CPM Forum
General => General Forum Comments => Topic started by: noon on June 09, 2009, 08:02:13 pm
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i just found out the the mint in ottawa lost about 10mil worth
of gold, silver, platinum and palladium coins
1 is the 1st gold coin in the world 100kg gold coin
the mint say they lost them ?????????????????///
see theis link for the full story
http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090609/mint_theft_090609/20090609/?hub=OttawaHome
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It keeps getting better! ;D
It is interesting to note that the amount is now in the "tens of millions" and they are looking at SILVER as well!
Tories call in Mounties over mint's missing millions
CHRISTOPHER PIKE FOR THE TORONTO STAR
Employees work June 8, 2009 at the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa, where there are worries security could have been breached following the revelation that a large amount of precious metals recorded on the books is missing. The mint uses gold, silver, platinum and palladium in its operations.
Canada's money-makers can't find tens of millions in precious metals that are shown on the books
Jun 09, 2009 03:05 PM
Comments on this story (41)
Bruce Campion-Smith
OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF
OTTAWA – The federal government has asked the RCMP to launch an investigation into the tens of millions worth of precious metals that have gone missing from the Royal Canadian Mint.
The announcement comes after an external audit was launched to reconcile the mint's records with the physical stock of metals.
And it comes after the Star revealed today that the value of the missing metal was worth more than $10 million.
"I think we are all very concerned," said Rob Merrifield, minister of state for transport, the department responsible for the mint.
Merrifield said he "instructed" mint staff today to call in the Mounties to assist with the ongoing audit, which has been under way since early March.
The external audit is trying to reconcile the mint's records with the physical stocks of gold, silver, platinum and palladium, the four precious metals used by the Crown corporation in its production of coins and collector sets.
Mint officials remain confident that bookkeeping errors are to blame. But they haven't ruled out theft and some at the institution now believe a police probe is inevitable if the review – due to be released in two weeks – is unable to provide good answers.
Given the high value of the missing metals, NDP MP Thomas Mulcair said yesterday that mint staff should be calling on police to immediately launch a criminal investigation.
"There's no possible way to explain the loss of tens of millions of dollars through simple administrative or bureaucratic foul-ups and missteps," he said in an interview.
He faulted the Conservative government for not being more forthcoming about the controversy.
"People understand that mistakes happen ... but they tried to dismiss the whole thing from the beginning," said Mulcair (Outremont). "Well, if there's tens of millions of dollars missing, there's clearly lots to worry about... This is a really serious amount of money and it deserves really serious attention."
Liberal MP Joe Volpe (Eglinton—Lawrence) said the mint's international reputation – it produces coins for at least 12 other nations – is taking a battering each day the probe drags on with the prospect security may have been breached.
"How long does it take for this government to figure out what is going on?" Volpe said. "Either money is running out the door or they have a serious problem making two and two add up to four."
In fact, Volpe suggested the mint and the government already know the results of the audit and are sitting on bad news. "I suspect they have the answer and they have reason for not publicizing it," he said.
Mint spokeswoman Christine Aquino yesterday declined to comment on the value of the metals or any aspect of the audit.
"We're going to wait for the review to come out in the next couple of weeks," she said.
However, last week she said an unprecedented demand for gold in 2008 put pressure on the mint's internal control systems, which led to the "unreconciled difference" between the gold on hand and the value recorded in the mint's books.
In 2007, the mint refined a total of 5.4 million troy ounces of precious metals; of that, gold represented 2.8 million troy ounces, or about 86,000 kilograms. The mint sold 278,616 troy ounces of gold bullion in the form of coins, wafers and bars. balance http://www.thestar.com/article/647671
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i bet it was stolen by someone filling their pockets!
Come on now...how ridiculous is that...this makes more sense ;D
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LOL...
Knowing the security at the mint an employee probably wrapped up 1oz gold coins in Gold Foil..
When asked he just told security they were those chocolate covered coins.. security probably said "Well in that case then go on through"
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Actually, the Mint is supposed to be one of the more secure places in Canada. (That doesn't explain why they let me wander around the place last summer, and it certainly doesn't explain how Rick Mercer is still alive [click here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGHgnkQ61hU)])
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A pretty funny clip ;D
So when's the next tour.....
