The Perth Mint’s gold, silver and platinum holdings stored on behalf of clients have reached $5 billion in value, with the mint citing a flight to safety by investors as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Perth Mint’s gold, silver and platinum holdings stored on behalf of clients have reached $5 billion in value, with the mint citing a flight to safety by investors as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
The figure is equal to around 50 tonnes of gold and 1,020t of silver.
The announcement comes as gold prices tipped $US1,700 ($A2,695) per ounce yesterday, the highest level in Australian dollars on record, retreating to $US1,660/oz ($A2,536) at the market close today.
Perth Mint chief executive Richard Hayes said COVID-19 was causing significant concern for many.
He said since the markets were highly volatile, investors were looking to gold as a “safe haven”.
“During this time of crisis, The Perth Mint can be relied upon to offer unparalleled trusted and secure solutions to safeguard their wealth of individuals and institutions,” Mr Hayes said.
“We expect fears about COVID-19 and its impact on the world economy could support the price of gold into the foreseeable future.”
The mint refines more than 90 per cent of Australia’s newly mined gold, Mr Hayes says.
It is Western Australia’s third largest exporter by value, sitting at $16.3 billion, behind Rio Tinto ($30.7 billion) and BHP ($29.6 billion), according to BNiQ data.
“From the metal we refine, our inventory is used to manufacture a suite of investment products and solutions, ranging from physical bars and coins to exchange traded and digital products fully backed by gold,” Mr Hayes added.
“We continue to expand our investment range and storage options so investors can possess gold without concern for its safekeeping.”
Today’s announcement comes five weeks after The Perth Mint was involved in its second major data breach, whereby contact information for nearly 1,500 visitors had been stolen.
The information was taken from Perth-based Metrix Consulting, which held the names, email and home addresses, and telephone numbers of visitors for a survey.
The breach occurred when an email to a Metrix staff member infiltrated the company’s IT system.
The Perth Mint has since provided details of the breach to the WA Police Force and Australian Cyber Security Centre.
It is the second major company operating in Perth to fall victim to cyber crime in recent months, with international firm Manheim Auctions announcing its Australian IT system had been hacked.
Manheim, which auctions used cars and other vehicles, has premises at Perth Airport and Bibra Lake.
It stopped trading in Australia following the attack, which occured on February 14.
