T H E L O N D O N B U L L I O N M A R K E T A S S O C I A T I O N

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08.00

Arrive, log in to security, review overnightactivities with security, check status of securitycameras, change clothing and proceed into theproduction plant.

JBR, based in West Bromwich, UK, is aleading smelter and Good Delivery refiner of 999 silver, but also processes some Au andPGM metals.

The materials processed are fromsecondary waste sent for recycling and can beanything from low-grade paper, wet sludges,ashes, liquids and metallics, including NonGood Delivery bars and fine silver grain forrecasting. Some of the materials can be quitedifficult to cope with and can cause a fewissues with housekeeping. I will need to checkthis out later because we have a routineEnvironment Agency (EA) inspection laterthis morning.

Grab a cup of coffee, check overnight andearly morning emails, respond to the mostimportant, delete the spam and file the restfor later. Check today’s planned productionschedule and the expected material receiptsbooked in for today.

Most important job of the day – the sitetour – goods inwards, sampling, incineration,smelting, cupellation, refining and bullionareas. Housekeeping looks good – at least theshift operators are doing their bit!During the site tour have stand-up briefingswith the Shift Supervisor and RefinerySupervisor – review overnight/weekendproduction activities and incidents. Discusstoday’s production requirements, hanges toprocedures and let the supervisors know aboutsite visitors. Obtain feedback on proposedand recent changes for discussion later withthe Operations Director and other managers.

Refinery – it’s a bullion despatch day –ensure the Refinery Supervisor andProduction Controller are ready to check bar weights, issue weight lists and assaycertificates.

We’re due to start recasting a recentdelivery of another refiners’ NGD bars today,but we haven’t yet received the assay reportsfrom the Lab for deleterious elements. I’dheard a rumour that the ICP had broken downyesterday!

Laboratory – chase the Lab Manager forassays from trial samples from overnightsmelter production. The Inductively CouplePlasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometer (ICP-AES) is out of action, engineer is duetomorrow; what is it with these machines? Atleast the old Atomic AbsorptionSpectrophotometers (AAS) are still churningout some results.

Engineering Manager – discuss whatrepairs are scheduled/ongoing and if any plantis out for preventative maintenance? Theannual summer shutdown is only a couple ofmonths away; how are preparations going forthe annual maintenance repairs and plantmodifications ?

Discuss any issues with the ProductionManager, particularly incineration andsampling (any witnesses in today, what plantand operators will be required, is any materiallikely to cause any deviation from our routinesampling procedures). Touch base with theOperations Director.

09.30

Time for a coffee. The last one is still on mydesk – cold! Got to get silver production planspreadsheet prepared for issue to Commercial

department in readiness for discussion at the lunch-time senior management meeting.

10.00

Scheduled visit by an EA inspector - meeting with the Safety, Health andEnvironment (SHE) Manager, OperationsDirector and self.

SHE Manager accompanies the EAinspector on a routine site inspection. But I’mon standby to respond if any issues are raisedby the EA inspector during the tour.

11.00

We’re making changes to the smelteroperating parameters – brief meeting with theOperations Director to discuss results to dateand the proposed next stage.

Follow-up meeting before the EA inspectorleaves. The inspector has requested moreinformation on a proposed new process wehave been working on that is a departure fromour normal line of business. Trying todiversify our processes under PPC (PollutionPrevention and Control) can be very slow –allchanges and trials have to be agreed andauthorised in advance.

12.00

Despatch of 999 GD bars – check weights andstrapping, and oversee security operation.

13.00

Senior management meeting – review latestnews about customers, (Commercialdepartment wants to change productionpriorities yet again), new material, production

A Day in the Life of a Site Operations

ManagerBy Keith Davies, Site Operations Manager, JBR Recovery Ltd

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plan, HR issues, update from the morning’smeeting with the EA inspector, discuss thelatest increases in the cost of furnace coke.

Usual outcome of this meeting – anothersix jobs to add to my ‘To do list! – along withthe sandwiches and indigestion!