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I just finished wallpapering my office.....
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so they lost 86,000 kilograms of gold
Whooooa, there. 86,000 kg is not how much gold is missing right now. 86,000kg is how much gold the mint refined in all of 2007.
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mortgageguy wrote
:) lol personally it sounds very fishy which is why i questions exchange traded funds for precious metals because in the end when someone wants their metals they might realize that they hold on to a precious piece of PAPER! someone messed up big, i wounder who and who benefited!end quote
:)
From an analyst we follow :A RUMOR ONLY ... in LATE:
"A MAJOR DEPOSITORY FOR VARIOUS METAL ETFs HAS JUST BEEN HIT WITH AN ARMY OF British Feds."
:D i wounder who and who benefited! :D
The answer to that would be so voluminous it would garner many a protest! ;D
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I just finished wallpapering my office.....
My office needs some wallpaper to. Have any leftover? If you do I would gladly take it! ;)
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Latest update...
Your gold is safe with us, mint tells clients
Reassurance comes amid fears there will be a 'run' on holdings
By Ian MacLeod, The Ottawa Citizen
June 13, 2009
To halt a possible "run" on the gold it safeguards for private businesses, the Royal Canadian Mint is reassuring customers their deposits are fully accounted for and in secure vaults as the investigation continues into as much as $20 million in lost precious metals.
Since the scandal broke last week, some precious metals market advisers [Jim Sinclair, Ed Steer, me, etc…] have been trying to instigate "some kind of a run" on the custodial accounts of the Ottawa mint and other mints around the world, said Jon Nadler, senior metals market analyst with Montreal-based Kitco, one of the world's leading precious metals bullion dealers.
"I cannot name names, but I've seen a number of forums and blogs and newsletter alerts from people who claim to be market analysts and saying, 'You should take delivery of everything that's in storage, no matter who you keep it with because of things like this'," Nadler said in an interview Friday, calling the tactic "pathetic." [I sense desperation]
The federal government this week ordered the mint to call for an RCMP criminal probe, after a four-month external audit was unable to reconcile the unaccounted-for gold and other precious metals at the mint's Sussex Drive headquarters. Mint insiders tell the Citizen it could amount to as much as $20 million.
The RCMP continues to review the request for an investigation. The audit findings are expected to be made public next week.
My reaction: Canada's missing gold is getting interesting.
1) The Canadian government is investigating the disappearance of tens of millions of dollars in gold from the Royal Canadian Mint.
2) The federal police has been asked to probe a possible heist, after mint officials said the audit would not be able to reconcile the discrepancy.
3) "It now appears that it's gone beyond bad accounting."
4) According to Jim Sinclair, the Canadian Mint's present problems are not unique and that other depositories (vaults) have had an army of auditors descend on them in the last two weeks.
5) Jim Sinclair suggest to you now that you take delivery of all gold held in vaults and depositories on your behalf, even from the most prestigious.
6) The Royal Canadian Mint is reassuring customers their deposits are fully secure and accounted for, in an effort to halt this possible "run" on its gold.
7) Since the scandal broke last week, some precious metals market advisers have been trying to instigate "some kind of a run" on the custodial accounts of the Ottawa mint and other mints around the world
8) Mint insiders tell the Citizen it could amount to as much as $20 million.
Conclusion: Since I first reported on the case of Canada’s missing gold, things have become more serious:
1) Before it was “Several million dollars”, now it is “tens of millions of dollars”
2) Before it was an audit, now it is a criminal investigation.
3) Before it was just Canada’s mint, now “other depositories (vaults) have had an army of auditors descend on them in the last two weeks”
4) Before it was a simple accounting ‘discrepancy’, now the Royal Canadian Mint fears a 'run' on its gold
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In June the mint said your gold is safe with us.Really?
Mint's $15.3 M golden dilemma: Was there a heist?
OTTAWA — The distinct possibility that precious metals may have been stolen from the Royal Canadian Mint is "inexcusable," the federal minister responsible for the Crown corporation said Monday.
The findings of a long-awaited external audit, released earlier in the day, concluded that $15.3 million in missing gold is not the result of accounting or bookkeeping errors, raising even more questions about the whereabouts of the metals from what has been touted as one of the most secure facilities in Canada.
