Tanaka Precious Metals: Japan’s Largest Gold and Platinum Refiner

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Tanaka is Japan’s largest precious metals refiner, and the name most Japanese investors associate with gold. The group began in 1885 as a money exchange shop in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. Its refining company, Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo, has refined gold, platinum and silver for well over a century. Today it sits within the TANAKA Precious Metal Group, a privately owned business with revenue of more than ¥1 trillion a year. For many buyers in Japan, “Tanaka gold” simply means a gold bar. Tanaka’s daily retail price is also the reference price that most of the Japanese gold market watches.

Its standing extends well beyond Japan. Tanaka is one of only seven refiners worldwide that act as referees for the London Bullion Market Association’s Good Delivery system. Referees test the bars of other refiners seeking accreditation, and Tanaka is the only Japanese firm in that role. It holds the same position for platinum and palladium with the London Platinum and Palladium Market. Since 2016 it has also owned Metalor, one of Switzerland’s largest refiners, which is how most investors outside Japan come across bars made within the Tanaka group.

This page covers how the TANAKA group is structured, its history and accreditations, what it produces, how to recognise a genuine Tanaka bar, and what buying Tanaka bullion involves from outside Japan.

Who Is Tanaka?

Tanaka is a Japanese precious metals group best known for refining, industrial precious metals and retail bullion. Its refining company, Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo, is the business most people mean by “Tanaka”. The name translates roughly as Tanaka Precious Metal Industries. It refines gold, platinum, palladium and silver, recovers precious metals from industrial scrap, and makes the investment bars sold across Japan.

That bullion business sits inside a much larger industrial one. Tanaka’s precious metals go into semiconductors, electronics, cars and medical devices. Its bonding wire, the fine gold and copper wire that connects microchips to their circuits, and its catalysts for hydrogen fuel cells are among the products it is best known for industrially. In the 2025 financial year the group reported revenue of ¥1,097.8 billion and employed 5,778 people. Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo alone accounted for ¥419.2 billion of that revenue, with around 2,860 staff.

The TANAKA Precious Metal Group

The group was reorganised on 1 January 2025. Its holding company is now TANAKA PRECIOUS METAL GROUP Co., Ltd., and several of its companies took new English names at the same time:

Company	English name since 2025	What it does
Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo	TANAKA PRECIOUS METAL TECHNOLOGIES	Refining, industrial precious metals and investment bars
Tanaka Kikinzoku Jewelry	TANAKA PRECIOUS METAL RETAILING	The GINZA TANAKA jewellery and bullion stores
Tanaka Denshi Kogyo	TANAKA ELECTRONICS	Bonding wire for semiconductors
Electroplating Engineers of Japan	EEJA	Plating chemicals and equipment
Metalor Technologies	Metalor	Swiss refiner, owned since 2016

The group is privately owned and led by Group CEO Koichiro Tanaka. In April 2024 it moved its head office back to its original site in Kayabacho, Nihonbashi, where the business began nearly 140 years earlier.

Tanaka also publishes a daily retail price for gold and platinum in yen, which is widely followed in Japan. When a Japanese investor searches for the “Tanaka gold price”, that daily quote is usually what they’re looking for.

From a Nihonbashi Money Changer

Umekichi Tanaka opened a money exchange shop in Kayabacho, Nihonbashi, in 1885, and the business soon moved into precious metals. Platinum became an early specialism, starting with platinum recovered from used light bulbs. The company took the name Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo in 1943.

Its modern bullion business took shape in the 1970s. When Japan liberalised gold imports in 1973, Tanaka became the first private company to import gold, and it began selling gold to the public. In 1978 it was recognised in London as a gold refiner and assayer. It went on to launch Japan’s first gold accumulation plan, a scheme that lets savers buy small amounts of gold each month. The plan is still one of the most popular ways to own gold in Japan.

LBMA and LPPM Referee Status

Tanaka has been one of the London Bullion Market Association’s Good Delivery referees since 2003, and one of the London Platinum and Palladium Market’s referees since 2009. In 2012 it became the first Japanese company to be a full member of the LBMA.

