Northern Star warns WA against mint sell-off

afr.com:

Kalgoorlie | Northern Star Resources has lambasted moves to privatise The Perth Mint as the WA taxpayer-owned entity is hobbled by a series of scandals and poor financial returns.

The WA government has floated the idea of selling off the taxpayer-owned mint, which has been losing gold refining customers to Sydney-based ABC Refinery. Northern Star boss Stuart Tonkin said The Perth Mint should remain in government hands where it had supported growth and promotion of the WA gold industry for the past 125 years.

Former Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh was made chairman of The Perth Mint in 2019. Photo by Matt Jelonek/Getty Images

“Northern Star values a well-functioning The Perth Mint that can safely, efficiently and effectively purchase and refine the company’s gold ore,” he said on Wednesday. “We also value the WA government’s ownership of The Perth Mint, which provides added security, regulation and accountability that is important to our business.”

Mr Tonkin said Northern Star was aware of operational shortcomings at the mint that are now the subject of a Senate inquiry.

A separate AUSTRAC investigation launched in August led to the appointment of an external auditor tasked with examining the mint’s compliance with anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing regulations, the requirement to have an ongoing customer due diligence program, and suspicious matter reporting obligations.

Mr Tonkin said extensive remediation programs had been rolled out to deal with the “historic shortcomings”.

He said Northern Star, set to become the biggest ASX-listed gold miner once New York-traded Newmont completes its acquisition of Newcrest, had made its views clear to the WA government.

Mr Tonkin spoke up in support of the