Minting Trust: Innovation Securing Precious Metals

In the first half of 2025, while some mints were introducing new developments for enhanced authentication, two major refiners – Argor-Heraeus and ABC Refinery – launched new technologies and product lines to provide verified origin data and support responsible sourcing. This article covers these recent developments.

Royal Mint bullion

The first example is The Royal Mint in the UK, which recently extended its security- focused design philosophy from coins to gold bars, introducing its new secure Britannia gold bar range. For the first time, security features once exclusive to its coins have been applied to gold bars.

The Britannia bullion bar range includes four security elements, the first of which is latent imagery similar to a hologram. When the bar is rotated, the image changes from a padlock to a trident. The other features include micro-detailing, microtext, and tincture lines that depict intricate patterns and colours on metal.

The bars are also protected by tamperproof packaging and additional layers of security, including a UV watermark, QR code authentication, and a unique serial number.