FGR Gold Rates Trail Spot by Up to US$295/oz on 28 September

Fidelity Gold Refinery (FGR) has published its official gold acquisition rates for 28 September 2026, with per-gram prices spanning US$120.79 for small samples to US$127.50 for fire-assayed lots exceeding 100 grams, set against an international spot environment of roughly US$4,192 to US$4,261 per troy ounce.

For small-scale miners delivering gold today, and for investors tracking Zimbabwe’s formal gold sector, the tier a producer falls into matters. That tier, determined by specific gravity purity and lot size, directly sets the net return per gram. The gap between the lowest and highest FGR category on today’s schedule is roughly US$6.71 per gram, a spread that compounds sharply on larger submissions.

This piece lays out the full rate table, the eligibility rules that decide which tier applies to a given lot, and a read on how today’s FGR pricing sits against international spot. That last point matters most: it lets you judge whether the official channel is delivering competitive value before you transact.

Today’s FGR gold purchase rates by purity tier

The full six-tier schedule for 28 September 2026 is set out below. FGR applies the standard conversion of 1 troy ounce = 31.1035 grams, which is how the per-gram and per-ounce figures relate to one another.

Top of the schedule Fire Assay Cash (over 100 g) carries today’s highest listed rate at US$127.50/g (US$3,965.70/oz), with no sample quantity deducted from the submitted lot.

The headline figure to hold onto is the spread. From the small-sample floor of US$120.79/g to the Fire Assay Cash ceiling of US$127.50/g, today’s full schedule covers roughly US$6.71/g.

Within the purity bands alone, the gap runs from US$122.81/g at SG 75-80% to US$126.83/g at SG 90% and above. On a 100 g lot, that difference works out to approximately US$402 in extra revenue for identical physical mass, purely on how the gold classifies.

Step up to Fire Assay Cash and a 100 g qualifying lot earns roughly US$67 more than the top SG band (US$12,750 versus US$12,683).

The read for miners is direct: purity classification is not paperwork. It is an income variable you can influence before you ever reach the counter, and US$402 on a single 100 g lot is the figure to weigh against any processing cost that could lift your SG grade.

The question of whether processing expenditure justifies a purity upgrade before submission becomes more answerable when gold refining process costs are broken down by refinery pathway, since the cost-per-gram of moving from doré-grade material to a high-SG submission lot varies considerably by volume and method.

How lot size and assay rules determine what you actually receive

Headline per-gram rates are the starting point, not the finish line. What lands in a miner’s account depends on which of three valuation pathways applies, and each is triggered by different conditions.

Gold doré composition directly determines which SG band a lot falls into at the FGR counter, since the ratio of gold to silver and base-metal impurities in raw doré bars is what specific-gravity testing measures before a purity classification is assigned.

• SG-band classification: applies to gold graded by purity, from SG 75-80% (US$122.81/g) up to SG 90% and above (US$126.83/g).
• Small-sample pricing: applies to submissions of 5 g to under 10 g, paid at US$120.79/g, roughly US$6.71/g below the Fire Assay Cash rate.
• Fire Assay Cash and Transfer: both apply to lots over 100 g. Fire Assay Cash (US$127.50/g) deducts no sample; Fire Assay Transfer deducts a sample of up to 10 g from the submitted quantity.

The pathway you fall into can move real money. A miner delivering a 7 g small-sample lot receives US$120.79/g rather than the Fire Assay Cash rate, a shortfall of roughly US$47 on that single submission compared with what the same gold would earn inside a qualifying larger lot.

The starkest gap sits inside the fire-assay tier itself. Fire Assay Transfer deducts a sample of up to 10 g, while Fire Assay Cash deducts nothing at all.

The deduction that matters A 10 g Fire Assay Transfer sample deduction equals approximately US$1,275 of gold not credited on a 110 g submission at today’s Fire Assay Cash rate, roughly 9% of the submitted physical quantity.

For a producer bringing in 110 g, that is the difference between two pathways for the same physical gold. Choosing Fire Assay Cash over Fire Assay Transfer where possible protects both a higher headline rate and full net recovery.

The point holds at scale too. On a 200 g lot, Fire Assay Cash returns US$25,500 (200 g at US$127.50), versus US$25,366 at the SG 90%+ rate, a US$134 difference on a single batch before any deduction is even considered.

Two miners can deliver the same physical quantity and walk away with meaningfully different payments. The variable is not the gold. It is understanding which category applies before submission, which makes eligibility a financial decision rather than a technical footnote.

How today’s Fidelity Gold Refinery gold prices compare to international spot

FGR benchmarks its schedule to global prices, so the honest test of the official channel is how today’s rates stack up against international spot. On 28 September 2026, spot gold traded in an approximate range of US$4,192 to US$4,261 per troy ounce, reflecting normal intraday and cross-source variation.

Against that, FGR’s top tiers sit below spot. The Fire Assay Cash rate of US$3,965.70/oz and the SG 90%+ rate of US$3,944.86/oz both trail the contemporaneous range, a discount of roughly US$226 to US$295 per troy ounce at the top of the schedule.

The FGR-to-spot relationship has narrowed and widened repeatedly across 2026, with Zimbabwe gold purchase rates tracking a period in mid-September when spot briefly topped US$4,300 before the late-month softening that produced today’s wider discount.

That gap is the number to watch. It tells miners the official channel is not delivering spot-equivalent returns today, and that the size of the discount matters as much as the per-gram rate when deciding whether formal submission is the best route for a given lot.

The relationship is not fixed, though. Back on 11 April 2026, FGR’s Fire Assay Cash rate stood at US$143.02/g (approximately US$4,448/oz), at or above the spot levels prevailing at that time. The table below shows how the FGR-to-spot relationship has shifted.

August 2026 figures and the 25 September spot reference are drawn from unverified secondary sources and should be treated as indicative context only.

Tracking this relationship over time helps miners and sector investors calibrate the real economics of the official channel. It signals when pricing conditions favour formal submission, and when timing or lot aggregation might warrant a closer look.

What today’s schedule means for miners and sector investors going forward

Today’s numbers point to two decisions that shape a miner’s take-home more than the counter itself. The first is lot aggregation: reaching the 100 g Fire Assay Cash threshold avoids small-sample penalties and captures the top rate. The second is purity management: lifting SG classification before submission is worth roughly US$402 per 100 g lot between the lowest and highest bands, within a US$6.71/g spread across the full schedule.

Zimbabwe gold royalties apply on top of the FGR rate structure, with the sliding-scale framework meaning that a miner’s effective net return per gram shifts not only with purity classification but also with the prevailing royalty rate triggered by the gold price band in force on submission day.

Two variables sit on top of those decisions and deserve monitoring.

• Daily rate updates: FGR publishes rates on a daily or near-daily basis, so today’s figures will be superseded. Verify current rates directly with FGR before any submission.
• The FGR-to-spot discount: the top-tier gap of roughly US$226 to US$295 per troy ounce below spot in late September 2026 marks a wider discount than the tighter relationship seen in April 2026. Sustained discounts to spot have historically correlated with increased informal market activity.
• Lot-size and purity thresholds: measured against a producer’s typical output profile, these determine which incentives actually bite.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Investors should conduct their own research and consult with financial professionals before making investment decisions. FGR rates are date-specific and should not be treated as static reference prices.