Referees sit a step above ordinary accreditation. When a refiner applies to join the Good Delivery List, or is reviewed under it, its bars are sent to the referees, who independently test them. There are now seven LBMA referees, following the addition of Agosi and the Perth Mint in March 2025. Tanaka is the only one in Japan. Its peers on the panel include PAMP, Rand Refinery and its own subsidiary, Metalor.

Tanaka and Metalor

In September 2016 Tanaka completed its purchase of Metalor Technologies, the Swiss refiner founded in 1852. It gave expansion in Europe, the Americas and Asia outside Japan as its main reason. Metalor continues to grow under Tanaka ownership. In March 2026 it completed the purchase of the US precious metals refiner Gannon & Scott.

Tanaka has kept Metalor as a separate brand since buying it, and the two divide the market in practice. Tanaka’s own bars are sold mainly in Japan, through its GINZA TANAKA stores, banks and other retailers, and are relatively uncommon elsewhere. Outside Japan, the group’s bars mostly reach buyers under the Metalor name, from refineries in Switzerland and Singapore. For most investors outside Japan, the practical way to own a bar made within the Tanaka group is to buy a Metalor bar.

What Tanaka Produces

Investment bullion is only one part of what Tanaka makes, and not the largest. Most of Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo’s business supplies precious metals to industry: bonding wire, electrical contacts, catalysts for hydrogen fuel cells, and materials for semiconductors, cars and medical devices. Recycling is part of the same cycle. Tanaka recovers gold, platinum and palladium from industrial scrap and used products, refines them, and returns them to industry or turns them into bars.

On the investment side, Tanaka makes bars for Japan’s retail market and wholesale bars for the professional market. It also acts as a distributor in Japan for several foreign bullion coins.

Investment Bars

Metal	Fineness	Retail bar sizes
Gold	999.9	5 g, 10 g, 20 g, 50 g, 100 g, 200 g, 300 g, 500 g, 1 kg
Platinum	999.5	5 g, 10 g, 100 g, 500 g

Tanaka’s retail range is sized in grams, not troy ounces, which reflects its home market. Japanese buyers think of gold in grams, and Tanaka’s own retail price is quoted in yen per gram. Alongside the retail range, Tanaka produces Good Delivery bars for the wholesale market: 400 oz for gold, and the kilo bars traded between professional dealers.

Each bar carries Tanaka’s hallmark, a stylised globe surrounded by the words TANAKA TOKYO MELTERS, together with its weight, fineness and a serial number. The next section covers what to look for.

Demand for Tanaka bars can outrun supply. In October 2025, as the yen gold price climbed towards record highs, Tanaka suspended sales of its smaller gold bars, the 5 g to 50 g sizes, and of its 5 g and 10 g platinum bars, because orders had outpaced production. Bars of 100 g and above stayed on sale, and the smaller sizes returned at the end of November 2025.

Tanaka’s retail network also sells foreign bullion coins in Japan. These include the gold and platinum Vienna Philharmonic, the gold and platinum Maple Leaf and the American Platinum Eagle.

What We Stock

Tanaka bars are rarely seen outside Japan, and our range reflects that. At BullionStar we currently carry 300 g Tanaka gold bar, and the 500 g Tanaka platinum bar. As Investment Precious Metals, they carry no GST on Singapore delivery.

Our main range from the Tanaka group is sold under the Metalor name, in gold, silver and platinum. You can browse our full range of gold bars, silver bars and platinum bars.

How to Identify a Genuine Tanaka Bar

Tanaka bars don’t carry built-in security technology. There’s no hologram, no scannable surface pattern and no verification app. Checking a Tanaka bar comes down to its markings, its measurements and the metal inside it.

What the Markings Should Show

Every Tanaka bar carries the company’s hallmark: a stylised globe inside a ring of lettering that reads TANAKA TOKYO MELTERS. Alongside the hallmark, the bar is stamped with its weight, its fineness, and a serial number on the larger bars. The lettering should be sharp and evenly struck, with the hallmark centred and complete. Faint, blurred or uneven marks, spelling errors, or a fineness that doesn’t match the metal are all reasons for suspicion. So is a hallmark that looks different from other Tanaka bars of the same size.

