Australian gold coins tempt investors

Press, 4 November 1986, Page 35

Australian gold coins tempt investors

NZPA Correspondent Sydney Australia has joined the rush to have its own gold bullion coin, after the international sanction-led demise of the South African Krugerrand. The coins, of four different weights, are called The Australian Nugget, and are now in production at the Perth Mint, with the first proof issue of 15,000 of each weight now available. The Nuggets come in one troy ounce, half ounce, quarter ounce and one-tenth ounce coins — the same sizes as the Krugerrand — and are named after famous nuggets found in. Australia. They join the Canadian Maple Leaf, the United States Eagle and the coming Chinese Panda, but will be 99.99 per cent pure gold, instead of the 22 carats of the Krugerrand.

Between 300,000 and 400,000 ounces, worth a total of more than SA2OO-

$250 ($N254-$317) million at present gold prices, are expected to be sold in the first full year of production next year, with 500,000 ounces the year after.

Producers expect that within a few years up to one-third of Australia’s expanding gold production — expected to reach 100 tonnes in 1987 — could be sold in the form of Australian Nugget coins.

The first issue of the coins are named after the Welcome Stranger, Hand Of Faith, Golden Eagle, and Little Hero nuggets. The Welcome Stranger nugget, the namesake of the one-ounce coin, was found in Victoria in 1869 and is the largest recorded nugget discovered anywhere in the world. It was picked up by two prospectors who stopped to move what appeared to be a bump in a cart track they often used.

While the Holtermann Nugget, also found in Australia, was larger, it does

not count as a nugget because it came from, a gold reef in a mine. The Hand of Faith was discovered by a husband and wife using a modern metal detector in Victoria’s “golden triangle” in 1980.

The Golden Eagle was found in 1931 in Western Australia, where the Little Hero was also found, in 1890.

The nominal monetary value of the Australian coins will be $lOO, $5O, $25, and $l5, although their actual prices will reflect prevailing world gold prices. The Australian mint in Canberra produces an uncirculated $2OO gold coin called the Koala which is marketed through building societies, with the lOgm coin — just under one-third of a troy ounce — being 91.6 per cent pure gold. The coin was introduced in 1980 and Australians have bought $lOO million of them.