt
Lenders fund equipment or a plant, secured by a lien on those assets.
- The funder gets
- Interest and repayment in money
- Gold to the vault
- No
Where Etalon Vault comes in
The purchase happens between the buyer and the mine. We take over at the vault.
Etalon Vault is not a party to the purchase contract. The buyer, or a company set up for the deal, signs directly with the mine. Once the gold is delivered and refined, Etalon Vault vaults it and issues ounces against it.
- 1Contract signedThe buyer or its SPV signs a purchase contract with the mine.
- 2Gold deliveredThe mine delivers doré as the contract says.
- 3Refined into barsA refinery turns it into investment-grade bars and assays them.
- 4VaultedEtalon Vault places the bars in a vault, set aside by serial number.
- 5Ounces issuedEtalon Vault issues one ounce for each fine troy ounce in the vault.
Steps 1 to 3: between the buyer and the mine. Until delivery, the buyer holds a contract right, not gold.
Steps 4 and 5: Etalon Vault.
How gold is mined
Placer or hard rock: two ways gold comes out of the ground
Placer gold collects downstream of the hard-rock veins it eroded from, so both kinds often sit in the same district. Both end up as doré sent to a refinery.
Placer
Loose gold in sand and gravel, in streambeds and dry washes where water carried it.
- How it's recovered
- The gravel is washed through gravity equipment. No crushing.
- What it takes
- Less equipment and a faster start. Results vary with the gravel.
Hard rock
Gold locked in veins of solid rock, reached by open pit or underground.
- How it's recovered
- The rock is blasted, crushed and milled, then the gold is separated by gravity, flotation or leaching.
- What it takes
- A processing plant, more capital and a longer build.
How we choose a mine
What a mine has to show before any buyer sees it
Each standard is answered in the asset's file, with a date and a reviewer.
Clear ownership and permits
Who owns the mine, and the permits that let it operate, with records that anyone entitled to look can check.
A real production history
What the mine has produced so far, shown in its own records and confirmed by outside review.
Fair treatment of people
How workers and neighbors are treated, in the mine owner's own words and in what outside reviewers find.
Care for land and water
How the operation looks after the ground and the water around it, and what it does when something goes wrong.
Openness to review
A willingness to let experts who don't work for Etalon Vault test the claims and sign their findings.
A contract both sides can keep
A quantity, a delivery date and terms that the mine can meet and the buyer can understand.
Why mine names stay private. Mine names and locations are not published, to protect the people and the mine. The file shows what a buyer needs without them: country of origin, dates, reviewers and results.