DLCDocumentary Letter of Credit

DLC stands for Documentary Letter of Credit. A bank undertaking to pay the seller once shipping and assay documents meet the agreed terms It is one of the instruments buyers, sellers and brokers exchange when structuring a physical gold transaction, and it is searched for on its own precisely because so few legitimate origin exporters explain it in context.

Guyana Gold Mines publishes this page as part of a complete, plain-language map of the deal-flow chain, from the first soft corporate offer through to final settlement by wire. Understanding where DLC sits, and what it does and does not prove, is the difference between a clean transaction and an expensive mistake.

In the usual sequence, DLC follows SKR (Safe Keeping Receipt) and leads toward MT700 (SWIFT MT700 (Issue of a Documentary Credit)). It is a step, not a shortcut.

Primary payment instrument after the SPA The chain runs, in broad terms, from the soft and full corporate offers, through the buyer's letter of intent or purchase order, the non-circumvention and fee-protection agreements that protect brokers, the sale and purchase agreement, the proof of funds and product, the payment security such as a documentary or standby letter of credit, and finally settlement by MT103 wire once the gold is delivered and assayed.

Every step exists to reduce risk for one side or the other. DLC plays its specific role in that risk allocation, and it is most often seen alongside MT700, SBLC, SPA. Treating it in isolation, or accepting it as proof that a deal is real, is how buyers and sellers get drawn into fraud.

In practice, DLC is issued or exchanged at a defined point and then relied on by the other party. A bank undertaking to pay the seller once shipping and assay documents meet the agreed terms What it is worth depends entirely on who stands behind it and whether it can be verified through a trustworthy channel.

For physical gold specifically, the golden rule is that documents and messages are never a substitute for seeing and assaying the metal. A genuine Guyana-origin transaction is built around inspection and assay in Dubai, with settlement calculated on the confirmed content. Any structure that inverts that order, asking for value to move before the gold is verified, deserves close scrutiny.

A real DLC is issued bank-to-bank and confirmed; drafts emailed as attachments should always be bank-verified

The gold trade attracts advance-fee fraud, fake safe-keeping receipts, leased-instrument offers and fantasy discounts to spot. Fraudsters lean on official-sounding terms and template documents to rush a counterparty into paying a fee or releasing value early. The defence is simple and consistent: verify independently, never pay large sums before inspection, and walk away from any deal that depends on urgency and secrecy.

Guyana Gold Mines sells on payment-after-assay terms. You inspect and assay the gold in Dubai, and settlement follows on the confirmed content, commonly within twenty-four to seventy-two hours of inspection. For larger, ongoing programmes, payment can be structured around a documentary letter of credit or a standby instrument issued bank-to-bank, with final settlement by MT103.

Because our model is built on verified metal rather than advance payment, we have no reason to pressure a buyer into posting fees or instruments before the gold is seen. If you are evaluating an offer that does, this page and the wider payment-terms guide are here to help you tell the difference.