What does 916 gold mean?
916 refers to fineness: 916 parts of pure gold per 1,000 parts of metal, or approximately 91.6% gold purity. It is the millesimal equivalent of 22 karat (22 ÷ 24 = 0.9166…), so "916 gold" and "22K gold" describe the same alloy. The remaining 8.4% is typically copper and silver, added to make the metal hard enough for daily wear.
South African jewellery is typically 9K or 18K, with 22K largely confined to the Krugerrand coin alloy and imported pieces. Fineness marks such as 375 and 750 are standard, and jewellers price from the daily rand gold rate.