Murky metals supply chains are nothing new. A joint report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and International Energy Agency (IEA) acknowledged this issue this month, calling for more transparency.
But the most recently minted scandal has revealed that even the President Donald J. Trump 24K Gold Proof Coin issued for the 250th birthday of the US could be laced with a cocaine-fuelled cocktail of non-American metal.
Beyond that irony-laden possibility, hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign gold — including metal linked to a powerful Colombian drug cartel — has been traced into the US Mint’s supply chain by a New York Times investigation.
The Clan del Golfo is a US-designated foreign terrorist organisation that has traditionally trafficked cocaine. But as the gold price surged about 150% over the past five years in USD terms, the cartel has used ‘Colombian marching powder’ to join the rush to the safe haven.
The clan allegedly charges hundreds of illegal miners a ‘tax’ for the privilege of extracting the metal via high-pressure hoses and excavators in Colombia’s gold-producing regions. These miners mix the resulting mud with mercury — toxic to themselves and the environment — to capture tiny particles of gold.
Local dealers melt the gold into bars, which are then mixed with metal from other sources before being exported.
The operations may be dubbed ‘artisanal’, but The New York Times traced about US$255 million ($359 million) of Colombian gold arriving in Texas over a 12-month period to April 2026.
Colombian gold gets ‘green card’
Once it’s over the US border, the Colombian gold is reportedly melted with metal from US mines and jewellery dealers, giving it ‘American’ status.
This means it can be used in accordance with federal laws by the government-owned US Mint in its investor-grade coins such as the famed American Eagle.
The Trump administration has said it is taking steps to identify the sources of US Mint gold, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has pledged to investigate its procurement practices.
But Washington has not cut off foreign gold supplies, saying doing so could make it ‘impossible’ to meet demand.
Gold’s provenance matters
The US Mint has a provenance problem. Australian refiners are showing what provenance, done properly, looks like.
In a week when the OECD and IEA called for greater supply chain transparency and traceability, Mining.com.au spoke to Source Certain CTO Cameron Scadding about the recent scandal confronting the US Mint.
While the OECD/IEA report focused on critical minerals, its intent underscores the mounting concern about product integrity.
It’s additionally relevant to gold because critical minerals are often found with the yellow metal. Gold production can even help fund the often more expensive recovery of those ‘secondary’ minerals.
Scadding, who has worked in the sector for more than 20 years, says the revelations about the US Mint are shocking — but not surprising to him.
He founded Source Certain more than 15 years ago. The company has become a leading independent provider of forensic product origin verification services for a range of products, from tomatoes to “gold fingerprinting”.
Scadding says refineries have a ‘heap of risk’ they have to manage but passionately urges acknowledgement that “we’ve all known or know about ‘filthy gold’, and we’re not going to do it anymore”.
“Lots of organised crime is funded by that ghost currency,” Scadding observes.
“But the person you transact with is doing it on the basis that, at some point, they’re going to be able to convert it into real money somewhere because the items and services you can pay for using this dirty gold are limited. The ability to turn it into cash is why the gold has any value at all.
“That means the place where it gets turned into money, the refinery, ends up being a critical control point where there is the most substantial opportunity to stop dirty gold entering the system.
“I see product integrity — from a value chain point of view — starting to matter more and more, which I would forecast is going to result in some systemic change.”
He says systemic change could come through regulation that opens access points into supply chains where none previously existed — the kind of scrutiny the US Mint now faces as part of the investigation into its practices.
But Scadding says the audits “need to be real” and not simplistic desktop tick-a-box exercises.
“The audits need to be done by people who understand how gold moves around the world. You need to know what to look for, and often, you won’t find the answer sitting behind a desk,” he notes.
Gold gets a ‘fingerprint’
Source Certain’s technology was developed to trace gold’s origins more precisely than a refinery stamp on a bar or paperwork like the Kimberley Process Certificates. Introduced to remove conflict diamonds from the market, that certification scheme has since proven flawed.
Importantly, the Perth-based company’s proprietary tech analyses the source gold at the refinery door.
“The source gold has an elemental fingerprint that is unique to where it has come from. When the gold crystallises out into the Earth, it grabs hold of elements, and that mix of elements is unique to that very place,” Scadding explains.
He adds that the tech is so sensitive that it routinely identifies the different circuits operating at a single mine site.
“I’m not against putting a stamp on a bar to say where that product has been poured, but that doesn’t tell you where the gold has come from,” Scadding says.
“It’s good to know where the bars come from and how many are in circulation, but by then, the supply chain issues are baked in — or refined in.”
Scadding acknowledges that there is always the argument that refining is a “low-margin game”.
“Ensuring as much as possible the integrity of the sourcing material is a part of doing business,” he notes.
Australian gold demands a clean bill of origin
ABC Refinery COO David Woodford says the market has been aware of gold of ‘uncertain’ provenance for some time.
However, not all industry players have been sufficiently focused on eliminating it from their supply chains, despite a shift in market expectations.
“Our customers, from banks to retail customers, want to be able to demonstrate that their gold is responsibly mined and refined,” he explains.
“They don’t want to have concerns that it’s been illegally mined, sourced from sanctioned nations, or from secondary precious metal suppliers who cannot guarantee provenance.”
Woodford says ABC Refinery has maintained a selective sourcing policy for the past 10 years. Under that policy, it accepts primary gold only from large-scale mining companies with strong environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies, operating within countries with well-regulated mining practices.
“Additionally, every batch of mined gold that we receive is analysed by Source Certain technology, and the geo-forensic fingerprint confirms the stated source of that material, enabling us to maintain unmatched supply chain integrity,” he adds.
“We have been using this technology for many years, and it is not inexpensive. But it definitely adds integrity and, therefore, value to our products, our business, and the Australian gold industry, in general.
“We have witnessed a significant and sustained uptick in demand for ABC Bullion products from wholesale and retail consumers because they know that our products are sourced from mining partners that are subject to stringent government and ESG regulation.”
Woodford says the refinery’s adoption of Source Certain and ProvCheck™ technology also aligns with the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) Gold Bar Integrity (GBI) Ecosystem, established in 2022 and expanded this year to combat counterfeiting and money laundering.
“This, coupled with our adoption of sourcing technology, has put us ahead of the curve because we are able to give consumers absolute confidence in the source of ABC Bullion-branded products.”
Write to Christina Wagstaff at Mining.com.au
Main image: Mining.com.au
