Aurelian Mercantile
Sourced with discipline. Capital with purpose.
A structured commodity bridge finance house. We finance the gap between shipment at origin and settlement at refinery, and recycle the capital we generate into investment in the markets that produced it.
What we do
Sourcing
We work only with licensed sellers and verifiable mine origin. Every relationship is built on independent verification of provenance, recognised assay, and full sanctions and politically exposed person screening. If origin cannot be verified, the transaction does not happen.
Bridge
We provide the working capital that bridges shipment from origin to settlement at refinery. Funds move only by instrument, never as cash. Documentary letters of credit, escrow, and client accounts release strictly against verified shipping, customs, insurance and assay documents.
Settlement
Custody is outsourced to regulated vaults. We do not hold metal on our own premises. Refineries and buyers settle into banked accounts, against confirmed assay, into a documented profit waterfall.
Return
The capital we generate is recycled, through our foundation owner, into investment in the markets where the underlying flows originate. Bridge finance funds the bridge; the firm's purpose returns to the source.
“We do not trade speculation. We finance verified flow. The discipline is the product.”
Aurelian Mercantile
Bridge finance, recycled into the markets that produced it.
Aurelian Mercantile was founded on a thesis that the most enduring commercial activity is one that creates value where it operates. Our business is to finance the bridge between shipment of physical metal at origin and settlement at refinery. We capture the financing margin that arises from carrying the timing and trust gap between those two events.
The firm is owned by a private foundation whose stated purpose is the advancement of economic development in Sub Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and other emerging markets. The capital we generate as a trading desk is recycled, through that foundation, into long horizon investment in the markets that supplied the underlying flows. This is not philanthropy attached to a trading book. It is the structural reason the firm exists.
The result is a commodity finance house whose commercial discipline and developmental purpose are not in tension. The more we source carefully, settle cleanly and earn at the bridge, the more capital returns to the source.
Working together
For sellers at origin
We engage with licensed exporters with verifiable mine origin and bankable documentation. We provide working capital for shipment, insurance and export, against transparent terms and direct settlement.
Read moreFor refineries and offtake
We deliver flows that arrive with declared origin, complete documentation, independent assay and a clean settlement instruction. We never substitute, repackage or obscure provenance.
Read moreFor institutions and banks
We operate as a documented receivables finance house with a published compliance perimeter, independent audit, and a foundation purpose that survives institutional diligence.
Read moreCapital recycled into the markets it sources from.
Speak with our team to discuss seller mandates, refinery offtake, banking and credit, or institutional capital.