Andrew Cochineas – CEO of the Pallion Group of precious metals companies – is passionate about the provenance of precious metals. He is on a mission to explain to Australians why that is important, whether someone is a serious investor in bullion or coins, or considering a single piece of jewelry.
So fundamental is precious metals provenance to the Pallion Group, it has registered the term Considerate® Precious Metals to define their approach to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policies.
Considerate® Precious Metals is also the name of Pallion’s annual sustainability report – an industry-leading document that illustrates the commitment Pallion makes to respecting human and labor rights, responsible business practices and the environment.
As Andrew Cochineas explains, Considerate® Precious Metals illustrates how Pallion contributes to a sustainable precious metals supply chain with the support of internal teams, suppliers, clients and communities around the world. Pallion uses this framework to produce the world’s most Considerate® Precious Metals.
As a result of this commitment to sustainability, Pallion is the only independent precious metals group in Australia holding membership to the Global Responsible initiative (GRI).
The GRI is the provider of the global best practice for sustainability impact reporting. Its mission is to deliver the highest level of transparency for organizational impacts on the economy, the environment and people. The GRI standards are the most widely used framework for sustainability reports and ensures Pallion is consistent in its efforts to act more responsibly and to measure out sustainability efforts against a global benchmark to assess performance.
Pallion became a member of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
Becoming a member of the GRI is in no small part due to the efforts taken by the group’s companies to ensure total control over the entire supply chain as well as market-leading technologies and processes throughout the production process. This approach has been trademarked as Pallion Provenance™.
Pallion Provenance™ starts with the primary refining inputs. Each doré bar accepted at ABC Refinery is subject to a strict annual, independent Responsible Gold Guidance (RGG) audit and OECD and World Gold Council’s Conflict Gold Policies.
Once at ABC Refinery, this approach to Considerate Precious Metals continues, led by the world’s most environmentally-responsible technology available – Acidless Separation (ALS)™.
Andrew Cochineas explains that as the name suggests, Acidless Separation requires no acid to refine gold and silver to an almost pure standard. Instead it makes use of vacuum distillation technology.
ABC Refinery is the first and to-date only Australian refinery to use ALS, and in fact has the world’s largest ALS refining capacity. No other refiner can say this.
Andrew Cochineas further highlights the importance of Pallion’s end-to-end commitment to ESG:
“Considerate Precious Metals is also about ensuring the end user has the most responsible and ethical product possible, whether they have investment grade bullion or a jewelry item to treasure”
Critically, environmental superiority doesn’t come at the expense of metal purity. Andrew Cochineas notes that ABC Refinery is exclusive producer of ABC Bullion products, widely considered one of the most universally accepted and coveted brands globally.
Further testament to the quality of output is ABC Refinery’s accreditation with the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) and CME Group. This means every piece of investment-grade gold sold by ABC Bullion can be traded confidently at the world’s most stringent markets.
Just as important as their ability to be traded, when someone buys precious metals from ABC Bullion, or as jewelry items through Palloys, we can confirm with 100% certainty where that metal came from. The extraction, labor and governance conditions associated with those metals – that our primary producers are acting ethically and with the best environmental practice.
More to the point, this strong stance on creating the world’s most Considerate Precious Metals will only become more valuable into the future, as individuals and organizations worldwide look to create, and own, something they can be truly comfortable with, and proud of for generations.
For those interested in finding out more about the Pallion approach to Considerate Precious Metals, Andrew Cochineas suggests to keep an eye out for their 2023 Sustainability Report, due to be released later this year.
The report will provide an outline of key steps taken throughout the Pallion Group to deliver on its commitment to improve sustainability and be a socially responsible leader. It highlights some of the initiatives undertaken within the Pallion team to achieve these goals, both though social and cultural initiatives in the wider community and further afield.
