Gold can only shine if it’s mined in full compliance with the industry’s best practices.
Being a world-class precious metal refinery and assayer, Colombian Mint takes great pride in its high compliance standards. Additionally, we’re strongly connected to our nation and believe the gold industry can bring great wealth to Colombia, much more than it currently does. But, to ensure everyone benefits, one needs to protect our lands and ensure illicit and criminal mining is efficiently tackled.
That’s why our robust Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing program is so important. How does it work? In brief, Colombian Mint being engaged in the exhaustive tracking of all the gold it acquires, with its process regularly audited by Deloitte, the largest professional services network in the world.
The level of attention to detail of this program made Colombian Mint the only local refinery in the National Association of Exporters, ANALDEX. And practicing what we preach made us an active supporter of US AID’s Oro Legal initiative, which aims to legalize artisanal mining operations, providing them with safer mining techniques while responding to the social conflict that arisen from Colombia’s gold mining boom.
Diving deeper into the process, it all starts with comprehensive KYC checks, conducted in accordance with industry norms, for all the potential suppliers and buyers who want to engage with Colombian Mint. If successful, and after a review from our compliance committee, our geologists conduct a site visit to verify if the production meets the environmental and social requirements. Such reports also need to be validated by our compliance committee before the buyer or supplier is finally approved.
After that, and in the case of suppliers, Colombian Mint verifies all the supporting documents for every gram of gold that is to be delivered to our smelting facilities, and such evidence needs to be produced since the very origin of the metal.
On top of this, our compliance teams inspect the actual gold for inconsistencies and mercury traces, as typically illegal artisanal mining operations use the ancient technique of mercury amalgation in the processing of gold ore – which pollutes the soil and water and often exposes the miners to toxic levels of this liquid mineraloid.
If the mined gold and its documents passes the check, it can finally enter the Colombian Mint system for smelting and assaying. From here, the refining process begins and we begin to prepare the gold’s export, in coordination with the National Mining Agency.
In the meantime, the gold is safely stored – either in our facilities or those of our logistics partner. Once the export is approved, the Tax Authorities conduct a final physical inspection, weighting and analyzing the gold with X-Ray Fluorescence technology to ensure its value is properly reported.
Then, it is time for the shipment to be transported to its destination, properly insured, of course. After all, it’s not only important to ensure the safety and compliance of the mining and refining processes, but that the final customer is also protected.
The Colombian Mint is an internationally renowned refinery and assayer of gold and silver. Based in Colombia, we are trusted by miners across Latin America and by dore and bullion bar buyers around the world. Established in 1997, but gold experts since the XIX century.
