The Perth Mint is Australia's official bullion mint and wholly owned by the Government of Western Australia. Established on 20 June 1899, two years before Australia's Federation in 1901, the Perth Mint was the last of three Australian colonial branches of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

's Royal Mint (after the now-defunct

Sydney Mint The Sydney Mint in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, is the oldest surviving public building in the Sydney central business district. Built between 1811 and 1816 as the southern wing of the Sydney Hospital, it was then known as the ''Rum H ...

and

Melbourne Mint The Melbourne Mint, in Melbourne, Australia, was a branch of the British Royal Mint. It minted gold sovereigns from 1872 until 1931, and half-sovereigns (intermittently) from 1873 until 1915. In 1916 it commenced minting Commonwealth silver ...

) intended to refine gold from the

gold rushes A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Ze ...

and to mint

gold sovereign The sovereign is a British gold coin with a nominal value of one pound sterling (£1) and contains 0.2354 troy oz of pure gold. Struck since 1817, it was originally a circulating coin that was accepted in Britain and elsewhere in the wor ...

s and half-sovereigns for the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

. Along with the

Royal Australian Mint The Royal Australian Mint is the sole producer of all of Australia's circulating coins and is a Commonwealth Government entity operating within the portfolio of the Treasury. The Mint is situated in the Australian federal capital city of Canberr ...

, which produces

coins of the Australian dollar Coins of the Australian dollar were introduced on 14 February 1966, although they did not at that time include the one-dollar or two-dollar coins. The dollar was equivalent in value to 10 shillings (half a pound) in the former currency. Regul ...

for circulation, the Perth Mint is the older of Australia's two mints issuing coins that are

legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in ...

History

Reverse 2022 Australia 1 oz Silver Swan Perth Mint

Perth Mint, as a business entity, was established during the 1890s, as a subsidiary of the Royal Mint in the

. The foundation stone of the Mint building was laid in 1896 by

Sir John Forrest Sir John Forrest (22 August 1847 – 2 SeptemberSome sources give the date as 3 September 1918 1918) was an Australian explorer and politician. He was the first premier of Western Australia (1890–1901) and a long-serving cabinet minister i ...

. The building was officially opened on 20 June 1899. At that time, the population of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

(WA) was growing rapidly (23,000 in 1869 and 180,000 in 1900) due to the discovery of rich gold deposits at Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie and the Murchison region. The Mint initially served two purposes. Firstly, it minted coins for circulation in WA – this had previously been done externally, and as a result, there had often been insufficient currency in circulation. Secondly, the Mint bought the vast majority of gold mined in WA; at the time, a large proportion of mining was done by "diggers" ( prospectors and/or small-scale, independent miners), who had migrated to WA in thousands from other parts of Australia and overseas. Mining businesses were able to sell their raw gold directly to the Mint, where it was made into gold coins and bullion. Although WA took part in the Federation of the Australian colonies in 1901, the Mint remained under the control of the UK government for 69 years. On 1 July 1970, ownership was acquired by the state government of Western Australia, as a statutory authority. In the 32 years up to 1931, the Perth Mint struck more than 106 million gold sovereigns, and nearly 735,000 half-sovereigns (intermittently between 1900 and 1920), for use as

currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general ...

in Australia and throughout the British Empire. The Mint stopped making gold sovereigns when Britain abandoned the

gold standard A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the l ...

in 1931. Nevertheless, the

refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...

remained busy as staff turned their skills to making fine gold bullion bars. But it was not long before the Perth Mint was involved again in the production of coins. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the Perth Mint began minting the Australian

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

age from

base metal A base metal is a common and inexpensive metal, as opposed to a precious metal such as gold or silver. In numismatics, coins often derived their value from the precious metal content; however, base metals have also been used in coins in the past ...

s. Up until the end of 1983, the Perth Mint also manufactured much of Australia's lower-denomination

currency. The Perth Mint achieved "arguably the purest of all gold" in 1957 when the mint produced a proof plate of six nines 999.999 parts of gold per thousand. The Royal Mint was so impressed that it ordered some of the gold as the

benchmark Benchmark may refer to: Business and economics * Benchmarking, evaluating performance within organizations * Benchmark price * Benchmark (crude oil), oil-specific practices Science and technology * Benchmark (surveying), a point of known elevati ...

for its own standards. The Mint's new direction was formalised in 1987 with the creation of Gold Corporation by a State Act of Parliament. Under a unique agreement with the

Commonwealth of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

's Department of the Treasury, the Perth Mint's new operator was empowered to mint and market gold, silver and platinum Australian

coinage to investors and collectors worldwide. Prime Minister Bob Hawke launched the Australian Nugget Gold Coins Series in 1987. The first day's trading yielded sales of of gold worth A$103 million, well above the sales target of to the end of June. Up to 2000, the Perth Mint's refined gold output totalling , representing 3.25% of the total weight of gold produced by humankind. This is about the current holdings of gold bullion in the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox. In 2003, the Perth Mint officially opened an state-of-the-art

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

facility next door to its original

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

building. In October 2011, the Perth Mint created the world's largest, heaviest and most valuable gold coin, breaking the record previously held by the

Royal Canadian Mint }) is the mint of Canada and a Crown corporation, operating under the ''Royal Canadian Mint Act''. The shares of the Mint are held in trust for the Crown in right of Canada. The Mint produces all of Canada's circulation coins, and manufacture ...

