Perth Mint Tour: PERTH, AUSTRALIA

Its strange, I grew up in Perth... and I sort of knew that the Perth Mint was down the road in town... and there was that Mickleburg Gold Swindle thing that happened when I was growing up which had a very faint connection to family friends... but I never had visited the Mint, not even for a school trip!

... and now that I'm older, I was pretty keen to visit it when I was visiting my parents recently. My mother had suggested it as a possible thing to do whilst we were here... and my ears pricked up at it, but as the days passed and we did lots of different activities, I didn't bring it up and it seemed to have been forgotten about... I figured that I was the only one interested, and it wouldn't be that interesting to the kids.

However, my wife got pretty badly sunburnt on one of the days when we were out and about... and on one of the following days that was forecast to be hideously hot, she suggested that we do something indoors so that she wouldn't be constantly in pain... and she suggested THE PERTH MINT! I think she noticed that I wanted to go, but had stayed quiet about it!

So, I have already detailed the outside area of the Perth Mint... essentially the most amazing gift shop that you have ever seen!

But the tour was something else... incredibly informative and entertaining as well! At least, our guide was!

So, you start the tour with a little chat outside... and then you are taken into the star attraction! A 1 tonne (1000 kilo!) gold coin! That is it... it is real! The guide told us that the biggest security measure that it had was its sheer weight... good luck trying to wheel that out! But... when the place closes down for the night, it sinks slowly downwards into a purpose built vault.

Now, apparently it was minted in commemoration for some royal notable date... and apparently our dear Queen asked if she could have it and was met with a polite refusal. To be perfectly honest, I don't think the minting date lines up with the "celebration" date... and I actually think the Perth Mint did a 1-tonne pure gold coin just because they could!

... also housed in the same small area are some notable Western Australian goldfield nuggets. I'm pretty sure that these are the real deal... and that aren't replicas after the real thing was melted down.

... apparently Australian goldfield nuggets are around 23K in purity... much higher than the Alaskan ones.

Now, the star attraction of the show... well, apart from the 1-tonne gold coin... was the live gold pour demonstration. This room is the original room where the colonial administration also did their furnace work... although, these days there is air conditioning and gas-furnaces instead of the coal fired ones. Apparently, this was a hell-hole to work in during the colonial times... with an entire row of melting furnaces.

As I said, gas powered these days... and the gold was already in there, waiting to go. The guide was telling us about the clay pots that were used for the melting... these days, they change them regularly... apparently, there was one tour disaster where the pot cracked in the furnace... and there was molten gold all through the machine. They don't chance it anymore...

After the gold is pulled from the furnace, the guy has about a minute or so before the gold starts to lose its liquid consistency...

... and the guy moved through the well-practiced motions of pouring a metal bar. Swift, but deliberate.... switching tongs and all of that... it was quite a marvel to watch!

... and there you go, a solid kilogram of gold there, post quenching. After the demonstration, the bar went back into the furnace to be melted down for the next tour group. Apparently this bar has been serving duty for about 10 years of tours, about 6 per day!

... heh, heavier than you think!

Honestly, some of the different places where you would find gold... some of the electronic stuff... sure, but who the hell makes face masks and soap from this!??!?!?!

... or eats it???!?!?!?

The exit area showed some interesting colonial documentation and artefacts. Originally the Perth Mint had the charter to melt the gold from the Kalgoorlie fields to make sovereigns for the English, and when Australia federated, it made currency... which later became centralised to Canberra. So, after losing that job, the Perth Mint turned to making precious metal mints... and now it is one of the legendary mints of the world.

Drool...

Actually, the blank cutouts are also pretty damn awesome! As are the molds and stamp material!

There is a small assaying section here... more high tech than the pour section... but apparently the industrial scale pouring is now out at a different off-site location.