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 United Kingdom.
The foundation stone of the Mint building was laid in 1896 by Sir John Forrest. The building was officially opened on 20 June 1899. At that time, the population of Western Australia (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.
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 in Australia and throughout the British Empire. The Mint stopped making gold sovereigns when Britain abandoned the gold standard in 1931. Nevertheless, the refinery 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, the Perth Mint began minting the Australian coinage from base metals. Up until the end of 1983, the Perth Mint also manufactured much of Australia's lower-denomination coin currency.[6]
The Perth Mint achieved "arguably the purest of all gold" in 1957 when the mint produced a 13-troy-ounce (400g) proof plate of six nines–999.999 parts of gold per thousand.[1]:58 The Royal Mint was so impressed that it ordered some of the gold as the benchmark for its own standards.[7]
The Mint's new direction was formalised in 1987 with the creation of Gold Corporation by a State Act of Parliament.[8] Under a unique agreement with the Commonwealth of Australia's Department of the Treasury, the Perth Mint's new operator was empowered to mint and market gold, silver and platinum Australian legal tender 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 155thousand troy ounces (4.8 tonnes) of gold worth A$103 million, well above the sales target of 130thousand troy ounces (4.0 tonnes) to the end of June.
Up to 2000, the Perth Mint's refined gold output totalling 4.5thousand tonnes (9.9million pounds), 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.[6]
In 2003, the Perth Mint officially opened an 8,400-square-metre (90,000sqft) state-of-the-art manufacturing facility next door to its original limestone building.[citation needed]
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.[9] The coin is approximately 80 centimetres (31in) in diameter and 12 centimetres (4.7in) thick, and made of 1,012 kilograms (2,231lb) of 99.99% pure gold.[10] It features, on the obverse 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.[11]
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. 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 coins, Australian Silver Kookaburra coins, Swan series[12] 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[13] 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.[14]
The Perth Mint Gold Token is a digital asset that is in the process of being discontinued "because of alleged breaches of Australian and US laws by the taxpayer-owned organisation".[15][16] It was a commercial product offered from 2019 to 2023 by Singapore-based Trovio (formerly Infinigold[17]), using the Perth Mint name under licence.[15][16] Each PMGT token is backed 1:1 by GoldPass accounts held by Trovio at the Perth Mint.[18]
GoldPass is a smartphone application launched in 2018 by the Perth Mint, and allows users to buy, sell and trade digital certificates representing physical gold or silver held at the Perth Mint.[15][19] Its continued utility is in doubt, following the deterioration of the partnership between Trovio and the Perth Mint.[15]
Trail
A collaboration known as the Gold Industry Group began a Heart of Gold Discovery Trail in Perth in October 2018.[20] The project included the Perth Mint as a partner.[21]
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.[22] The Western Australian corruption watchdog launched an investigation.[23][24] On 27 July it was reported that HSBC and JP Morgan stopped buying gold from Perth Mint, citing potential damage to their reputation.[25] On 10 August a London Bullion Market Association probe into the Perth Mint found no serious examples of misconduct.[26]
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.[27]
Operation Atlantis
International enforcement sources confirmed in October 2020 that Euro Pacific Bank 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.[28]
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 organised crime syndicates, to purchase more than $100 million of gold without conducting the identity checks required to prevent money laundering.[29] 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.[30]
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 declaring Cyprus a "major money laundering jurisdiction" and warning about its links to Russian organised crime. It also granted approved dealer status to Euro Pacific Bank,[31] from the British Virgin Islands, and Swiss private bank, BFI Consulting.[32][33] 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.[34]
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.[35]
A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, 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 to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by a government. Coins often have images, numerals, or text on them. The faces of coins or medals are sometimes called the obverse and the reverse, referring to the front and back sides, respectively. The obverse of a coin is commonly called heads, because it often depicts the head of a prominent person, and the reverse is known as tails.
The Australian dollar is the official currency and legal tender of Australia, including all of its external territories, and three independent sovereign Pacific Island states: Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu. As of 2022, it is the sixth most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market and also the seventh most-held reserve currency in global reserves.
Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value. Precious metals, particularly the noble metals, are more corrosion resistant and less chemically reactive than most elements. They are usually ductile and have a high lustre. Historically, precious metals were important as currency but are now regarded mainly as investment and industrial raw materials. Gold, silver, platinum, and palladium each have an ISO 4217 currency code.
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 world; it is now a bullion coin and is sometimes mounted in jewellery. In addition, circulation strikes and proof examples are often collected for their numismatic value. In most recent years, it has borne the design of Saint George and the Dragon on the reverse; the initials of the designer, Benedetto Pistrucci, are visible to the right of the date.
The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's official maker of British coins. It is the oldest company in the United Kingdom and is currently located in Llantrisant, Wales, where it moved in 1968.
The half sovereign is a British gold coin denominated at one-half of a pound sterling. First issued in its present form in 1817, it has been struck by the Royal Mint in most years since 1980 as a collector's and bullion piece.
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.
This glossary of numismatics is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to numismatics and coin collecting, as well as sub-fields and related disciplines, with concise explanations for the beginner or professional.
Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) is an Australian government financial intelligence agency responsible for monitoring financial transactions to identify money laundering, organised crime, tax evasion, welfare fraud and terrorism financing. AUSTRAC was established in 1989 under the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988. It implements in Australia the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), which Australia joined in 1990.
e-Bullion was an Internet-based digital gold currency founded by Jim and Pamela Fayed of Moorpark, California, as part of their Goldfinger Coin & Bullion group of companies. The company was incorporated in 2000 and launched on July 4, 2001. Similar to competing systems such as e-gold, e-Bullion allowed for the instant transfer of gold and silver between user accounts. e-Bullion was a registered legal corporate entity of Panama.
Platinum coins are a form of currency. Platinum has an international currency symbol under ISO 4217 of XPT. The issues of legitimate platinum coins were initiated by Spain in Spanish-colonized America in the 18th century and continued by the Russian Empire in the 19th century. As a form of currency, these coins proved to be impractical: platinum resembles many less expensive metals, and, unlike the more malleable and ductile silver and gold, it is very difficult to work. Several commemorative coin sets have been issued starting from 1978 and became popular among coin collectors. The major platinum bullion coins include the American Platinum Eagle, the Canadian Platinum Maple Leaf, the Australian Platinum Koala, the Isle of Man Noble, the Chinese Platinum Panda, the Austrian Vienna Philharmonic and several series by the Soviet Union and later by the Russian Federation.
Silver may be used as an investment like other precious metals. It has been regarded as a form of money and store of value for more than 4,000 years, although it lost its role as legal tender in developed countries when the use of the silver standard came to an end in 1935. Some countries mint bullion and collector coins, however, such as the American Silver Eagle with nominal face values. In 2009, the main demand for silver was for industrial applications (40%), jewellery, bullion coins, and exchange-traded products. In 2011, the global silver reserves amounted to 530,000 tonnes.
Metallism is the economic principle that the value of money derives from the purchasing power of the commodity upon which it is based. The currency in a metallist monetary system may be made from the commodity itself or it may use tokens redeemable in that commodity. Georg Friedrich Knapp (1842–1926) coined the term "metallism" to describe monetary systems using coin minted in silver, gold or other metals.
The quarter sovereign is a British gold bullion and collectors' coin, issued by the Royal Mint since 2009. The smallest in the sovereign range, it has a face value of 25 pence.
A gold coin is a coin that is made mostly or entirely of gold. Most gold coins minted since 1800 are 90–92% gold (22‑karat), while most of today's gold bullion coins are pure gold, such as the Britannia, Canadian Maple Leaf, and American Buffalo. Alloyed gold coins, like the American Gold Eagle and South African Krugerrand, are typically 91.7% gold by weight, with the remainder being silver and copper.
Pallion designs, manufactures, and distributes precious metal products and related services. It is the largest precious metal services group in Australasia. Pallion is the result of the merger in 2014 of the ABC Bullion and Palloys Group of companies founded in 1972 and 1951 respectively. The group maintains its headquarters in Sydney NSW Australia and is a wholly privately owned group of companies with manufacturing facilities and offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth in Australia, Hong Kong (SAR), mainland China, Thailand and Western Europe.
PAMP SA is an independently operated precious metals refining and fabricating company and member of the MKS Group. It was established in 1977 in Ticino, Switzerland.
TheQueen's Beasts coins are British coins issued by the Royal Mint in platinum, gold, and silver since 2016. Each of the 10 beast coins in the series features a stylized version of one of the heraldic Queen's Beasts statues present at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II representing her royal line of ancestry. The silver coin is notable as the first two-ounce United Kingdom silver bullion coin. Engraver Jody Clark designed the entire series. In December 2016, a full line of proof-quality coins was announced. In 2017, the mint began producing a platinum version of the coin. In April 2021, the Royal Mint issued an eleventh "Completer Coin" that featured all 10 of the Queen's Beasts, taking the series to 11 coins in total. The April 2021 release included a "one of a kind" gold coin weighing 10 kg and a denominated value of £10,000. Based upon the UK spot price at the time of release, the 10 kg gold coin had an intrinsic scrap value of approximately £411,000. It was widely reported that the 10 kg gold coin was the heaviest gold coin the Royal Mint had ever produced and that it had taken 400 hours to produce, four days to polish and has been described as a "Masterwork". The Royal Mint announced that Completer Coin completes the Queen's Beasts commemorative collection.
The Lunar or Shēngxiào (生肖) coin series is a collection of British coins issued by the Royal Mint featuring the Chinese zodiac in celebration of Chinese New Year. First issued in 2014, the series has been minted in varying denominations of Silver and Gold as both bullion and proof.
References
1 2 3 Athol, Thomas. 90 Golden Years, The story of the Perth Mint. Gold Corporation.
1 2 "Frequently Asked Questions", Perth Mint Gold Token website, Trovio, archived from the original on 12 May 2023, retrieved 10 May 2023, Perth Mint Gold Token (PMGT) is being phased out.
↑ InfiniGold raises $6.25m and rebrands as Trovio, Trovio, archived from the original on 10 February 2021 – via Finextra, The company also rebrands to a new name, Trovio, reflecting the agnostic nature of their technology which can be applied to a trove of different precious metals and commodity assets.
↑ "Perth Mint Gold Token", pmgt.io, archived from the original on 26 February 2020, retrieved 10 May 2023, The amount of gold represented by issued PMGT can be verified at any time against the gold holding balance of Trovio's GoldPass accounts, published by The Perth Mint.
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