. The coin is approximately in diameter and thick, and made of of 99.99% pure gold. It features, on the

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...

side, the effigy of Elizabeth II, and a red kangaroo on the reverse side. It is legal tender in Australia with face value A$1 million, but at the time of minting it was valued at A$53.5 million. Today, the Perth Mint continues to provide refining and other services to the gold industry and manufactures many coin related numismatic items for investors and

coin collectors Coin collecting is the collecting of coins or other forms of minted legal tender. Coins of interest to collectors often include those that were in circulation for only a brief time, coins with mint errors, and especially beautiful or historic ...

. It is responsible for manufacturing and marketing most of Australia's legal tender precious metal coins, including proof quality Australian Nugget gold coins, Australian

Platinum Koala The Platinum Koala is an Australian platinum bullion coin minted by the Perth Mint between 1988 and 2000. The Platinum Koala is notionally legal tender, that is a legal means of payment (in Australia). On 18 June 1987, the Australian Governmen ...

coins,

Australian Silver Kookaburra The Silver Kookaburra is a silver bullion coin originating from Australia, and produced at the Perth Mint starting in 1990. The coins were .999 fine silver until the 2018 edition, which increased in purity to .9999 silver. While the obverse of th ...

coins, Swan series coins and bullion. As of November 2019, the Perth Mint refines approximately 79 percent of the Australasian market's gold production and 30 percent of silver at a separate secured facility outside the city centre. It mints coins and bars from both Australian gold and metal sourced from other countries, representing 10 percent of the global production. It sold about A$18.9 billion in pure gold, silver, and platinum bullion bars and coins in 2018.

Gold-backed digital assets

GoldPass is an app powered by InfiniGold technology which allows investors to instantly and securely buy, sell and transfer physical gold via digital certificates. Each certificate is 100% backed by physical gold held at the Perth Mint and guaranteed by the Government of Western Australia. In October 2019, precious metals digitalisation company InfiniGold announced it would issue the Perth Mint Gold Token (PMGT) on the

Ethereum Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ether (Abbreviation: ETH; sign: Ξ) is the native cryptocurrency of the platform. Among cryptocurrencies, ether is second only to bitcoin in market capita ...

public blockchain. Each digital token is backed 1:1 by GoldPass certificates held by InfiniGold and maintained directly with the Perth Mint.

Trail

A collaboration known as the ''Gold Industry Group'' began a ''Heart of Gold Discovery Trail'' in Perth in October 2018. The project included the Perth Mint as a partner.

Controversy

In June 2020, an investigation by the '' Australian Financial Review'' found that Perth Mint had purchased annually from a convicted killer in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. The Western Australian corruption watchdog launched an investigation. On the 27th of July it was reported that HSBC and

JP Morgan JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in City of New York, New York City and Delaware General Corporation Law, inco ...

stopped buying gold from Perth Mint, citing potential damage to their reputation. On 10 August a London Bullion Market Association probe into the Perth Mint found no serious examples of misconduct. Further investigation into the Perth Mint has exposed a secret recording of the Perth Mint CEO Richard Hayes and the failure to refer allegations of impropriety to the West Australian Corruption and Crime Commission in late 2017. This has resulted in the corruption watchdog launching an investigation into the Perth Mint.

Operation Atlantis

International enforcement sources confirmed in October 2020 that

Euro Pacific Bank The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . Th ...

was the target of Operation Atlantis, an international tax probe by the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (“J5”), a task force made up of the tax offices of Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Canada, that was set up after the Panama Papers leak in 2016. The Perth Mint partnered with Euro Pacific to allow the bank's customers to buy gold. The Perth Mint was also reportedly probed by the Australian Tax Office in January 2020. On 20 October 2020, the ''Australian Financial Review'' reported that the Perth Mint allowed clients of a tax haven bank, which was being investigated for its links with global organized crime syndicates, to purchase more than $100 million of gold without conducting the identity checks required to prevent money laundering. On 30 August 2022, Australia's Financial Crimes regulator, AUSTRAC, appointed an external auditor to investigate concerns about how the Perth Mint complies with its obligations under Australian Money Laundering legislation.

Tax havens

In July 2020, an article in the ''Australian Financial Review'' revealed that the Perth Mint had signed the Bank of Cyprus as a customer despite the

US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

declaring

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

a "major money laundering jurisdiction" and warning about its links to Russian organised crime. It also granted approved dealer status to Euro Pacific Bank, from the

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = " Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Bri ...

, and Swiss private bank, BFI Consulting. All three institutions provide offshore banking services to clients who may be seeking to avoid tax or disguise the true ownership of their assets.

Data breach

In September 2018 the Perth Mint defended its decision not to make disclosure announcements to the ASX and New York Stock Exchange on the grounds the breach did not relate to its ASX-listed PMGold or NYSE listed AAAU investment products.

Child labour

In June 2020 the Perth Mint said it would stop processing metal from artisanal and small-scale miners after allegations that it took gold dug in Papua New Guinea using child labour and toxic mercury.

References

External links

*
Perth Mint Bullion website

A Comprehensive Guide to the Perth Mint 1oz Bar

State Heritage record
{{Australian currency Mints of Australia Museums in Perth, Western Australia Numismatic museums in Australia East Perth, Western Australia Landmarks in Perth, Western Australia Australian gold rushes 1899 establishments in Australia George Temple-Poole buildings Romanesque Revival architecture in Australia Perth Mint Swindle Bullion dealers Mints (currency) State Register of Heritage Places in the City of Perth