A centuries-old cathedral chosen by Diana Spencer for her wedding to the then-Prince Charles has lost some of its sheen over the years.
Now the central London Anglican church is pumping up its sparkle with new gilding using gold supplied by an Australian yellow metal miner.
Bellevue Gold was picked for the job after The Goldsmiths’ Company and certification group Single Mine Origin backed the West Australian company’s ‘green gold’ credentials.
“To be selected as the exclusive supplier of gold to St Paul’s Cathedral is a huge honour,” boss Darren Stralow said on Wednesday.
The miner, which operates a major high-grade project in WA’s Northern Goldfields region, is expected to supply more than 50 ounces of gold, with the final amount still to be settled.
The gold will be used to restore the gilding of the ball and cross on top of the 329-year-old cathedral’s 111m-tall dome, which is a key feature of the UK capital’s skyline, and an outdoor viewing platform known as the Golden Gallery.
“The cathedral’s Golden Gallery was last regilded in 1863, and the use of our ‘green gold’ means this will be a multi-generational legacy for Bellevue,” Mr Stralow said.
Fifty ounces equates to about 1.5kg and would be worth around $US210,000 ($A301,060) based on Wednesday’s spot price of gold per troy ounce.
Bellevue’s gold project was 83.5 per cent powered by renewable energy in 2025/26, making it one of the lowest emission-intensive gold mines in Australia.
Residual emissions are offset with high-quality carbon credits, cementing it as the world’s first net-zero-emission miner, under the Scope 1 and Scope 2 global standard frameworks.
Its output is also supply chain traceable, meaning buyers can track its journey to market.
Bellevue is hopeful that the endorsement of its green gold by the 699-year-old Goldsmiths’ Company, which supports the industry through testing and hallmarking, will increase its profile.
The St Paul’s win builds on its partnership with French luxury brand Messika, which recently became the first fine jeweller to use Bellevue gold in its creations.
Charles and Diana wed at St Paul’s in 1981 and divorced in 1996, about a year before the then-Princess of Wales died in a car crash in Paris.
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