Annual report shows State Government commitment to gold industry

14/11/01
Government Enterprises Minister Nick Griffiths today released the 2000-01 financial results of the Gold Corporation in a report tabled in Parliament today. Mr Griffiths welcomed the significant role played by the Gold Corporation in supporting the gold industry in Western Australia.
"The success of the gold industry is central to the prosperity of WA," he said.
"The gold industry has been an important part of the State's economic development over the past 109 years and will continue to make a valuable contribution to WA.
"The State Government supports the gold mining industry through its ownership of Gold Corporation.
"It provides access to a low cost refining operation and stimulating demand for precious metals products with the sales activities of the Perth Mint."
Mr Griffiths commended the Gold Corporation for working through difficult times to reduce overheads throughout the organisation by $3.5million.
"The Gold Corporation has undertaken a comprehensive business process review and it should begin to reap the benefits from increased productivity and efficiency gains," he said.
"The Sydney 2000 Olympic Coin Program was a significant success for the Gold Corporation. It was the largest selling Olympic collector coin program in history and generated $8.97million in profit.
"The Australian Gold Refineries Joint Venture (AGR JV) also recorded a 27 per cent increase in operating pre-tax profit of $4.669million. This is an increase of $1million on the previous year.
"The Australian Gold Refineries Joint Venture continues to be a success for part of the Gold Corporation's operations.
"As one of the world's largest gold refiners, it is a low-cost, efficient operation that adopts the world's best practice in refining."
Mr Griffiths said the future for the Gold Corporation would be further enhanced with the construction of the new minting facility. The new mint would be adjacent to the existing Mint buildings and was scheduled for completion in December.
Media contact: Melissa Robinson 9222 8950 (w)