The Perth Mint has been appointed as a refinery referee by an international authority on gold, making a comeback from the controversy that surrounded the organisation.
The Perth Mint has been appointed as a refinery referee by an international authority on gold, making a comeback from the controversy that surrounded the organisation.
London Bullion Market Association, an authority on global gold and precious metals industry, last night appointed Gold Corporation as a refinery referee.
Gold Corporation, trading as the Perth Mint, is one of seven LBMA referees.
In the role, the Perth Mint will work with the LBMA to support applications from global refiners for accreditation, undertake assaying of samples, and provide gold and silver reference samples.
It comes a couple of years after Australian Broadcasting Corporations’ Four Corners program aired doping allegations against Perth Mint.
In 2023, it was alleged that Perth Mint diluted its gold bullion with silver between 2018 and 2021, to save up to $620,000 a year.
The Perth Mint chief executive Paul Graham said the appointment as an LBMA Referee underscored the organisation’s positive standing and reputation for continuous improvement.
“The successful LBMA appointment process has validated the high quality and integrity of the goods and services that the Mint provides our customers,” he said.
“It has also further enhanced our reputation as a partner of choice in the precious metals sector.
“We have become a benchmark for other refiners, which is the result of hard and dedicated efforts by our team and a willingness to continuously improve the way we do our work.”
As part of its referee responsibilities, the Perth Mint will be asked to assess third-party refiners’ requests for accreditation or renewals.
The Perth Mint laboratory, research and development general manager Michael Koch said it took several years to become an LBMA referee including rigorous testing and the London-based LBMA team’s inspection of the Perth refinery.
“As exciting and rewarding as it is to be appointed as one of just seven Referees, what this process has done is to verify our compliance with - and adherence to - the very high standards set by the LBMA,” he said.
“At The Perth Mint we have been working hard to earn the confidence and trust of our customers by providing an exceptional service in terms of assay delivery and accuracy.”
In November 2023, the Perth Mint was spared a fine for failing to comply with anti-money laundering rules by AUSTRAC, the federal government’s financial regulator.
