Monopoly disclosure

Monopoly disclosure of crystalline osmium

Osmium is a precious metal and is traded internationally. It occurs in platinum mines together with platinum. Osmium is often offered as a so-called compound, for example as osmium tetroxide. Osmium is metallurgically separated from other metals and is only pure enough to be used after several processing steps. The raw form of osmium is not poured into bars, as is the case with other precious metals, but is filled into vials. At this stage, it is known as osmium sponge. Osmium sponge is the raw form of osmium, which is also used for crystallisation. The crystallisation process is the process of rearranging atoms in the crystal to create a new crystal structure. As the crystal structure changes, the chemical and physical properties also change. 

This monopole disclosure relates solely to crystalline osmium. 

Crystalline osmium is crystallised by CristalTech Sàrl in Satigny near Geneva and is marketed exclusively by the German "Osmium Institut zur Inverkehrbringung und Zertifizierung von Osmium GmbH". Osmium in its crystalline form is only available to the above-mentioned German Osmium Institute from this single source in Switzerland. 

The German "Osmium-Institut zur Inverkehrbringung und Zertifizierung von Osmium GmbH" has concluded an exclusive agreement with the supplier in Switzerland with no time limit. The purpose of the agreement is a regulated placing on the market via the German institute, which has been exclusively commissioned by the Swiss company to place the product on the market. The employees of the institute are obliged to act in accordance with strict scientific principles and to provide each piece of osmium with a certificate of authenticity.

In addition, the Osmium Institute in Germany maintains a database in which the scans of osmium pieces in circulation can be searched internationally. The purpose of the database is to enable a comparison of the crystal structure of a physical piece of osmium with its scan from the certification. Every owner of osmium has the right to retrieve data about their osmium from this database at any time if they can provide proof that they are the owner of the osmium. Proof is provided by presenting or entering the Osmium Identification Code, which is supplied with each piece of osmium. The Osmium Identification Code is an eight-digit letter and number code.

As the German Osmium Institute is the sole distributor of osmium, there is a monopoly which is linked to the monopoly on crystallisation, i.e. the process of changing the crystal structure of osmium.

The monopoly is also linked to pricing, which took place in Switzerland until 31 December 2023, and will be determined once a year from 1 January 2024 by a committee of the Osmium World Council at the annual symposium on the basis of production costs. Osmium is not currently traded via a trading system. The price is not represented by a course. However, the supply of raw osmium and the demand for crystalline osmium have had a significant influence on the price. The price was formed and published every day until 31 December 2023, taking into account the following key aspects:

Supply of raw osmium, supply of crystalline osmium offcut for redistillation, option contracts on raw osmium, current stock level of raw osmium, number of crystallisation furnaces, electricity price, costs for personnel, costs for safety in the laboratory, build-up of reserves, costs for certification and packaging, cut prices for crystalline osmium, demand for crystalline osmium, current sales of crystalline osmium as well as several less weighted factors. The most important aspect for daily pricing is the harvest rate. The harvest rate is the amount of osmium that can be used after growing the crystals and does not have to be returned to the process. This is because the resulting waste of unusable crystals has to be distilled again several times and recrystallised at great technical and financial expense.

Determining the price of crystalline osmium

As of 1 January 2024, the determination of the price per gram for semi-finished crystalline osmium products (disks, bars and squares without processing surcharges) will be switched to a new, transparent and significantly simplified procedure. In recent years, price changes have been driven primarily by factors such as the harvest rate and the raw osmium price. However, a number of factors have also had an impact, which have only had a minor influence. With the stable production of investor disks, it is now sufficient to recalculate the production price for crystalline osmium once a year at the Osmium Symposium. In order to take the influence of inflation into account in the calculation, the price per gram is adjusted on the basis of the previous day's value of German inflation.