Assistant Undersecretary for Trade at “Industry” told “Al-Watan”: Examining and stamping more than 882 thousand pieces and jewelry made of precious metals weighing more than 7 tons.

Ayman Shakal – Photography by Suhail Wazir

The Assistant Undersecretary for Domestic and Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Sheikh Hamad bin Salman Al Khalifa, revealed the total number of inspection and stamping requests conducted by the Metal Inspection Center during the past year, which amounted to 36,875 service requests, through which more than 882 thousand pieces of jewelery and alloys with a weight exceeding 7 tons were examined and stamped, and gold jewelery topped the largest percentage of them with about 840 thousand pieces and a weight of 6.6 tons, and the examinations also included 105,611 pieces of high-value jewelry inlaid with natural pearls and natural diamonds.

Sheikh Hamad bin Salman Al Khalifa indicated in an interview with Al-Watan that inspections of precious metals are carried out in accordance with international standards (ISO) for the chemical analysis of gold and silver metals, and advanced techniques such as non-destructive radiological analysis

The Assistant Undersecretary noted the Center’s continued institutional excellence, as it was able to win the Golden Shield in the “Taqeem 5” program for the fourth time (in the years 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024). This was the result of commitment to quality standards, continuous training, and close follow-up by the Minister of Industry and Trade to develop the government services environment, as the percentage of national cadres working in the Center is 100%.

He stressed that the center is developing ambitious future plans to increase the absorptive capacity, develop radiological examination systems using modern tomography techniques, and provide technical advisory services to local drafting workshops and factories, in a way that contributes to enhancing the quality of the Bahraini product and protecting the rights of consumers and investors alike. Below are the details of the dialogue:

There is a large volume of work carried out by the Metal Inspection Center throughout the year. Have statistics been issued regarding the inspection operations for the past year?

In light of the increasing growth of the jewelry and precious metals sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the role of the “Metal Assay Center” affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce is emerging as a vital regulatory and technical body. Its work is not only limited to ensuring the purity and quality of gold, silver and platinum traded in the local markets, but goes beyond that to provide specialized technical consultations, adopt the latest international technologies, and achieve successive successes in measuring customer satisfaction.

A report on the productivity and work of the Metal Assay Center is issued annually, and important data is published on the website of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and some data is published on the center’s display screens, in addition to publishing customer satisfaction survey data on the center’s services.

What is the total number of inspection and stamping requests completed by the Metal Assay Center during the past year, compared to the previous year? What is the annual growth rate in the volume of orders?

The number of inspection and stamping requests submitted to the center reached about 36,875 service requests.

How many pieces were examined (jewellery, bullion, high-value pieces) and the total weight of the precious metals that were examined during the same period, and what are the types of metals (gold, silver, platinum) most traded and examined?

During the year 2025, more than 882,676 pieces of jewelry and bullion of precious metals (gold, platinum, and silver) were examined and stamped, with a total weight of 7,105 kilograms. The largest percentage is of gold jewelry of various legal karats (24, 22, 21, 18, and 14 carats). The number of pieces of gold jewelry and bullion reached 839,096 pieces, with a total weight of 6,684. kilograms, including 105,611 pieces of high-value jewelry inlaid with natural pearls and natural diamonds.

Does the Ministry issue an annual or quarterly statistical report on the performance of the Metal Assay Center?

– On a monthly, quarterly and annual basis, a report on the productivity and work of the Metal Assay Center is issued, important data is published on the website of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, some data is published on the center’s display screens, in addition to publishing customer satisfaction survey data on the center’s services on a monthly basis.

What are the latest technologies and devices currently used in inspections?

The Metal Inspection Center at the Ministry of Industry and Trade includes a number of advanced devices and modern technologies in examining and stamping precious metals, including chemical analysis using furnaces for melting samples of precious metals, and non-destructive radiological examination (XRF) devices. Laser stamping techniques are also used for precious metals and jewellery. There is a future plan to upgrade radiological examination systems with very modern techniques, including computed tomography of alloys and radiological analysis of the proportions of different metals in jewelry and alloys.

How is the process of “stamping” the pieces after they pass the inspection, and are there special symbols or marks that indicate the quality and caliber of the piece?

– Stamping operations for precious jewelery and bullion are carried out using manual stamping, automatic stamping, or using modern laser stamping techniques.

There are distinctive and approved hallmarks for the regulatory body in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Through these hallmarks, the precious metals (gold, silver, and platinum) are distinguished, and the legal caliber and percentage of the precious metal in each jewelry is indicated, whether the jewelry is manufactured locally or imported from abroad.

What are the standard specifications (such as GSO and ISO specifications) that the center relies on in inspection and stamping procedures?

