Audit: Canada mint gold unaccounted for

OTTAWA, June 29 (UPI) -- An audit of Canada's Royal Mint says more than $15 million in precious metals appears to be missing.

The review of the 2008 fiscal year was carried out by Deloitte and Touche and concluded that the discrepancy was not due to accounting or clerical errors.

"The issue at stake is the reconciliation of the mint's rolling inventory (an accounting calculation initially based upon a series of estimates) to the physical precious metal count done at 2008 year-end," Deloitte and Touche said in a written statement Monday.

Canwest News Service said that Royal Canadian Mounted Police launched an investigation into the situation earlier this month; however, the auditors noted Monday it was not entirely clear if any gold was actually missing.

Mint officials in Ottawa say they are cooperating with the investigation.