Perth Mint story on 4 Corners Monday night GOLD DOPING

Here is the full episode

Watching Four Corners Series 2023 Tainted Gold in iview
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/four-corners/series/2023/video/NC2303H006S00

 

I would like to know how they conducted the test to determine the gold was outside of spec? Was it ever confirmed or just speculation from China?

 

Back on topic....Perth Mint (a WA SOE) is overseen by the WA Treasurer....and the WA Treasurer is little Marky McGowan.....the Office of the Auditor General for Western Australia which audits Perth Mint reports to the WA Govt (read Mark McG), thus whilst in theory the minister for a specific dept should wear the blame for any failings, I can't see Marky getting smacked for this....more likely some mid level mgr at PM will take the fall for this "Look, we fixed the problem etc...Nothing to see here..move along".

 

Seems PM were concerned enough to cover it up. We should see a formal and complete denial from PM in the coming days if untrue.

Mark mcgowan seemed very coy when questions when asked at a media conference. He was asked and said “ i never heard of it” as he quickly walked away . A complete non answer. He is in charge of the mint and he has no knowledge of a major OS body saying he sells dodgy product. Turn it up. He knew .

 

Just looking at PM's 2022 annual report...looks like Marky is not the overseeing minister any more.

The Honourable Bill Johnston MLA,
Minister for Mines and Petroleum; Energy;
Corrective Services; Industrial Relations

 

Think ABC mentioned he was at the time of the doped gold incident.

 

^^^^^^^^
Given Marky's majority, he can lay it all at the feet of old mate Bill, fire him and move on.

 

The historic Perth Mint is facing a potential $9 billion recall of gold bars after selling diluted or "doped" bullion to China and then covering it up, according to a leaked internal report.
Four Corners has uncovered documents charting the WA government-owned mint's decision to begin "doping" its gold in 2018, and then how it withheld evidence from its largest client in an effort to protect its reputation.
WA Premier Mark McGowan had ministerial responsibility for the mint for four years until March 2021.
Gold doping is a somewhat accepted practice in the industry and is not illegal, but is high risk for refiners, as it lowers the quality of bullion by adding impurities like silver or copper.
Trace amounts of these metals are permitted, but Perth Mint's plan – to keep just within industry standard of 99.99 per cent purity – only left a miniscule margin of error.
The mint began doping its gold as a cost-saving measure in 2018, expecting to save up to $620,000 a year — a tiny fraction of its annual sales.
Just months after the doping began, the report says refinery staff identified concerns that silver and copper levels may have exceeded those allowed by the SGE.
Despite this, refinery staff continued doping the gold.
When Perth Mint went back and checked the two gold bars at the centre of the customer complaint it found one had been "red flagged" by its refinery.
Crucially, the mint did not share this information with its largest client.
On the day the failed assay was discovered, the mint immediately ceased its gold doping program

Here is the full article
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-06/perth-mint-gold-doping-china-cover-up-four-corners/102048622

 

leave it to the good people of western australia to pick up the tab for the recall, sure they have a lazy $9bil anyway from all that mining.

 

4 corners report now on YT

The China doping claims seem hyped up to me. If the bars met LBMA then who cares what China thinks. They dont have to buy our gold and they certainly will not sell us or any other country any o their own as its against their laws to export gold out of the China.

That said, the organised crime claims are concerning.

Luckily for me I only buy gold maples

 

I don’t think that the original $9B is going in the bin. At worst external transport costs and internal recasting are the only expenses.

 

Just go's to show you that once again it is the Government that is the biggest criminal, now they will "Screw the Taxpayer" to pay fines.

 

As the Shanghai Gold Exchange is the mints biggest customer that is a worry. You seem to think PM can pick and choose its customers at will.
It may have met LBMA but it did not meet the SGE standard which PM had agreed to meet. They didnt , they knew this and hid the Assay reports from them.
Really poor business strategy just to save a few sheckles.
Now PM has to replace around 9Billion worth of gold .
Now we have the whole world aware of how PM operates and poorly treats its most valued customer .
Shakes confidence in the PM.

 

they dont have to replace it and China did not return it. If anything, China would recast it so it meets SGE requirements. They cant export it back to be done due to it being illegal to do so under Chinese regs. Poor quality control for sure. Questionable as well

100 years to build up a reputation and 4 years to ruin it.

 

Agree, it's a potential reputation hit on the entire Chinese market for any and all PM products. Will be interesting to see how this pans out.

Sidenote, there's never just one cockroach...

 

Does anyone what the diluted purity of the gold bars were?

 

terrible terrible business practice...although it would not worry me for my tiny collection of PM gold, from a dollar value perspective. however, when you are talking about tonnes of gold and a business reputation, that's really really damaging PM's public confidence.

 

also made me wondering if "doping" is the cause of PM's notorious white spot on their silver coins???

 

At the risk of hijacking the post, I haven't heard too many recent complaints. Have the recent releases been milkspot free?

I only caught the last 15 mins or so on Monday night. Was any mention made of their purchase of 'blood' Gold from PNG?