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.
Canadian jewellery is usually 10K, 14K or 18K — 10K being the legal minimum to be sold as gold in Canada. 22K/916 jewellery is mostly found through South Asian and Middle Eastern jewellers in cities like Toronto and Vancouver.