There are times when the news is literally ‘big’. Today is one of those. In fact, enormous is the word.
The Perth Mint has unveiled the world’s largest gold bar, earning a Guinness World Records title. It was officially recognised as such back on 9 July.
This bit of bullion weighs in at 521.2kg and was refined to 99.999% purity, or ‘five nines’ in the refinery lingo. The Mint describes the purity level as one of its biggest technical achievements in more than a century of operation.
Both the weight and the purity are new benchmarks.
It took contributions from a roster of elite mining companies to help make it happen, including Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN), Gold Fields (ASX:GFI), Greatland Resources (ASX:GGP), Newmont Australia (ASX:NEM), Northern Star (ASX:NST) and at least four more. All of the gold came from Australia.
The Perth Mint’s release states:
“Approximately 1.5 tonnes of raw material were prepared throughout the project before being refined into a series of large gold bars.
“To create the final record-breaking bar, six large bars and additional smaller bars were carefully loaded into a specially designed graphite mould.
“The mould was then placed into the Perth Mint’s advanced Flameless Casting Chamber, where the gold was heated to approximately 1,400 degrees Celsius.”
It also involved 35 specialists from the team at the Perth Mint to turn it from a bold concept and challenge into the record-breaking reality it is today.
The Perth Mint concluded:
“It demonstrates what can be achieved when skilled people, innovative technology and strong industry partnerships come together behind a shared ambition.”
A video released by the Perth Mint alongside the announcement is available on its website.
Write to Callum Newman at Mining.com.au
Images: Perth Mint
