Gold — Un-Refined
A note on our standards. If a requirement here seems demanding, it is not distrust and it is not difficulty for its own sake. Magister Operis and its institutional partners apply the same standards a bank, a top accounting firm, and a serious law firm apply to the same transaction — because meeting that standard early is the fastest way to close, and resisting it is the slowest.
FOB PROCEDURES (OR AS AGREED)
- Magister Operis authenticates seller(s) credibility/eligibly by gathering and packaging the pre-compliance items including attorney attestation.
- Buyer's chairman authorizes Magister Operis to disclose the identity of the buyer by sending an introductory email to seller so that the Seller can get familiar with the credibility and operations of the Buyer, its brochures, and its website.
- Magister Operis arranges a recorded video conference call(s) with Buyer and Seller and/or attorney so that all parties get to know each other in a face-to-face recorded manner.
- Parties meet face to face for due diligence and testing the metal as needed.
- The attorneys work together to professionally draft/craft a highly-controlled special purpose vehicle (SPV) between parties in which a detailed operating agreement tightly controls the roles of all parties and disbursal of all funds.
- Contracts are signed.
- Seller makes gold available for pickup by bonded courier such as Brinks, Malca Amit, G4S, Ferrari, etc.
- Bonded courier picks-up metal and delivers the metal to refinery located in Zurich.
- Refinery assays the metal and provides a certified report.
- Buyer transfers funds into SPV escrow account.
- Escrow agent disburses funds to Seller, insurance, shipping, and taxes as outlined within the SPV operating agreement.
- Ownership of the metal is transferred into the name of the Buyer.
CIF PROCEDURES (OR AS AGREED)
- Magister Operis authenticates Seller credibility/eligibly by gathering and packaging the pre-compliance items including attorney attestation.
- The institution’s chairman authorizes Magister Operis to disclose the identity of the institution by sending an introductory email to Seller so that Seller can get familiar with the credibility and operations of the institution, its brochures, and its website.
- Magister Operis arranges a recorded video conference call(s) with institution and Seller and/or attorney so all parties get to know each other in a face-to-face recorded manner.
- Parties meet face to face for due diligence and testing the metal as needed.
- The attorneys work together to professionally draft/craft SPA.
- SPA is signed.
- Buyer arranges an acceptable institutional Payment Guarantee as required.
- Seller delivers gold to refinery in Zurich.
- Refinery assays the metal and provides a certified report.
- Buyer transfers funds to Seller’s account based on the assay report and as per SPA.
- Ownership of the metal is transferred into the name of Buyer.
SELLERS THAT WANT A BUYER TO COME TO SELLER'S COUNTRY TO PURCHASE AND/OR EXPECTS BUYER TO PAY FOR ANY EXPENSES
Please be fully prepared to clearly provide/answer the following immediately to gain quick respect of real buyers, top World banks, as well as top international accounting and law firms as soon as possible:
- Why you are actually a real seller rather than a broker somehow?
- How long have you been a seller?
- What transactions have you done in the past? Why would anybody believe that?
- What banks know the strength of your business? Can you provide banking and/or attorney references?
- What law firm will attest to parties' identity, the authenticity of the gold, the history of the gold, and the funds used to pay for the gold?
Please outline the buyer’s exact comprehensive itinerary/timeline/location of exactly what/where the buyer will be doing while visiting your country to purchase the product.
If the buyer is expected to pay for things such as taxes, shipping, insurance, etc….be fully prepared to provide full contact info of the items the buyer is supposed to be paying. Buyer will not pay seller directly for expenses.
BANK INSTRUMENTS
The buyers' banks will only issue an Irrevocable NON-Transferrable Documentary Letter of Credit (IRDLC) or Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC).
PRECIOUS METALS, MONEY LAUNDERING, AND THE PATRIOT ACT
"Blood Gold" and "Dirty Gold" are two terms given to gold that has immoral and/or criminal history behind either it's origin or history since being mined. Here are just a sample of the numerous articles on the Internet that document these tragedies:
How Miami’s gold trade fuels drug trafficking in Latin America
How to Become an International Gold Smuggler
Most international buyers and sellers today have to be compliant with the standards of the Swiss-based Wolfsberg Group. Please study https://www.wolfsberg-principles.com/ for clarity.
Be RWA to show compliance documentation for your products!
The earlier…the better!
