Royal Canadian Mint reviewing allegations about gold from tainted Colombian mines
The mint said it suspended the supply chain after a report alleged cartel-linked gold was mixed with U.S. metal, which accounted for 5% of refining volumes last year.
- On Monday, The Royal Canadian Mint suspended refining and launched a full review after The New York Times reported some gold originated from Colombian mines controlled by the Clan del Golfo, with Mint spokesperson Deneen Perrin confirming the organization "immediately and fully" suspended the questioned supply chain.
- Before reaching Canada, a Texas intermediary mixed Colombian gold with American gold, which the Mint classified as entirely North American despite its origin, with export records showing about $255 million in bars from that chain arrived in Texas in roughly the past year.
- Mixed material accounted for five per cent of the more than five million ounces refined by the Mint last year, while the organization's sourcing extended to Mexican and Peruvian pawn shops, a Congolese mine partly owned by the Chinese government, and a Honduran company.
- Federal law requires American Eagle coins to source gold from U.S. mines or territories within one year of extraction under 31 U.S.C. § 5116, as the Treasury Department and U.S. law enforcement have increasingly targeted cartel money laundering networks linked to the Sinaloa cartel.
- Colombia's illegal gold trade has grown into one of the region's most lucrative criminal markets, with the United States importing roughly $1.5 billion worth of Colombian gold in 2024, while experts say gold's untraceable nature makes it attractive to criminals because it can be easily melted, concealed, sold and transported.
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32 Articles
Canada claims that its gold would be traceable, ethical and legal in origin, so journalists from the New York Times went back to its source and discovered that "North American" gold from the Royal Canadian Mint actually came from Colombian mines controlled by the drug cartel Clan del Golfo.
The Toronto Star
Royal Canadian Mint reviewing allegations about gold from tainted Colombian mines
OTTAWA - The Royal Canadian Mint says it has initiated a full review in response to allegations some of its gold comes from a region of Colombia where drug cartels
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