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AUstRALIAn GoLD

Richard Hayes

Solid gold bridge between

mine and markets

inding trust and surety in something during a crisis cannot be taken for granted but
Fin these highly unstable times, The Perth Mint is the vehicle people are choosing to
protect their wealth.

rior to the global outbreak of COV- ebrating a register of 1,000 clients in “We are no longer just a place you can
PID-19, gold was trading at unseen 2004. The latest milestone achieved ring up, buy something and we’ll store
levels and there appeared no cap on how by the Mint was in March when, for the it for you; we have an online presence,
high prices would rise. The pandemic has first time, the value of its gold, silver and smart phone apps and a crypto gold of-
seen gold and other precious metals pric- platinum holdings stored for clients was fering as well. Our aim is to make gold
es fall in line with other commodities but $5 billion, totalling 50t of fine gold and as accessible as possible to as many as
many investors are still finding comfort in 1,020t of fine silver. possible in as many locations as possi-
The Perth Mint (the Mint) holding their pre- It is hard for Hayes to tell if these fig- ble,” Hayes said.
cious metal stocks. ures will grow slowly or exponentially The Mint’s marketing campaign and
“There are certainly other offerings given the present global crisis. sustained success of the gold sector pri-
around the place, not only here in Austral- “Our ounce holdings have probably or to the coronavirus spread has added
ia, but overseas as well,” the Mint’s chief grown 20% in the last eight months; that great value to Western Australia’s cof-
executive Richard Hayes told Paydirt. is tripling the value and that is just vol- fers.
“We probably have about 45,000 cus- ume,” Hayes said. Rio Tinto Ltd ($30.7 billion) and BHP
tomers from 120-plus countries who store Over its 120-year history, the Mint has Ltd ($29.6 billion) are widely recognised
metal with us. That says something about evolved from a traditional depository and for their contributions to the State but for
the global reach that we have managed to certificate offerings house to an outfit at least the second year running, the Mint
build up over the last 10-15 years.” with industry leading exchange traded has been WA’s third largest exporter by
Hayes joined the Mint as it was cel- products listed on the ASX and NYSE. value at $16.3 billion.

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