Perth Mint was doping the gold they were exporting to Shanghai to save money
...when Mark McGowan was in charge.
Back when the present Premier of Western Australia, Mark McGowan, was the government minister responsible for the Perth Mint, they were shipping doped gold to Shanghai; now, apparently, doping is to some degree acceptable. Perth Mint was keeping the gold within the industry standard of 99.99% purity, but this only left a miniscule margin of error.
They began doping the gold intentionally in 2018, expecting to save AU$620,000 per year, which just a miniscule fraction of their earnings every year.
Shanghai has the highest standards for purity in the world for gold, 99.99%, but they also have a maximum percentage of silver that is allowed in the doped gold. Internal documents revealed to the ABC showed that the Perth Mint kept exporting doped gold to Shanghai after even a failed assay (purity test) had revealed that the percentage of silver in two bars of the doped gold was higher than the margin of silver that Shanghai accepted.
This potentially represents gold worth AU$8 Billion, which might have to be shipped back to Australia and recast.
The chairman of the Perth Mint, Richard Hayes, was consulted and made the decision to hide the failed assay from their clients, asserting that the burden of proof was on their clients to prove the gold was too impure. He also immediately stopped the process of doping the gold.
The ABC, published this story on 6th March, following a report that was shown on the television show Four Corners.
Richard Hayes, has recently gone on leave because of illness.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-06/perth-mint-gold-doping-china-cover-up-four-corners/102048622
Imagine being former JAG, knowing that stacks of documents exist to show you were in charge of the mint, the former mint boss resigning over the scandal, and still needing 24 h to come up with the excuse "I saw it first on TV too!"
The mint would be an amazing way to get vaccine kickbacks don't you think? Given that vaccines are the new Bitcoin and the doses don't really exist but on paper...it's not the doping. It's the money laundering.