- “A business that specializes in facilitating transactions between a home country and foreign countries.” 2
- Trading houses are important for mines because they are the first purchasers of the raw mineral straight from the mines. The type of gold that is bought is dirty and impure because it still contains other minerals within it that add weight but decrease the value.
- Allows for miners to focus on their area of expertise and not on the distribution of mining. Corporate operations will normally have an in house partner that deals with this type of work
Social Impacts of Trading House
- This is just another step on the commodity chain where value is added to the end product. Being able to transfer gold ore from mines to somewhere that can refine it adds tremendous value in the end.
- Trading houses will sometimes pay premiums for large quantities which benefits the mining operations.