There is no specific information about the ultimate source of the Mint's stocks of precious metals posted on its website, or in its Annual Reports. However, this excerpt from the 2003 Annual Report suggests that the Mint obtains them on the open market from mine owners and/or commercial refiners. The Annual Reports also indicate that the Mint's precious metal stocks are actually owned by the Treasury Department, and not the Mint itself. Historically, of course, any owner of gold or silver could deliver it to the Mint and have it coined, with the Mint profiting from the seinorage resulting from the difference between the value of the metal and the face value of the resulting coins.
