At an industrial zone in Singapore a worker in heat-resistant clothing pours molten gold into rectangular moulds to create shiny new kilobars.
It is the first time gold has been refined in the Asian city state since 1998, when a sales tax clobbered the business, shutting a refinery that had been operated by a German company since the 1970s.
Having abolished the tax in 2012, Singapore is embarking on an ambitious plan to build itself up as an Asian hub for the refining and trading of gold. The refinery, operated by Metalor of Switzerland, opened last week a day after Singapore’s exchange, SGX, announced plans for a futures contract based on 25 kilobars of gold.
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