RCM added to silver list

This article was originally printed in Numismatic News.
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The Royal Canadian Mint has been added to the London Bullion Market Association’s Silver Good Delivery List, effective April 14. While the mint has been listed on the LBMA’s Gold Good Delivery List since 1919, it calls this new designation for its 1,000-ounce 99.9 percent pure silver bars “a highly prestigious endorsement” of its silver refining operations.

The Royal Canadian Mint has satisfied the LBMA as to its production capability and financial standing. It has also passed the LBMA’s testing procedures, under which its 1,000-ounce pure silver bars were examined and assayed by independent referees, and its own assaying capabilities were tested.

“As one of the world’s top suppliers of silver bullion products, the Royal Canadian Mint prides itself on the industry-leading quality and reliability of its silver refining and assaying capabilities,” said Ian E. Bennett, RCM president and CEO. “The addition of the mint’s 1,000-ounce pure silver bars to the London Bullion Market Association’s Silver Good Delivery List is a coveted seal of approval that proves the world-class status of the mint’s silver refinery and assay operations.”

The LBMA’s London Good Delivery List of Acceptable Refiners lists those refineries whose gold and silver bars have been found, when originally tested, to meet the required standard for acceptability in the London bullion market. The list now includes 60 gold and 71 silver refiners.

The RCM’s refinery is located in its Ottawa, Ontario, facility and primarily serves the North American market. Its main sources of feedstock are silver doré bars from silver mines, silver removed from gold deposits during gold refining, scrap silver and silver production scrap from its minting operations. The refinery’s output of refined silver is mostly in the form of large bars delivered to refinery customers preferring the return of physical silver, or to investment firms, central banks and other financial institutions for investment purposes.