Perth Mint gets passing grade from world’s biggest precious metals exchange

The Perth Mint is still in the world’s biggest precious metals exchange’s good books but has work to do on its management systems.

The London Bullion Marketing Association has completed a review of the refiner’s operations following claims made by ABC’s Four Corners about the mint’s anti-money laundering compliance and a gold dilution program which ran between 2018 and 2021.

Perth Mint and Gold Corporation chief executive Jason Waters.Credit: Trevor Collens

The program revealed that in 2021 the mint found it had sold gold to the Shanghai Gold Exchange that did not meet that exchange’s strict purity standards. It has since been revealed that the issue stemmed from the gold bullion containing higher levels of silver than the SGE accepted.

The LBMA launched the review into the mint to determine whether it still met its responsible gold guidance criteria which allow it to gain “good delivery list refiner” accreditation.

A statement from the LBMA overnight said the review involved extensive discussions with the refiner, auditor and market participants.

“Following the conclusion of this incident review process, the Perth Mint remains a good delivery list refiner,” a spokesman said.

“LBMA did not find any instances of zero-tolerance non-conformance.”

The LBMA found aspects of the mint’s management systems needed to be strengthened and put in place a “corrective action plan” that will be audited by a third-party auditor.

Perth Mint chief executive Jason Waters said the refiner was committed to working through the plan.

“The Perth Mint has embarked on a comprehensive, fully funded program to remediate our anti-money laundering processes and ensure best practice in everything that we do,” he said.

“This aligns with our commitment to meet our obligations to the WA government, the community, the gold mining sector and our customers around the world.”

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.