C. Hafner Refinery: Recycled Gold from Pforzheim
C. Hafner refinery is a gold and silver refiner from Pforzheim that has existed since 1850 and is still run by the family. The company recovers precious metals from scrap gold and production residues and turns them into fine gold bars. C. Hafner has been on the LBMA Good Delivery List since 2013.
A short history
Carl Hafner founded the company in Pforzheim in 1850, initially as a sweepings processor: precious metal residues were recovered from the sweepings of goldsmiths’ and jewellery workshops. This later became a gold and silver refinery. In 2025 C. Hafner celebrated its 175th anniversary.
In 2015 the company moved its headquarters to a new building in Wimsheim in the Enz district. The refining plant stayed in Pforzheim on the Wilferdinger Höhe.
Today the company is more broadly based than a classic refinery. Besides its core business, the recovery of precious metals, C. Hafner makes semi-finished products, precious metal powders and dental alloys. It also offers its own alloys such as ‘PlatinGold’, precious metal milling and additive manufacturing with precious metal powders, i.e. 3D printing of parts made of gold and platinum.
Recycled gold as a business model
Unlike many large refineries, C. Hafner does not process mined gold. According to the company, the refinery deliberately makes its fine gold bars exclusively from secondary material. This includes scrap gold, residues from jewellery production and material from industry and dental technology. C. Hafner refers to EU Regulation 2017/821 on due diligence in the supply chain.
For investors who care about where their gold comes from, this is a distinguishing feature. Chemically, recycled fine gold cannot be told apart from mined gold; the fineness of 999.9 is the same.
Products and bar sizes
Besides investment bars, C. Hafner makes semi-finished products, powders, dental alloys and dental components. The gold bars come in several forms:
- Minted bars from 1 g to 100 g, including 1/4, 1/2 and 1 ounce
- Cast bars from 1 ounce and 50 g up to 1,000 g
- SmartPack with 10 bars of 1 g or 2 g and SmartBox with 25 × 1 g
- Packaging in a sealed CertiCard with serial number and confirmed fineness
Certifications
According to the LBMA, C. Hafner GmbH + Co. KG with its Pforzheim site has been on the Good Delivery List for gold since 8 March 2013. It is one of four German refineries on the current gold list (as of November 2026). The listing requires annual audits of the supply chain under the LBMA responsible sourcing rules.
According to the company, the authenticity of a C. Hafner bar can be checked via the stamp and serial number, weight and dimensions.
C. Hafner and Pforzheim as a precious metals hub
Pforzheim is one of the most important locations for precious metals processing in Germany. Of the four German refineries on the LBMA gold list, three are in Pforzheim: C. Hafner, Heimerle + Meule and Agosi. The fourth is Aurubis in Hamburg.
According to the company, C. Hafner is the only one of these that processes exclusively secondary material into fine gold bars. For goldsmiths, the company also buys scrap gold, from which new bars are made again.
How do you check a C. Hafner bar?
Every bar is supplied in a sealed CertiCard. The certificate states the serial number and confirms the tested fineness. To check a bar, C. Hafner recommends comparing the stamp and serial number and checking the weight and dimensions. Gold has a density of around 19.3 g per cubic centimetre; a bar with the right weight but the wrong dimensions may indicate a counterfeit.
Anyone who wants to resell a bar should therefore leave the CertiCard unopened if possible. A dealer can then buy the bar on the basis of the packaging, serial number and certificate without a costly analysis.