– Precious metal examination operations are carried out in accordance with the international specifications (ISO) for the chemical analysis of gold and silver metals, and the international specifications for the radiological analysis of gold, platinum and silver metals. Stamping operations for precious metals are also carried out in accordance with the international standards approved by the International Organization of International Assaying and Stamping Laboratories and Offices.

How is coordination between the Inspection and Metrology Department and the field inspection teams to ensure that the markets are free of counterfeit or non-compliant jewelry?

– There is joint coordination and cooperation with the Inspection Department of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to verify the application of laws and regulatory decisions related to precious metals, natural pearls, and valuable stones in the local markets, by ensuring that stores are committed to displaying and selling precious jewelry examined and stamped with approved Bahraini hallmarks, ensuring that the markets are free of cultured pearls, and ensuring that valuable stones and diamonds are examined before they are offered for sale. Making judicial seizures of jewelery that does not comply with legal and technical standards and taking the necessary legal measures in such cases.

What is the role of the mobile metal inspection unit in facilitating the work of inspectors in the field, especially during inspection campaigns and major exhibitions such as “Jawaher Arabia”?

The mobile unit for examining and hallmarking precious metals and jewelery has been introduced since 2017 through a request to design special equipment for examination and hallmarking operations and to introduce these technologies into the center’s line of work. This mobile unit is used to provide immediate examination and hallmarking services for jewelery and precious metals at the Arabian Jewelery Exhibition every year as a service to exhibitors and visitors to the exhibition and to ensure the implementation of the laws and decisions of control over precious jewellery.

What is the nature of the technical advisory services that the Center provides to the jewelry industry and trade sector, especially with regard to metal alloy data and calculation of legal karats?

The Metal Inspection Center provides a range of technical advisory services to goldsmithing workshops and precious jewelery factories in the Kingdom of Bahrain in terms of explaining and stating the percentage required for each approved legal karat for all precious metals approved in the Kingdom of Bahrain, which are gold, platinum and silver, and explaining the technical matters that must be adhered to when drafting and executing jewellery, to ensure the quality and purity of the precious jewellery, in terms of the percentage and weight of the precious metal in each piece. The center also provides an inspection and stamping service for mixtures of alloys of unknown legal karat, in order to use these. Alloys in the formulation of jewelry according to each legal caliber. Advice is also provided to some Gulf laboratories in the field of chemical examination techniques for precious metals.

The Metal Assay Center recently received the Golden Shield in the “Taqeem 5” program for the third time in a row. To what is this continued excellence in customer satisfaction and quality of services attributed?

The Metal Inspection Center received the Gold Category rating in the Government Service Centers Evaluation Program four times in the years 2019, 2019, 2023, and 2024. This is due to the Metal Inspection Center’s commitment to the development standards and procedures for the center’s services, working to improve the quality of services, enhancing the general satisfaction of customers with the work of the center and service providers, and preparing the center’s facilities to be more suitable for providing services. The continuous and diligent follow-up of His Excellency the Minister of Industry and Commerce to improve the quality of operations in all government service centers in the ministry has a great impact on raising the level and quality of work in the service provision centers. And to overcome all the difficulties facing the work of the centers and provide the necessary resources to ensure the sustainability of work and upgrade systems and platforms, and put forward continuous development initiatives that enhance the work environment in the government service centers in the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

What are the most prominent challenges facing the center in its work, whether technical, such as the difficulty of examining some types of artifacts, or supervisory, such as the spread of counterfeit products?

Ensuring the sustainability of the technical and service work in the Metal Assay Center while achieving the highest percentage of customer satisfaction with the center’s performance and service providers is a daily challenge that all the center’s specialists are keen to achieve with the utmost dedication and sincerity while building sustainable friendly relations with dealers and investors in the jewelry and precious metals sector and providing all available technical expertise to enhance the work of manufacturers and owners of goldsmithing workshops, and providing a reliable technical environment to ensure the safety and reliability of Bahraini and imported jewelry in the local markets.

What are the center’s future plans to develop its services and increase its capacity, and are there plans to use new technologies such as artificial intelligence in examination operations?

– There are future plans to ensure the sustainability of services and develop radiological examination systems by adding some modern, advanced equipment recently used in a number of international laboratories and research centers with regard to radiological tomographic examination of alloys and jewellery.

How many qualified national cadres work at the center? What are the ongoing training programs that the technical teams undergo to keep up with the latest technologies?

All staff working in the Metal Assay Center are 100% Bahraini nationals, and all of them hold academic degrees in the field of metallurgy and chemical examination. The workers undergo continuous technical and administrative training programs. The Center also participates annually in technical proficiency tests for laboratories and offices for examining precious metals, and workers in the field of metallurgy pass these tests with results of high inspection accuracy comparable to other accredited international laboratories.