THE PERTH MINT

Established in 1899 under the auspices of the Royal Mint in London, the Perth Mint was charged with turning gold deposits from the Western Australian goldfields into gold sovereigns for use in the colony and throughout the British Empire, a practice that continued until 1931.

In the 1920s, the mint also started producing Australian coinage. Today, as one of the world's oldest mints still in operation, it predominantly produces collectable precious metal coins such as the Australian Nugget gold coin, the Australian Koala platinum coin, and the Australian Kookaburra silver coin.

Visitors to the mint have the opportunity to purchase these, plus plenty of gold jewelry from the front of the house shop. Most, however, head first on a 'behind the scenes' tour of the mint, checking out the replica 1890s-style 'gold mining camp', watching the modern production of coins from behind glass windows, and then taking a seat in the small auditorium (once the original Melting House) to see a traditional gold pouring performance. Run hourly, a mint employee first heats the pure gold to molten temperatures, pours it into the mold, cooling it quickly to create a 6 kg gold bar. A bit like magic really. Turns out it's more like 'groundhog day' with the same gold being melted over and over again.

But for me, however, the true highlight was standing on the 'gold scale' and discovering that my weight - in gold - was $2.5 million.

To read the complete article, see: The Perth Mint: worth it's weight in gold (travel.usatoday.com/alliance/destinations/perceptivetravel/post/
2012/04/The-Perth-Mint-worth-its-weight-in-gold/683674/1)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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