Once a year, the directors of the international osmium institutes meet under the eyes of the press. The sixth meeting took place for the first time in the motherland of the osmium trade in Germany at the new location of the Osmium Institute Headquarters. The brand new building was opened during the symposium.
The main objectives of the sixth Osmium Symposium are:
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Announcement of the end of crystallization work in Switzerland on 31.12.2026.
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Development of the strategy for the next 30 years.
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Farewell to Ingo Wolf as long-standing President of the Osmium World Council after two terms of office
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Election of the new president from among the regional managers
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Opening of the new institute building in Murnau am Staffelsee
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Debriefing of the Osmium Production Fork
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Welcome of the new Managing Director of the Osmium Institute in Germany
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Farewell and discharge of the old managing director Ingo Wolf
The meeting in 2024 took place from 09 to 12 March. The management of the Osmium World Trade celebrates the beginning of the Osmium BigBang. On the fringes of the symposium, an event was held to train sales partners in the DACH economic region.
The following items were on the agenda:
Thursday, May 09, Conference Prelude
09:30 am: Meeting point at the Institute, 82418 Murnau am Staffelsee, Kemmelallee 6, first floor
09:45 am: Champagne and pretzel reception in the flagship store
10:30 am: Opening by Scarlett Clauss - Opening
- Welcome of all participants
- Introduction of the team
- Presentation of the program for the first day
Individual talks and groups, talks with journalists, start of video recordings for the Osmium story
Pictures Photo wall
12:00 pm: Departure to the construction site of the UHNWI building at Walchensee
12:30 pm: Arrival at Walchensee, lunch at the Café am See
14:00 pm: Boat trip for all participants
16:00 pm: Return journey and get-together at the institute, in case of bad weather the excursion is canceled.
In this case, catering will be provided at the Institute and the presentation will be held as a lecture.
17:00 pm: Champagne reception with jazz in the lab
18:00 pm: Start of gala in the Murnauer, within walking distance of 100 meters to the east of the laboratory
19:00 pm: History of a building, welcoming of the guests of honor
Various keynote speeches during the evening!
19:30 pm: Dinner
22:00 pm: Cocktail party with bar tables and individual discussions in the flagship store after the gala ends
Friday, May 10, Conference Day 1
10:00 am: Meeting point Labor Westseite, fresh Bavarian pretzels
10:30 am: Opening by Ruth Wermes and Scarlett Clauss
11:00 am: Ingo Wolf - End of crystallization - beginning of the Osmium BigBang - A look into the future
Lecture on pricing and market phases with a Q&A session in German and English
12:30 pm: Scarlett Clauss - Jewelry market and impact on gemstone markets, “how to address jewellers.”
13:15 pm: Flying lunch in the flagship store, pizza, salads and chili
3:00 pm: Stefanie Schulenberger - International business development in the investment and jewelry market
- Expansion of the osmium market in the coming years
16:00 pm: Scarlett Clauss and Ingo Wolf - Presentation of the Osmium World Council
- Tasks and structure in the past and future,
- Visibility at trade fairs, external impact and the press
- Osmium TV and social media
17:00 pm: Election of the President of the Osmium World Council
18:00 pm: Dinner together in the flagship store, Italian cuisine
Open end!
Saturday May 11, Conference Day 2
10:00 am: Opening of the Institute for distributors and the public
11:00 am: Individual and group discussions with flying party catering and pretzels
13:00 pm: Ingo Wolf - Effects of the end of crystallization for sales partners and end customers
2:30 pm: Christian Werkel - Lecture on sales training, financial advisors and HNWI as well as market development
15:00 pm: Michael Gasser - Sales development in the osmium market
Main topics: Opportunities through Osmium BigBang, reselling, sales partner acquisition
16:00 pm: Individual discussions in the marquee with beer, pizza and cheese sausages
17:00 pm: Start of party in the marquee with the RaceCats
21:00 pm: Party ends
Sunday, May 12, “open forum”
11:00 am: Individual and group discussions, video recordings at the institute
15:00 pm: Iffeldorf golf tournament, starting times at 10-minute intervals in flights of four, bus departure from the Institute at 13:30
Golf bags will be transported by the Institute bus. Drinks and catering on the course.
Results of the symposium
1.) With the end of crystallization in December 2026, the promise of the BigBang will be fulfilled. The reasons for the termination of crystallization lie in the end of the activity of the crystallizer Rolf Haubrichs due to his advanced age, in the end of the available ESG-M compliant reserves of crude osmium and in the intraceability of the origin of raw materials from the international trade of Russia, which seeks to generate foreign currency through the sale of precious metals.
2.) The work on the osmium production fork was considered retrospectively. The 34 percent reduction in the price of osmium with simultaneous balancing of goods was very well received by all customers internationally and has now been completed by 92 percent. Communication with the media must be improved, as some journalists, despite authoritative information, still believe that the price has been lowered and that property investors now have a lower value in their inventory, which of course does not correspond to reality, since with the compensation delivery, the value of the goods was stopped again at the fork.
3.) Strategically, the start of the Osmium BigBang leads to the beginning of the second market phase, to which about 300 kg of osmium with a predictable value of about one billion euros are still available to be crystallized. According to Mr. Haubrichs, crystallization will be completed at the end of 2026, but of course this does not end the sale. The available quantities of goods are issued as tangible assets on behalf of the customer and cut for manufactories, certified and sent to manufacturers. The main task of the headquarters in the new building is therefore the proper operation of the world database in addition to supporting the trade in osmium in the context of verifying the authenticity and origin of osmium tangible assets when they are sold to the jewelry market.