How Magister Operis helps
Much of what stands between a seller and a closing is simply not yet being set up to international business standards. Through its integrity services, Magister Operis helps gold miners and sellers bring their operations up to that standard — organizing provenance and ownership documentation, preparing the pre-compliance package, and presenting the operation the way a bank, refinery, or institutional buyer expects to see it. That is often the difference between an offer that stalls and one that moves.
Beyond a single sale — funding the mine
A seller who advances through pre-compliance and project-funding readiness opens a larger door than a single shipment. A credible, well-documented mining operation can itself be financed — moving an artisanal, hand-worked site to modern, mechanized production at far greater volume, efficiency, and safety.
The scale can be substantial — facilities from roughly US$150 million into the billions, where the project justifies it. And one of the hardest pre-compliance hurdles falls away: because the institution will purchase the mine’s full output, the operator does not need to secure a separate signed off-take agreement. That frees the operator to concentrate on presenting the remaining pre-compliance items competently and professionally.
That shift changes more than output. Where a community now pans by hand, standing in water through the day, mechanization can raise productivity dramatically — and, structured as a partnership with that community rather than imposed on it, can underwrite lasting benefit: clean water, reliable energy, and around-the-clock connectivity. The metal is the beginning of the relationship, not the end of it.
A NOTE ON CREDIBILITY: Before a buyer is brought in, there has to be a real basis to believe the seller and the metal are genuine. Where a seller is self-evidently credible — a strong corporate profile, real legal representation, a verifiable track record — that can be enough on its own. Where it is not, the natural next step is attorney attestation to the metal’s history and ownership. Even then, attestation is not a magic key: its weight depends on who gives it and where, and a plainly real counterparty can carry more conviction than a thin attestation. What matters is credibility; the route to it flexes with the seller. Magister Operis can be retained to assemble and present that credibility, but a retainer is not a precondition.
Credibility runs the other way too. When a counterparty proves to be a serious institution in its own right, Mr. Kemper can step forward under his credentials with an affiliated institution — as an officer of it, not merely the person who made the introduction. In plain terms: when the other side is real and substantial, they get to see the institutional weight standing behind this, dealt with directly at the top rather than through a middleman.
Brought the relationship but this isn’t your world? That’s fine. You don’t have to run the transaction or understand every step. Your introduction is respected and protected — and the smartest move you can make is to let the professionals carry it to closing. That’s how the deal closes, and that’s how you get paid.
BUYER CONDUCT — WHAT TO EXPECT: Some sellers ask the buyer to travel to the seller’s location. A few of these buyers will consider it — including travel to Africa — but none will arrange travel until the seller and the deal have demonstrated a high degree of authenticity and the transaction is credible at its stated scale.
Magister Operis works to make a transaction possible — not to disqualify a seller for lacking resources. In a CIF transaction the costs of taxes, insurance, and freight fall to the seller, and a buyer cannot pre-fund them or take part in avoiding lawful duties. That is the starting point of a problem to solve together, not a door closing. Where a seller is real and willing to cooperate, there is almost always a workable path.
When a genuine seller lacks the funds for CIF
Many capable sellers can supply the metal but cannot pre-finance a CIF shipment. Their situation is what it is; the path forward is to accommodate it in a way a buyer can accept. There are workable options:
Witnessed testing at the seller's location. A buyer representative and a bonded-carrier technical specialist (Brink's) can travel to the seller to test the metal, provided the seller covers that travel. If the metal tests as represented, the cost is reimbursed at closing. Some sellers raise these funds by selling a portion of their holding locally.
Attorney attestation — usually smarter and cheaper. A credible law firm attests to the history, authenticity, and ownership of the metal. On that basis the institution can arrange collection and shipping through its bonded carrier and, where feasible, coordinate with the relevant government authority so export duties and royalties are settled at closing rather than pre-funded — backed, where required, by top-rated securities that collateralize the assurance to the authority that those duties will be paid on settlement. Refining and final settlement proceed through established channels, including top banks in Switzerland.
None of this works without the seller's commitment to working smarter rather than harder — to being a problem-solver and a team player in structuring a transaction that actually closes. The goal is a win-win, reached by accommodating the seller's real situation, not by working around the obligations that make the deal credible.
PLEASE DO NOT ASK MAGISTER OPERIS TO EVEN TALK TO THE BUYERS ABOUT OFFERS
UNTIL A SELLER HAS PROVEN THEIR CREDIBILITY TO MAGISTER OPERIS!
Every engagement is governed by the firm's Method and Disclaimer; intermediaries should also review Broker 101 and the firm's Due Diligence standards.