We all have our own personal experiences that reinforce the meaning of this most basic part of modern life. We know what someone means when he refers to loan or lease or rent. Simple, no exceptions. Except of course, for precious metal loans. With these, loan means something else.
Loan means sale.
This is what trips everyone at the outset. You hear the word lease - you automatically know, based upon a lifetime of experience, what the transaction is about. But when it comes to precious metals, take everything you know about the word lease, and throw it out the window. For precious metals, lease does not mean lease - it means something else entirely. It means another elemental word - sale.