4.) The prices for crystalline osmium were determined on the basis of the harvest rate and announced from Switzerland.announced from Switzerland. With the osmium fork, the production qualities were extremely stable, so that the production prices were frozen in the follow-up (January 2024) could be frozen This means that prices depend only on the exchange rate to the CHF and the German inflation rate. With the entry into the end of the supply of raw materials (which is called Osmium BigBang as a working term), it was decided that the price determination would now be agreed solely by the Osmium World Council and its President in consultation with the crystallization plant. An initial calculation showed a predicted price increase of 120 percent by the end of crystallization. As a result, stocks are regulated by adjusting prices so as not to lead the goods into a sell-out. This means that there is always enough osmium available to meet the demands from the circle of manufactories and national partners. The planning is designed for 30 years.
5.) The sale of osmium to the jewellery production sector, which is commonly referred to as the secondary market together with the trade between osmium owners, now accounts for around 30 percent of the institutions' turnover with still volatile monthly results. This means that the secondary market has increased tenfold from 3 percent in two years. The constantly growing number of jewellers and manufactories alone shows that it can be assumed that in the future an end use will be found in the jewellery market for the goods of the property investors. It is not possible to make a serious assumption about the timing of this trial. Crystalline osmium remains a long-term fixed asset metal for this reason.
6.) After two three-year terms of office, Ingo Wolf was stepped down the office of President of the Osmium World Council and Marcos Saito (Brazil, Sao Paulo) was unanimously elected as the new President in the circle of state institute partners without any votes against or abstentions and confirmed for his three-year term of office. Mr. Saito accepted the election and has already started work. The next steps are to appoint the committee leaders in the business areas of the groups. As treasurer and managing director of the company Osmium-World-Council OWC GmbH, Mr. Wolf will provide advice and support and take on some public tasks that serve the representation in the European region.
7.) It has been announced that Ruth Wermes as Managing Director and Florian Hauner as authorized signatory will now steer the fortunes of the Osmium Institute in Murnau at the new location. Ms. Wermes will be primarily responsible for the flagship store and will act as a link between the German and international teams. Mr. Hauner will be responsible for shipping, inventory and customs agreements. Mr. Wolf has been relieved of his duties as former Managing Director and will take over the laboratory and public relations tasks as his other duties.
8.) With a gala on 09.05.2024 and with the opening on 11.5.2024, the new location at Kemmelallee 6 in 82418 Murnau has been opened. The areas comprise 560 m² of retail space of the flagship store and the brand-new laboratory facilities. In addition, highly secured vaults have been opened to ensure security not only for osmium tangible assets, but also for jewellery and exhibits. The areas are set up as a glass laboratory so that the population of Murnau can experience the work live and so that the transparency of the osmium business is not only reflected in ESG-M guidelines and property, plant and equipment protection, but can also be displayed in the form of the building.
9.) At the gala, the mayor of the market town of Murnau, Mr. Rolf Beuting, spoke about the importance of the settlement of the Osmium Institute and praised the choice of location in front of invited guests. The following Saturday, Murnau and the surrounding area were invited to the opening with a red ribbon. Over 1,000 Haller sausages, 4,000 slices of pizza and 4,000 bottles of drinks were consumed and almost 1,000 people were guided in groups through the brand new flagship store, where exhibits of jewellery and art from all over the world were presented and displayed. In the evening, the band RaceCats played and all participants and their work were honored with prizes. The traditional golf tournament held under blue skies on Sunday at the end of the symposium was a great end to a successful week.
10.) After the official part of the gala event, a reading of a small section of the Osmium Compendium, which is currently being proofread and of which parts one (history) and two (modern times) have already been completed, was also held. The works will be published in German and English by a specialist publisher after illustration and editing. Part three will be dedicated to historical osmium chemistry and will conclude the three-volume compendium. The respective further developments will be continued in the yearbooks on the osmium market and an illustrated book on the subject of osmium will be prepared.
11.) Two years ago, under the leadership of Elisabeth Gleirscher, the study on "fraud with precious metals" was started. The work is a collection of material with the aim of showing fraud options and teaching how to recognize them. The work serves as a preventive measure and represents the outstanding safety of crystalline osmium in terms of authenticity and market transparency. The work is expected to be completed in 2025 and will be presented at the next symposium. At the current symposium, the part of the evaluation of the knowledge of the three target groups consumer, distribution and provider was started with the respective questionnaires.
12.) Internationally, South Korea and China were among the new members welcomed to the circle of country partners, which are expected to have a strong impact on international business in the Asian region. The USA, in particular the states of Wyoming and Idaho, took the limelight as the country with the highest percentage growth. However, Great Britain, Mexico and the Baltic states were also warmly welcomed into the Osmium family. On the prelude day of the event, all partners visited the prepared site for the UHNWI building at Walchensee, which is due to be completed by the end of 2028 in order to adequately accommodate high-caliber customers from all over the world for visits and conferences.
13.) It was put up for discussion whether osmium will be the first precious metal to be measured in the unit of carat in 2025 in order to show its proximity to the gemstone market and continue its role as a frontrunner.
14.) South Korea was proposed as the venue for the seventh Osmium Symposium. The venue is now up for discussion.