Gold
Gold fineness: 999.9, 999, 995 and karats explained
Fineness is the gold content of a bar, grain or alloy in parts per thousand. 999.9 gold ("four nines") is at least 99.99% pure gold; 999.0 is 99.9%; 995.0 is 99.5%, the minimum for London Good Delivery bars and the Dubai kilobar standard. Jewellery gold is lower: 22 karat is 916.
Fineness grades and what uses them
| Fineness | Gold content | Karat | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 999.9 | 99.99% | 24 | Kilobars and small bars; the Shanghai Gold Exchange Au99.99 kilobar; fine casting grain |
| 999.0 | 99.9% | 24 | Refined bars and grain ("three nines") |
| 995.0 | 99.5% | 24 | Minimum for LBMA Good Delivery bars and for UAE Good Delivery kilobars |
| 916 | 91.6% | 22 | Jewellery in India, the Gulf and South-East Asia |
| 750 | 75.0% | 18 | Fine jewellery |
| 585 | 58.5% | 14 | Jewellery, mainly in the United States and Europe |
| 375 | 37.5% | 9 | Lower-cost jewellery, mainly in the United Kingdom |
ISO 9202 recommends 375, 585, 750 and 916 as the standard finenesses for gold jewellery alloys. Refined gold, by definition, is 995 fine or better.
999.9 or 999: does the difference matter?
For value, only a little: 999.9 contains 0.9 parts per thousand more gold than 999.0. On a kilogram at the LBMA Gold Price PM of 11 September 2026 (USD 4,386.25 per troy ounce), that is about USD 127. For use, it can matter more: some exchanges and buyers specify four nines, and electronics and some alloy makers need the lower impurity content.
Gold karat chart
Karats measure gold content in 24ths: fineness = karats × 1000 ÷ 24.
| Karat | Gold content | Fineness stamp |
|---|---|---|
| 24 karat | 99.5% to 99.99% | 995, 999, 999.9 |
| 22 karat | 91.67% | 916 |
| 21 karat | 87.5% | 875 |
| 18 karat | 75.0% | 750 |
| 14 karat | 58.33% | 583 or 585 |
| 10 karat | 41.67% | 417 |
| 9 karat | 37.5% | 375 |
How fineness is established
A bar's stamp states the refiner's declared fineness. In trade, fineness is confirmed by fire assay of a sample, with an independent umpire if buyer and seller disagree. A surface scan (XRF) is a screening test only. See gold assay.
Specifying fineness when you buy
State the fineness you need (999.9, 999.0 or 995.0 minimum), the format, and whether bars must come from a refiner on a good-delivery list. Once our licensed supply route is in place, refined gold from Uganda would be quoted at 999.9 or 999.0. See the gold bar specification, 1 kg gold bars and casting grain, or request a gold quote.
Quotes
Tell us what you are buying.
Send the gold form, fineness, quantity, delivery point and the documents you require. We reply by email with what can and cannot be quoted at this stage, and on what basis.
Sources for the figures and rules on this page
Evidence for this page
Each statement is labelled by the strength of its evidence and dated. How we label evidence.
| Statement | Evidence | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| LBMA Good Delivery gold bars have a minimum fineness of 995.0. | Verified | LBMA Good Delivery Rules, technical specifications | |
| Fully refined gold is 99.5% or better. | Verified | LBMA Responsible Gold Guidance v9, Definitions | |
| The UAE (Dubai) Good Delivery standard is for 1 kg bars of 995 fineness; the Shanghai Gold Exchange Au99.99 contract is a 1 kg ingot of 9999 fineness. | Reported | BullionStar, Dubai gold market; BullionStar, Chinese gold market | |
| ISO 9202 specifies recommended finenesses for precious metal jewellery alloys; for gold, 375, 585, 750 and 916. | Reported | ISO 9202:2019, Jewellery and precious metals — Fineness of precious metal alloys (abstract, via search summary) | |
| The value of 0.9 parts per thousand of a kilogram (32.1507 troy oz) at USD 4,386.25 per ounce is about USD 127; karat conversions use fineness = karats × 1000 / 24. | Inference | Uganda Gold Report calculation |