Tanaka Kikinzoku was founded in 1885, originally as a monetary exchange firm, before evolving into Japan's precious metals industry and becoming the country's first fabricator of platinum fine filament wire. When Japan's gold market was first liberalized in 1978, Tanaka became the first Japanese company accredited as an LBMA Good Delivery refiner, and it went on to become the first Japanese company accredited as a full LBMA ordinary member in 2012. Today its gold bar production centers on the Shonan plant southwest of Tokyo, with refining capacity exceeding 500 tonnes annually, and the broader Tanaka Kikinzoku Group has owned Metalor since 2016.
Tanaka Kikinzoku is Japan's largest gold and platinum-group-metals refiner, giving it an institutional position in the Japanese bullion market comparable to what Argor-Heraeus or Metalor hold in Switzerland. Its ownership of Metalor since 2016 ties it directly into one of the Swiss LBMA Good Delivery Referee network's five members, meaning Tanaka sits at the center of both the Japanese and, through its subsidiary, elite global refiner quality-monitoring systems.
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Start tracking freeYes — it's Japan's largest gold and platinum-group-metals refiner, and the biggest producer of gold bars in the country.
Yes — the Tanaka Kikinzoku Group has owned Swiss refiner Metalor since 2016, connecting it directly to Metalor's LBMA Good Delivery Referee status.
It became the first Japanese company accredited as an LBMA Good Delivery refiner in 1978, and later the first Japanese company accredited as a full LBMA ordinary member in 2012.