14.30

Unexpected visit from a key supplier of rawmaterials. He is advising significant priceincreases, which are not acceptable, so this isgoing to lead to more work to try and find analternative supplier.

15.00

Prepare for an internal audit, ISO 14001. Anexternal audit is scheduled for next month.

16.00

A training session is planned for tomorrow forseveral shift operators. Liaise with the SHE

Manager, who is running the session, abouttimetable and content.

17.30

Discuss plant status with the EngineeringManager; is all set for the night shift? Discusscontingency plans and back-up if any plant isonly temporarily fixed.

Discuss furnace (smelting) operation withthe Shift Supervisor and confirm what wewant the night shift to do.

17.00

Prepare shift log book – leave instructions forthe night shift.

17.30

Notify security of scheduled visitors andvehicles for tomorrow. Set security alarmsystems, change, shower, set off for home. It’sbeen a busy, but interesting, day!

Kettle’s on and the dog’s waiting to go for awalk. The night Shift Supervisor calls to saythat a smelter operator has phoned in sick.Discuss contingency options and make note todiscuss the attendance record of this operatorwith his manager in the morning.n

A L C H E M I S T I S S U E F I F T Y N I N E

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Keith Daviesjoined John BettsRefiners (as it wasthen) in May 1984as an analyticalchemist for severalyears for Foseco.Promoted toLaboratory

Manager in October 1985, Keith eventuallytransferred to a production operational rolein April 1991, and in September 1996, wasappointed Site Operations Manager.

If you are interested in taking part in the “Day in the Life

of...” series, please contact: amy.berman@lbma.org.uk

Electronic Weighing of GoldA Success StoryBy Douglas Beadle

In mid-May, a demonstration of a

new electronic scale suitable for

weighing large gold bars took

place at one of J.P. Morgan’s

vaults. The participants included

representatives of all the London

vaults. By the end of the

demonstration, all were convinced

that the new scale, which had

been developed by Sartorius AG,

could match the accuracy and

precision of the beam balance,

which until now, has been the only

way that these bars could be

weighed in the London vaults.

This marked the culmination of a six-yearproject to find an electronic scale for gold thatmight be acceptable to the London market.

The majority of weighing practitionerswill concede that, ultimately, the mostaccurate method of weighing gold to theexacting standards of the London bullionmarket is a traditional well-maintained beambalance – as long as this is combined with thenecessary experience on the part of theoperator. Beam balance weighing is, however,a time-consuming process and, in addition, theregular servicing of such beam balances is avery specialist job that can be undertaken byvery few highly skilled technicians.

For these reasons, the LBMAManagement Committee decided in June2004 to set up a working party, reporting tothe Physical Committee, to look at thepossibility of permitting gold to be weighed inthe London market not only on traditionalbeam balances but also on electronic scales.The intention was not to eliminate traditionalbeam balance weighing but to provide analternative, thereby helping to maintainLondon’s status as the prime physical goldclearing centre in the world. The desire toinvestigate electronic weighing also reflectedthe fact that most gold refiners and many

other trading centres already use electronicscales without problems (even if they may beweighing to less exacting standards than applyin London).

At the outset, it was not envisaged that itwould take six years to reach this point. Sowhy has it taken so long to find a scale withthe appropriate performance? There were anumber of reasons. Firstly, trialling a scale hasto be fitted in with a vault’s daily workloadand, over the last few years, the London vaultshave had to deal with an unprecedentedvolume of metal coming into, and sometimesgoing out of, London. Secondly, havingidentified what appeared to be the mostsuitable scale available at the time, exhaustivetrials were conducted to establish the accuracyand suitability of the scale in a busy vault.During the trialling, a bar is initially weighedon a traditional beam balance and then on theelectronic scale being tested (scale 1). If theresults of the initial trial look promising,another identical scale (scale 2) is introducedand the vault weighs the bar on the beambalance against both scales 1 and 2. The finalstep in the process is for scale 2 to be movedto another London vault and for the first vaultto weigh the bar on both the beam and scale1; the bars are then shipped to the second

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