Royal Canadian Mint cartel-linked gold: due diligence lessons for mine teams
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Gold refined by the Royal Canadian Mint may include material from Colombian mines linked to the Clan del Golfo cartel, after an unidentified Texas supplier mixed Antioquia-sourced gold with US metal that the Mint then classified as “North American”, a New York Times investigation found. About 5% of the Mint’s 2024 feedstock came from this US supplier, which held a valid audit naming Colombia as a source, while the Mint relied on supplier due diligence and said “it’s not our responsibility” to probe further. The Mint has now halted Colombian gold intake, launched an “incident review”, and plans to start disclosing source countries despite already deploying Bullion Genesis traceability software and LBMA-aligned KYC and AML controls.
Technical Brief
- Supplier risk categorisation uses three tiers, with low-risk suppliers reassessed every four years.
- Moderate-risk suppliers undergo full due diligence refresh every two years under the Mint’s responsible metals programme.
- High-risk suppliers are reviewed annually; four suppliers were in this category as of early 2025.
- Three of the four high-risk suppliers were flagged specifically for having mixed-source materials in their supply streams.
- The fourth high-risk supplier was designated so due to unspecified regulatory findings on anti–money laundering controls.
- Risk assessments explicitly weight geography, business nature, delivery channels, ownership and organisational structure as key indicators.
- KYC, anti–money laundering and anti–terrorist financing controls are aligned with London Bullion Market Association responsible sourcing requirements.
Our Take
The Royal Canadian Mint’s classification of four high‑risk suppliers, three of which handle mixed materials, aligns with a pattern in our database where gold and rare earth supply chains in Latin America and Africa are increasingly flagged for complex provenance rather than single‑source risk, complicating LBMA‑style due diligence for refiners.
With 5% of the Mint’s refined gold last year coming from a single US supplier, any compliance issue tied back to Colombian feedstock could force refiners and bullion banks to tighten reassessment intervals below the current 1–4 year tiers, raising audit and traceability costs across North American gold flows.
The mention of a 60‑tonne yttrium oxide shipment from China to the US, 50% above all prior post‑control volumes, echoes other recent coverage where gold and rare earths are treated together as strategic inputs, suggesting that reputational issues in Colombian gold streams may now be evaluated alongside critical‑minerals security rather than as a stand‑alone ESG concern.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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