Rand Refinery Rand Refinery Rand Refinery (Pty) Limited is the largest integrated single-site precious metals refining and smelting complex in the world. It was established in 1920 to refine gold within South Africa which until that time had been refined in London. Since its inception it has refined nearly 50,000 tonnes of gold. This represents some 30% of all the gold mined in the world since antiquity. It was established in 1920 in Germiston, South Africa, by the Chamber of Mines of South Africa to refine all the gold produced by South Africa's gold mines instead of in London. As of 1919,
South African rand the end of 2004 was trading under R 5.70 to the dollar. The currency softened somewhat in 2005, and was trading around R 6.35 to the dollar at the end of the year. At the start of 2006, however, the currency resumed its rally, and as of 19 January 2006, was trading under R 6 to the dollar again. However, during the second and third quarters of 2006 (i.e. April through September), the Rand weakened significantly. In sterling terms, it fell from around 9.5p to just over 7p, losing some 25% of its international trade-weighted value in just six months.