Perth Mint has Bullion Available?SometimesSilver Stock Reportby Jason Hommel, November 25th, 2008Yesterday, I made an error in one of my arguments about the Perth Mint. But that does not mean Perth is not engaged in one of the greatest gold and silver swindles in the world. My main concern and argument stands: which is that Perth has a $1.5 billion gold and silver liability, (mostly from their certificate program), which is to be used for "working inventory" so that they can fill orders, and the fact remains that they have had difficulty in filling orders, which calls into question their integrity and the reliability of their bullion certificates. Not being able to fill orders should be shocking, given that no other mint on earth has such a large working inventory of metals. Here's a quote from their annual report: http://www.perthmint.com.au//documents/07-08AnnualReport.pdf See bottom of p. 38 (p. 79 in the pdf reader) "The $1,388 million of precious metals deposited by Perth Mint Depository clients (note 180 was used in operatios by Gold Corporation as inventory ($752million - Note 8b) with the balance in the refining operations of AGR Matthey (Note 8a). (The $1.5 billion figure came from a Perth press release a few months back. The financial statements do not break down the liability into the exact number of gold and silver ounces.) Most other mints have a working inventory in the size of about $1 million more or less, not 1500 times greater, like $1.5 billion. All other mints that I talk to about the size of Perth's working inventory similarly conclude that it must be fraud, especially if Perth can't fill orders in a timely way. So, given the overall picture there, my mistake seems rather unimportant. I quoted an Australian newspaper article that headlined that Perth suspended orders. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,24687337-643,00.html However, Nigel Moffet, Treasurer and Manager of the Perth Mint Depository, emailed me to clarify, and he said Perth is continuing to fill bullion orders. Nigel wrote: Ron Currie is the Sales and Marketing Director responsible for coin and medallion products, and it is only these products that he was referring to in the statement quoted in The Australian newspaper. The Perth Mint holds bullion bars which are available through the Perth Mint Depository and the Perth Mint’s retail operation. For years, I have encouraged people to buy bullion from the Perth Mint, (and never to store anything with them) because if anyone should be capable of filling bullion orders, it should be them, given the large size of their "working inventory" of $1.5 billion. My error in yesterday's article was in thinking Perth made $10 million on a single reported gold sale of 30,000 oz. for $33 million, or $1100/oz. As was pointed out by many readers, that was an Australian newspaper, so the amount quoted must have been Australian dollars, not US dollars, as I mistakenly calculated. But that really has nothing to do with the shockingly large inventory that Perth "supposedly" has. I made my mistake though, wrongly assuming Perth sold gold at $1100/oz. US, because it is not unusual for Perth Mint to charge so much over spot, for coins. Various gold coins sell at Perth ranging in price from about $1300 US to $1500 US per ounce! http://www.perthmint.com.au/catalogue/discover-australia-fauna-gold-coins.aspx And many of those are sold out now. However, bullion prices at Perth are much lower, and bullion is available now: http://www.perthmint.com.au/metalPrices.aspx One ounce gold bars today are quoted at $1,302.34 Australian dollars, with spot gold at $1,277.34 Australian dollars and $825.80 USD. That's a great price in today's market, where bullion is so often hard to find. In conclusion, my goal is to help people find and purchase gold and silver bullion, and get it in hand, under their own control. The Perth Mint should be able to fulfill this task better than any other group on earth, because no other group on earth has such a large "working inventory" of precious metals to be used for the express purpose of running a mint. It is unfortunate that the Perth Mint has often "run out" of bullion
items. That such an organization has run out, should be concerning
to the discerning buyer. Ordered 1 gold coin and 40 ounces of buffalo rounds on 22 Oct and
shipped 19 Nov from Apmex
Ordered 140 silver buffalo rounds on 13 Oct and shipped 10 Nov
from Apmex
Prior to this all of my orders were under $2,500 and took less
than 20 days from order to ship. I suspect APMEX is honest and doing well
enough in this down market but they are becoming slower at filling
orders.
Therefore, be careful, and pay attention, when ordering silver from
APMEX. Some is "in stock now", and other silver has long lead
times. I bought the silver bars Wed evening. Paid Thurs midday. Shipped
Thurs afternoon. Friday travel day. Arrive PO box 10 Sat AM. In my
safe Sat evening behind the fences, alarms, dogs and guns. Much less than
72 hours total turn around.
Not bad at all. ==============
Jason Hommel |