Precious-metals refiner and trader MKS PAMP SA is boosting its presence in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to tap surging investor interest in bullion and take advantage of the city’s push to play a bigger role in the market.

“We’re expanding because there’s just so much demand,” Chief Executive Officer James Emmett said in an interview. The firm, which has made the city its regional headquarters, has doubled its local staff to 16 since last year, and is looking to expand further to between 20 and 30 next year.

In addition, the company is considering building a refinery in the Pearl River Delta area — a region that spans the Hong Kong and Macao SARs, and the southern part of the Chinese mainland — as well as scaling up its plant in Switzerland, Emmett said.

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Gold is on track for its best yearly surge since 1979, hitting a series of records above $4,000 an ounce, although prices have retraced some of the gains over the past two weeks. The rally has been driven by central-bank buying, as well as burgeoning investor demand for alternative assets to currencies and bonds. Earlier this month, JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said bullion “could easily go to $5,000, $10,000”.

Although London remains the global market’s main pricing center, the mainland is the world’s largest gold producer, and it is also one of the biggest consumers. The nation’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, has been accumulating bullion consistently over recent months.

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Gold’s rally has encouraged banks, trading houses, and hedge funds to embark of a hiring spree as interest in the metal soars, creating a battle for talent that’s lifting pay packages in what has historically been a niche market.

MKS PAMP — which accounts for about 5 percent of turnover in gold in the London market — has relocated some senior managers to the HKSAR, and been hiring from major bullion banks and other rivals. Recent additions included Paul Voller, formerly head of the precious metals business at HSBC Holdings Plc, and Damien Han, who used to lead a sales team at ICBC Standard Bank Plc.

“This is one of the biggest structural evolutions we’ve made,” said Emmett. “We didn’t have enough coverage in this time zone.”

The HKSAR government has been pushing to enhance its role in the market. In his annual Policy Address announced last month, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu unveiled a raft of policies aimed at bolstering the city’s status as a hub for gold trading, including pledges to increase its capacity for holding bullion to more than 2,000 tons over the next three years and establish a central clearing system for gold.

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At present, the Shanghai Gold Exchange is in advanced discussions with HKSAR officials over its participation in an international clearing system that’s being set up by the government, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the talks are private.