Perth Mint Silver Sales Hop 217% in June
June 2016 Sales of Silver at the Perth Mint Rise 217% Year Over Year.
The Perth Mint sold 1,220,817 ounces of silver in June 2016. This was up 217% from June 2015 when the Perth Mint sold 384,586 ounces of silver. June 2016 silver sales at the Perth Mint were up 25% from May 2016 sales of 974,865 ounces.
June 2016, silver sales at the Perth Mint, were the ninth month since September 2015 out of ten that sales were over one million ounces. From September 2015 through April 2016, Perth Mint silver sales compiled an unprecedented streak of eighth straight months of silver sales over one million ounces. May 2016 sales fell just 25,035 ounces short of a million ounces. June’s sales of over 1.22 million resumed the one million plus ounce silver sales month trend.
Perth Mint Silver Sales June 2015 – June 2016
The dramatic increase in silver sales at the Perth Mint is attributable to the introduction of the one ounce silver Australian Kangaroo coin in September 2015. This coin was released at a time when the major sovereign mints like Canadian and United States Mints were having difficulty meeting demand due to shortages in silver blanks needed to produce Canadian Silver Maple Leaf and American Silver Eagle coins.
The Australian Mint, unlike the United States Mint, produces its own silver blanks, so the Perth Mint was not reliant upon the ability of third parties to provide them with blanks and was able to ramp up production of its Australian Silver Kangaroo coins relatively quickly.
The Australian Silver Kangaroo was produced with the intention that it would not have a limited mintage like other Perth Mint silver coins like the silver Koala and silver Kookaburra.
Although the Perth Mint does not provide a break-down of monthly sales of each silver coin it mints, the bulk of silver sales at the Perth Mint now come from the silver Kangaroo.
In the first month of mintage of the Australian Silver Kangaroo coin in September of 2015, Perth Mint silver sales topped 3.5 million, up from about 750,000 in September 2014, an increase of over 366%. The Perth Mint has now sold an average of well over a million ounces of silver for the past nine months since September 2015 through June 2016. The Perth Mint sold 15,146,753 ounces of silver from September 2015 – June 2016, up 173% from the comparable period of September 2014 – June 2015 when 5,553,261 ounces of silver were sold.
The Price of Silver in June 2016
The price of silver rose over 25% through June 2016. Silver is trading well off its high of $50 an ounce in 2011. Silver has traded recently over $20 an ounce. The low price of silver helped drive record U.S. Mint demand in 2015 and record silver demand at the Perth Mint the past ten months.
2016 Perth Mint Silver Sales Projection
If silver sales at the Perth Mint in 2016 continue at a pace of an average of 1,272,692 ounces a month (January- June combined sales of 7,636,156 ounces divided by six) the Perth Mint will sell about 15.3 million ounces of silver in 2016. The United States Mint sold over 48 million ounces of silver in 2015 including sales of 47 million American Silver Eagle one ounce coins and sales of 212,000 five ounce America The Beautiful Coins.
About the Perth Mint: The Perth Mint is Australia’s only precious metals refinery and the only major government mint to also operate a refinery. The Perth Mint also sells gold coins.
Perth Mint silver sales data: The Perth Mint Blog
This article by BGASC is not, and should not be regarded as, investment advice or as a recommendation regarding any particular course of action.