"The mint's still unexplained loss of precious metals is inexcusable," Transport Minister John Baird and Minister of State for Transport Rob Merrifield, whose department is responsible for the mint, said in a joint release. "The mint will be held accountable."
The Royal Canadian Mint says the precious metals seem to have vanished from its inventory in the 2008 fiscal year, according to the third-party review conducted by Deloitte & Touche LLC
Further down in the article:
RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Caroline Poulin said Monday that the police force's review is "ongoing."
The opposition parties told Canwest News Service that the situation reflects the government's "gross incompetence."
"Either they've got to admit that they've got somebody stealing the gold, or they're incompetent and they lost $15 million worth of gold because they're not very good at refining and re-refining," NDP finance critic Thomas Mulcair said.
He chastised the Crown corporation for releasing the report after the House of Commons adjourned.
"Again, it's again a scandalous inability to handle the public interest and the public purse. It's shocking."
Liberal transport critic Joe Volpe said he's holding the ministers responsible for the issue and called for their resignation.
"It does beg the question: when is the minister leaving? When is the chairman of the mint leaving? When are they going to change the CEO?
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/missing+from+Royal+Canadian+Mint+Deloitte/1743823/story.html
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Isn't the Liberal Party all of a sudden back in Black and ready to go for an election after being decimated so bad financially....one has to wonder how many Liberal cronies got patronage jobs at the Mint while they were in power for so long! (p.s. this is humor not a statement)
All they have to do to find the culprit is to go to the local pharmacy and see who is buying the Exlax en-masse! ;D
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The current CEO/Master of the Mint, Ian Bennett was appointed by Stephen Harper (a Conservative government appointed patronage position) on June 12th, 2006. Other high level executive partonage appointments at the Mint have also been appointed since then.
As for inventory accounting of the precious metals, all was fine and accounted for during all of the annual independent audits during the Liberal government regime. It was only until the past year has there been missing precious metals at the Mint under the current Conservative government.
For some reason, the (Conservative) Minister of Public Works and Government Services, Christian Paradis, knew the facts about the missing gold much earlier, but delayed to involve the RCMP until recently.
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Sorry if I offended on the political statement but it was in humor....we all know it could be anyone including an organized clique within it's own walls. It could even be sitting at the bottom of the Ottawa river slipping out the discharge pipe...anyways my guess it isn't one person that pulled this off.
Will the case be solved....I would say yes....will heads roll....yes!
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Reported today the RCMP still hasn't started to look.... ???
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Does anyone else find it odd that while the gold has disappeared from the Mint, government responsibility for the mint has been with the Minister of TRANSPORT? i.e. the minister in charge of moving stuff around the country?
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Ok so...... RCMP completed their investigation and they have "RULED OUT THEFT", ok..... so where the heck did it go then? LMAO
http://www.mint.ca/store/news/theft-ruled-out-as-rcmp-completes-investigation-into-precious-metal-reconciliation-at-the-royal-canadian-mint-7400002?cat=News+releases&nId=700002&parentnId=600004&nodeGroup=About+the+Mint (http://www.mint.ca/store/news/theft-ruled-out-as-rcmp-completes-investigation-into-precious-metal-reconciliation-at-the-royal-canadian-mint-7400002?cat=News+releases&nId=700002&parentnId=600004&nodeGroup=About+the+Mint)
http://www.mint.ca/store/dyn/PDFs/RCMP%20letter%20nov%2009.pdf (http://www.mint.ca/store/dyn/PDFs/RCMP%20letter%20nov%2009.pdf)
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It's a cover-up. Royal Canadian Mint Police and RCMP are both federal regulated law enforcement agencies. Basically, big brother investigated little brother, and found no wrong doing. Up to the Auditor General of Canada to take a look into this. Just my opinion.
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Told ya I didn't take it....lol
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2009/12/21/mint-missing-gold163.html?ref=rss
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The issue is so pathetic and such an embarassment. The Mint's really finding different methods to say they 'legally' lost the gold. And for them to suddenly find that this many ounces went down the drain, and this many ounces went out as slag (which they forgot to recover), is such a joke. This whole thing is a cover up.
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I totally agree with you Coinsplus. :)