From the article: "While the gold remained above broader industry standards, the report estimated up to 100 tonnes of gold sent to Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) potentially did not comply with Shanghai's strict purity standards for silver content." Anyone notice anything strange with that statement? Of course the gold didn't meet their silver purity standards!
Its a poorly worded paragraph, but it means that the gold had too much alloy (silver and copper). The standards they are referring to are for the purity of the gold and how much silver should be present.
I see. Also, does this mean that recent purchases from the CCP mint are even more sub-par than we already knew they were?
I guess I missed the part where China introduced strict standards for something other than harvesting organs from excuted dissidents.
As for strict standards? They ain't got none, especially regarding all the substandard stuff they try to pollute our hobby with.
I am sure glad I dont have any Perth mint GOLD, its puzzling why they would dope there GOLD and then revert back to a higher standard, why wouldn't just meet the standard in the first place, talk about a black eye
If I understand, their products are OK, but the shipments of gold sent to China were intentionally of low quality. I assume this sub-standard gold was ultimately used for Chinese bullion. It is almost like the products the Chinese push on European and North American consumers
It seems like Shanghai had a purity standard of 99.996. Perth gave them 99.992. Boo hoo. With the counterfeit everything China puts on the world markets, looks like they got beat at their own game. It's hard for me to shed a tear.
Who’s to say they weren’t doping there GOLD in the states ? it would be very easy to sell less quality GOLD to the average Joe as it would be seldom checked, the management at Perth has allot to answer for.
I didn't see the exact assays in the linked article, only that the product "remained above 99.99". Going from 99.996 to 99.992 would amount to a savings of about $40 per $1,000,000 of product. The 100 metric tons in play here amount to about US$5.9 billion at today's prices, meaning they substituted dopant for a bit less than a quarter million US$ in gold. That "cost-saving measure" may turn out to be very expensive indeed for Perth.