This is a more traditional approach than some of Tanaka’s peers take. PAMP’s Veriscan and the Metalor Check app both let a buyer verify a bar with a phone. Tanaka relies on its hallmark and on its reputation within the Japanese market, where most of its bars are bought and sold through its own network and other established retailers.

Checking the Metal

As with any bar, weight and dimensions are the first practical check. A scale reading to a hundredth of a gram, and a set of calipers, will catch crude fakes. For larger bars, density testing, ultrasound and X-ray fluorescence go further. Our guide on how to test gold covers the methods in more detail.

Platinum has one natural advantage here. It is considerably denser than gold, and than tungsten, the metal most often used to fake gold bars. A tungsten-cored bar can be made to match gold’s weight and size closely, but not platinum’s. That makes a well-made counterfeit platinum bar harder to produce.

As with any bar that has left its original seller’s hands, the simplest protection is to buy from a dealer that tests what it buys and sells.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Tanaka Kikinzoku?

Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo is Japan’s largest precious metals refiner and the main operating company of the TANAKA Precious Metal Group. Its English name has been TANAKA PRECIOUS METAL TECHNOLOGIES since 2025. Founded in Tokyo in 1885, it refines gold, platinum, palladium and silver, supplies precious metals to industry, and makes the investment bars sold across Japan. “Kikinzoku” means precious metals in Japanese.

Is Tanaka LBMA accredited?

Yes. Tanaka has been recognised in London as a gold refiner and assayer since 1978, and in 2012 it became the first Japanese full member of the London Bullion Market Association. It is also one of the LBMA’s seven Good Delivery referees, the refiners that test other refiners’ bars, and the only one in Japan. It holds referee status with the London Platinum and Palladium Market as well.

Does Tanaka own Metalor?

Yes. Tanaka completed its purchase of the Swiss refiner Metalor Technologies in September 2016. Metalor has kept its own name and brand, and operates refineries in Switzerland and Singapore. Outside Japan, most bars from the Tanaka group are sold under the Metalor name.

What is Ginza Tanaka?

GINZA TANAKA is the TANAKA group’s retail brand in Japan, run by TANAKA PRECIOUS METAL RETAILING. Its stores sell jewellery, gold and platinum bars, and bullion coins, and buy precious metals back from the public. The brand takes its name from Ginza, Tokyo’s best-known shopping district.

Where are Tanaka bars made?

Tanaka bars are made in Japan, at Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo’s refining and bar production facilities outside Tokyo. Each bar carries the TANAKA TOKYO MELTERS hallmark, a stylised globe inside a ring of lettering, together with its weight and fineness.

Can I buy Tanaka bars outside Japan?

Tanaka bars are mainly sold in Japan and are relatively uncommon elsewhere. At BullionStar we stock the 500 g Tanaka platinum bar, which is GST-free in Singapore as an Investment Precious Metal. Our wider range from the Tanaka group is sold under the Metalor name, in gold, silver and platinum. They can be shipped internationally, stored in our Singapore vault, or collected from our Bullion Center.

Buying and Selling Tanaka Bullion

Tanaka is one of the most established names in precious metals. It has refined for more than 140 years, it is Japan’s largest refiner, and it is one of only seven LBMA Good Delivery referees worldwide. Its bars carry the same standing as any in the market. What makes Tanaka unusual is how rarely its bars are seen outside Japan. Its retail bars are sized in grams for Japanese buyers and sold mainly through its own network, and the group reaches international investors through Metalor instead.

Tax treatment also differs sharply between the two markets. In Japan, investment gold and platinum carry the standard 10% consumption tax when you buy. In Singapore, gold, silver and platinum bars that meet the Investment Precious Metals criteria carry no GST at all, and Singapore levies no capital gains tax when you sell.

When you come to sell, we buy Tanaka and Metalor bars back at a live quoted price, whether or not you bought them from us. Metal held in our vault can be sold back online without being shipped anywhere first.

Looking to add bars from the Tanaka group to your holdings? Browse our full selection of gold bars, silver bars and platinum bars including those from Tanaka and Metalor. Our products can be shipped internationally, stored in our high-security vault, or collected from our Bullion Center in Singapore.