WEBSITE INFORMATION

Gold futures slumped to a 21 month low last week and most of the media is talking about the ‘bull’ that’s turned into a ‘bear’.

How are Perth Mint clients reacting? Looking at the level of activity on www.perthmintbullion.com today, they’re stepping up purchases of physical gold and silver.

In fact, our bullion website just recorded its highest daily turnover of the year so far and one of its best days of the past 12 months.

This tells us that that not everybody believes the gloom and instead sees this as the perfect buying opportunity.

Gold Coin Sales Rocket

Sales of Australian gold bullion coins have been especially robust. During Q1 2013 buyers acquired a thumping 48% more ounces of Kangaroos and Lunar coins than in the same period last year.

So is GFMS’s forecast of US$1,800+ per ounce before the end of the year still feasible?

BULLION BARS AND COINS

There has been a surge in wholesale demand for Australian Kangaroo gold bullion coins.

Since being released on 1 October, sales for 2013 Kangaroos are 35% ahead of sales of 2012 Kangaroos at this time last year.

Combined sales of all 2013 Kangaroo denominations (1kg, 1oz 1/2oz, 1/4oz, 1/10oz) performed even stronger - up 40% on the number of 2012-dated coins sold at this stage 12 months ago.

We’re getting more interest from North America as well as Asia. In line with this week’s reports of strong physical demand in China, we’ve just secured major Kangaroo orders from distributors in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.

 

Compared to last year’s phenomenal Year of the Dragon, sales of 2013 Australian Lunar – Year of the Snake gold coins are not as strong.

However, demand for the Kangaroo and Lunar series combined puts us clearly ahead of this time last year.

We have also achieved greater market share. According to the latest quarterly data from Thomson Reuters GFMS, The Perth Mint’s share of the worldwide gold bullion coin market has risen from 7% to 13%.

The Perth Mint manufactures the Australian Government’s official bullion coin program. Our coins stand out from other bullion coins due to their superior ‘reverse proof’ quality and annual design changes

BULLION BARS AND COINS

I announced details of our new Mintage Policy in November. There has been an update to the information I provided then, which I’d like to inform you about now.

Previously I said that the Mint reserved the right to manufacture each 1oz release from the Australian Kookaburra silver bullion coin series up to its individual maximum mintage.

What others have called a “re-striking”, however, no longer applies.

Having listened to a great deal of customer feedback, the policy has been amended so that we will no longer be making past 1oz Kookaburras that undersold their maximum mintage.

As a result, we have closed production and declared final mintages for all 1oz Kookaburras and other unlimited denominations released between 1990 and 2012. We have published the figures in the following document:

 • The Australian Kookaburra Silver Bullion Coin Series 1990-2013

Please refer to these recently updated documents for further declared mintages:

 • The Australian Koala Silver Bullion Coin Series 2007 – 2013

 • The Australian Lunar Silver Bullion Series Two 2008 – 2013

 • The Australian Lunar Gold Bullion Series Two 2008 – 2013

These documents can be found on our corporate website under Bullion Mintages.

BULLION BARS AND COINS

The new 2013 Australian Kangaroo gold bullion coin series is available online from The Perth Mint commencing Tuesday 2 October (see previous blog post).

BULLION BARS AND COINS

The Perth Mint today unveils the Australian Lunar, Kangaroo, Kookaburra, Koala and Platypus bullion coin designs for 2013.

2013 BULLION BROCHURES

COIN AVAILABILITY

• Australian Lunar: 3 September 2012
• Australian Kookaburra: 3 September 2012
• Australian Kangaroo: 1 October 2012
• Australian Koala: 5 November 2012

• Australian Platypus: 1 January 2013

Media release and photographs

WEBSITE INFORMATION

The bullion website has been selling gold and silver bars and coins successfully for 12 months. However, it has not all been plain sailing over this period.

Here’s an update on where things stand.

The website has attracted a strong following comprising many thousands of bullion buyers. For most it has proved to be a convenient and reliable way in which to purchase coins and bars.

‘Live pricing’ is the stand-out feature – a benefit that has enabled our clients to buy with confidence in volatile market conditions.

Indeed, the past year has been one of the busiest since we began making Australia’s official bullion coins in 1986. Massive worldwide demand combined with the launch of our Year of the Dragon coin series meant we experienced extreme peaks of customer traffic.

Unfortunately, some of the back-end system upon which the website relies did not function as smoothly as expected at such times. 

This is now a major focus for us. Upgrading these systems and making important changes to our telephone system will improve levels of customer service going forward.

However, as I previously mentioned on this blog, this important work will take time to scope, design and implement.

Because of the current strength of demand for our products worldwide, our refinery and factory are working at capacity. The pressure on manufacturing across the product range meant that at various times the website was also out-of-stock.

Although there are those who would like to think we face a shortage of metal, I can assure you that this is not the case.

Capacity is the issue and this is something else we are looking at closely. Investment in new manufacturing technology is ongoing as we seek the best way to increase output of bars and coins to meet extreme peaks in demand.

On an encouraging note, we currently have strong supplies of 2012 Kangaroo gold bullion coins and production of 2012 Koala silver bullion coins is progressing well in advance of their 3 January launch.

May I be one of the first to wish you the compliments of the season and a prosperous New Year. I look forward to keeping you fully informed about our activities again in 2012.

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