Report: Canadian mint lost many millions

OTTAWA, June 9 (UPI) -- Sources at the Royal Canadian Mint say the value of gold and silver discrepancies could be worth more than $10 million, the Toronto Star reported Tuesday.

A report is due in two weeks from an external audit that began in March into a major discrepancy in gold, silver, platinum and palladium stocks and accounting records, the newspaper said.

Last week, mint officials refused to disclose the amount of the discrepancy, but said they were confident the audit would prove it to be a bookkeeping issue based on the unprecedented demand for gold in 2008, the Star said.

The facility produces Canadian coinage, collectors' sets and coins for at least 12 other countries, the report said.

Member of Parliament Thomas Mulcair of the socialist New Democratic Party told the Star police should have been summoned immediately when the discrepancy was found.

"There's no possible way to explain the loss of tens of millions of dollars through simple administrative or bureaucratic foul-ups and missteps," he said.