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Ask the Expert- Nigel Doolin, head of trading, Core Bullion Traders

A safe investment in uncertain times?

Nigel Doolin, head of trading, Core Bullion Traders. Picture Conor McCabe Photography.
Nigel Doolin, head of trading, Core Bullion Traders. Picture Conor McCabe Photography.
Wed Jun 28 2023 - 09:05

1. What types of gold products do you offer?

We offer all types of investment grade, physical gold bullion bars and coins. Our bar weights go from one gram small pieces to one kilogram bars, which would be the largest most private investors would buy. We also offer larger 12.5 KG ‘Good Delivery’ Bars for institutional investors. All our bars are from LBMA (London Bullion Market Association) Approved and member refineries. Additionally, we are one of only a handful of gold dealers worldwide who are authorised distributors of The Perth Mint Certificate Program. This is the only Government guaranteed precious metals investment and storage program in the world. We don’t only sell, but we also buy all investment grade gold bullion and coins.

2. Who is buying gold bullion and is it a safe investment in uncertain times such as we are experiencing at the moment?

You would be surprised at the variety of clients we have here at Core Bullion Traders. Our core group of clients would be aged 45-65 years of age with a slightly male bias. But, as we open the market up to more people and let more people know how easy it is to buy with us, we have seen the demographic age drop a little. We find a lot of our new clients lately have been tech-professionals and those who have perhaps invested in crypto and are ‘profit-taking’ at this stage by turning their digital asset into a physical asset.

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3. What is the purity of the gold you offer?

We offer the purist gold on the planet – 24-carat, 999.9 Purity (4-nines) – all investment grade gold bullion is 24 carat. There are some gold coins that are 22 carat in full weight, but these coins will always have a specific set-amount of pure 24-carat fine gold content in them.

4. What is the current market price for gold?

(At time of writing) The current price of gold is €1,785/oz – this is known as the spot price of gold. This price is a little over mid-way for where the price has been this year and it is up on most of last year. Looking at a slightly further back price, the current spot price is well over 20 per cent up on 2021 – that’s quite a return on investment from only two years ago. It is important to note though, that only governments and banks are lucky enough to buy at ‘spot’. When normal investors buy and even dealers like us, we will all be buying above spot.

5. What are the associated costs or premiums paid when buying gold?

The premiums when buying vary from one company to another, but they are all quite close to one another. We charge a very competitive rate of between 2 per cent and 4.5 per cent depending on the size of the trade. The only other fees may be insurance and shipping fees, but these are on a trade-by-trade basis. A lot of online-only gold companies will add in extras and last-minute charges when you go to pay – a bit like some airlines – but here at Core Bullion Traders we include any and all additional charges in the total amount from the outset, so there are no hidden-extras with us.

Even if you haven’t bought from us, we will buy your gold from you – pending testing and verification of the gold
Even if you haven’t bought from us, we will buy your gold from you – pending testing and verification of the gold

6. What is the buyback policy you have?

We are one of the only gold companies in the market who guarantee to give you a buyback price if you buy from us originally. Even if you haven’t bought from us, we will buy your gold from you – pending testing and verification of the gold. Buyback rates vary but again, we offer a preferential better rate to our clients who have bought from us.

7. Are the gold products you offer certified?

All our gold bullion bars come certified from LBMA Approved and member refineries. These refineries will be on the LBMA good delivery List – amongst other things this means the refineries have been accredited by the LBMA, so you are guaranteed there are no purity issues, no conflict-gold is used, there is no slave-labour used by the refinery or any of its suppliers and the refinery will operate under the most stringent health and safety conditions. The smaller bars we offer will come hermetically sealed and encapsulated with their certificate, uniquely numbered on the certificate and stamped on the actual bar itself. The Assayers mark and signature will feature on theses certificates too. Larger bars also come with their own certificate but are not always encapsulated depending on the size of the bar.

8. What storage options do you provide?

We offer a number of storage solutions for our clients, dependent on their individual needs and requirements. You can choose to store your purchase with us in our offsite high-security vaults, fully insured, for 12-month periods. We can assist you in securing your own private safe deposit box with our preferred suppliers. You can choose to store your purchase in our partner vaults, in various countries around the world and in a variety of jurisdictions. The Perth Mint in Western Australia is one of our preferred vault storage options. Our team of traders are expert in giving you advice and guidance as to the best storage solution that will work for you.

9. Are there any buy limits or minimum purchase requirements?

Unlike most gold dealers, we have no minimum purchase requirements. There are also no buy limits. As a company we believe that if you wish to buy one single gram of gold – then we will get that for you - if you require multiple 12.5 kilo good delivery gold bars then we will look after you just the same.

Purely from a value for money point of view, it is never good value when going below 1oz in bar size, as this weight is the industry-standard. However, we will get our clients the best deal we can on any size and quantity of bars or coins.

10. What are Core Bullion Trader’s credentials or affiliations?

We are an accredited member of the International Trade Council. We are also the only authorised retailer for The Dublin Assay Office gold bars worldwide. We are one of only 10 companies in the world to be an authorised distributor for The Perth Mint certificate program. Our board of directors includes Nigel Doolin - one of the most experienced bullion dealers in Ireland with extensive worldwide trading knowledge and Paul Brereton BSc – a respected and well known gemologist and former president of The Irish Antique Dealers Association.

For more see corebulliontraders