How Australia’s gold refiners are protecting their global advantage

Frequently asked questions

• What is putting the greatest pressure on Australia’s gold refining sector right now?

  Australian refiners are contending with a difficult mix of volatile feedstock availability, rising operating expenditure and increasingly demanding compliance expectations. Domestic doré supply shifts as mine output changes with resource depletion, orebody transitions and miners processing lower-grade stockpiles when gold prices are high. Less doré means refiners must spread fixed costs over fewer tonnes, tightening margins. At the same time, refining is energy-intensive, particularly during high-temperature melting and electrolysis, so electricity price swings can materially affect unit costs. Add specialist secure logistics, geopolitical disruption and evolving reporting rules, and day-to-day planning becomes harder. The challenge is less that any one pressure is new, and more that they fluctuate unpredictably.

• Why does LBMA Good Delivery status matter for The Perth Mint and ABC Refinery’s customers?

  LBMA accreditation signals that a refiner meets stringent global standards for quality, integrity and acceptability in international bullion markets. For B2B buyers, Good Delivery status reduces friction in trading because bars are widely recognised across the over-the-counter market, supporting liquidity and price transparency. It also matters commercially because it reinforces confidence in responsible sourcing and in the robustness of a refiner’s processes, governance and documentation. In an environment where end customers and counterparties increasingly scrutinise provenance and ESG performance, LBMA alignment helps protect reputations across the supply chain, from mining through to banks, manufacturers and retailers. For Australian refiners, it is also a competitive anchor that supports export demand and premium market access.

• How are The Perth Mint and ABC Refinery securing enough feedstock when domestic doré production fluctuates?

  Both refiners manage supply risk through diversification, but they do it in different ways. The Perth Mint blends predominantly Australian-mined doré with responsibly sourced secondary material such as recycled gold, alongside inputs from accredited international counterparties. It also draws on mining and secondary sources across parts of the Asia-Pacific to complement domestic supply, while applying the same due diligence standards to protect responsible sourcing credentials. ABC Refinery, by contrast, focuses primarily on mine supply to preserve known provenance, and it may use imported doré where it meets its sourcing criteria, but it does not refine secondary precious metal imports. In both cases, careful sourcing choices protect LBMA-aligned standards while helping stabilise throughput and unit economics.

• Why are energy and logistics costs such a big issue for gold refiners in Australia?

  Gold refining has a high power demand because multiple stages rely on sustained heat and electricity, including melting and the electrolytic processes needed to achieve 99.99% purity. When electricity prices rise or swing seasonally, the impact on cost per ounce can be immediate, and the burden differs by location and grid design. Logistics costs are also structurally high because gold transport requires specialist providers, hardened security protocols and carefully managed air and ground movements from remote mine sites to refineries and then to buyers. International freight conditions, trade pattern shifts and geopolitical uncertainty can all disrupt schedules and pricing. Both refiners emphasise resilience through planning and close collaboration with suppliers and logistics partners to reduce delays, improve efficiency and maintain delivery certainty.

• How are The Perth Mint and ABC Refinery using innovation to stay competitive and meet ESG expectations?

  Innovation is being used to make operations safer, more efficient and more auditable, rather than attempting to eliminate volatility altogether. ABC Refinery adopted acidless separation technology in 2017 to cut chemical emissions to zero and improve the working environment, then expanded capacity as demand for sustainable production rose. It is also investing in traceability and integrity tools, including machine-learning authentication for bullion and techniques that link metal to mine-of-origin, supporting responsible sourcing verification. The Perth Mint is modernising through advanced processing technologies and automation, improving safety and resource efficiency, and speeding laboratory turnaround with robotic weighing equipment. It is also strengthening climate measurement through verified emissions data and offering digitised, audited gold ownership via blockchain-based tokens that correspond directly to vaulted, LBMA-compliant physical bars.